Discover one key source of Chile's mineral wealth
Learn about mining and refining copper from Chile's Atacama Desert.
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© Massachusetts Institute of Technology (A Britannica Publishing Partner)In the Atacama Desert of Chile, fresh water is extracted from fog and used to irrigate crops of Aloe vera in Chañaral province.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about mining and refining copper from the Atacama Desert, northern Chile.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Atacama Desert, Chile.
News •
A desert stirs to life: Chile's Atacama erupts in its biggest floral display in decades
• Nov. 8, 2026, 6:00 AM ET (NPR)
Transcript
[Music]
NARRATOR: The Atacama is one of the most productive deserts anywhere in terms of minerals.
Chile has the world's largest reserves of copper, and most of the copper lies under the sands of the Atacama.
From here, the mineral is shipped to refineries along the Pacific coast then to the rest of the world.
NARRATOR: The Atacama is one of the most productive deserts anywhere in terms of minerals.
Chile has the world's largest reserves of copper, and most of the copper lies under the sands of the Atacama.
From here, the mineral is shipped to refineries along the Pacific coast then to the rest of the world.
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