At Collahuasi in Chile   -   After concise, but detailed briefings the group was taken to both the Ujina and Rosario pits that constitute the Collahuasi operation, before studying the hosts, ore and alteration in drill core.   Top left: Chief Geologist, Manuel Duran (right) and Mike Buchanan (middle) of Minera Collahuasi discuss aspects of the deposit in the pit at Rosario with Craig Parry (left) of Rio Tinto. Top right: Kevin Olshefsky (left) of Minera Collahuasi discusses the deposit at Ujina with Ricardo Presnell of Kennecott who compared what they were seeing with Bingham Canyon, where he worked.   Lower left: hitting and peering at rocks;   Lower right: Manuel Duran explains textures in a sample from the pit with Jun Rovillos of Ivanhoe Mines.

The group departed at 5:15 pm to drive to Iquique, arriving at their hotel to overnight at 8:20 pm. On the following morning, they checked out and departed in their charter bus to head north along the PanAmerican Highway, over coastal plains and then into the ranges to arrive at Arica on the Chilean-Peruvian border at 11:50 am. As the group's bus could not cross the border, another brief charter took them across and to Tacna airport, 50 km to the north in Peru where the main bus to be used in Peru was waiting. The crew of this interim bus assisted the group with immigration and customs formalities, first at the Chilean border post and then immigration at the equivalent Peruvian facility a few hundred metres down the road. Formalities were completed by 1:35 pm Chilean time - 11:35 am Peruvian time. They then drove north and arrived at Tacna Airport at Noon, Peruvian time, and transferred to the new bus. After having lunch and money changing in Tacna, they departed by 1:50 pm. The next stop was the Peruvian customs post on the edge of the duty free area that surrounds Arica and Tacna. They then continued on for 160 km and arrived at their hotel in Moquega at 4:20 pm.

Photographs by Mike Porter