Acoquiza mine
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The Acoquiza mine is a copper mine located in a mountain valley in western Xallipan, Zacapican. It is the largest mine in Xallipan and one of the largest in Zacapican, employing some 7,000 miners and supporting a community of roughly 23,000 people in the nearby town of Netemachico, built in 1940 to house the workers and their families. Acoquiza sits above a major porphyry copper deposit with layers of copper sulfide minerals such as chalcocite and covelline near the surface overlying the primary mineralization zone containing bornite, chalcopyrite as well as iron pyrite formations surrounding the Acoquiza pipe. The ore body forms a ring between 1400 and 700 meters across depending on the depth. Acoquiza is an entirely underground mine, consisting of a network of some 2,500 kilometers of tunnels, primarily underground drifts, the deepest of which is 550 meters below the surface which is itself at 2,400 meters above sea level.