Chuquicamata (choo-kee-kə-MAH-tə), or "Chuqui" as it is more familiarly known, is by excavated volume the biggest open pit copper mine in the world, located in the north of Chile, just outside of Calama at 9,350 feet (2,850m) above sea level, 215 km northeast of Antofagasta and 1,240 km north of the capital, Santiago. Flotation and smelting facilities were installed in 1952; and expansion of the refining facilities in 1968 made 500,000-ton annual copper production possible in the late 1970s. The mine is owned and operated by Codelco, a Chilean state enterprise, since the Chilean nationalization of copper in the late 1960s and early 1970s.