Copper production in Chuquicamata began in 1915, just as German scientific successes in the quest for artificial nitrates had resulted in the collapse of the world market for Chile’s traditional export: saltpetre (potassium nitrate). Since then copper acquired a pre-eminent position in Chile’s economy, and thousands of indigenous workers deserted the floundering haciendas to find work in copper mines like Chuquicamata, El Salvador and El Teniente, all American-owned until the Chilean copper nationalization program of the late-1960s.
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