Photo Gallery

The Toquepala mine in the Tacna region is one of the five largest copper mines in the world in terms of reserves. It is operated by Southern Copper Corporation (a subsidiary of Grupo México). The railway line shown in the picture forms part of the private industrial rail network known as the Ferrocarril Ilo-Toquepala-Cuajone. The line was built around 1959–1960 to transport the mined copper concentrate directly from the deep open-cast mine over the Andean passes to the smelter and the export port at Ilo. – Peru – 1976

The photograph shows the mine railway within the Toquepala copper mine in Peru. The mines’ entire rail network comprises intricate hairpin bends along the mining terraces and a tunnel system over 27 kilometres long, designed to cope with the extreme differences in altitude in the mountainous region. Although transport within the vast pit is now mainly carried out using gigantic dump trucks (haul trucks), the railway link to the coast remains the main logistical artery of the mining operation. Peru – 1977

The Yareta (Azorella compacta) is an extremely long-lived cushion plant from the umbellifer family, which grows in the high Andes of South America. It thrives at altitudes of between 3,000 and 5,000 metres in the barren, rocky regions of the Puna. The plant forms dense, hard, cushion-like mats of tiny leaves, which grow extremely slowly and can live for several millennia. Thanks to its compact form and resin-rich structure, it is perfectly adapted to extreme cold, drought and intense sunlight. - In the background, the Yucamana volcano (5,508 m) in the province of Tacna. – Peru – 1976

The Yareta (Azorella compacta) is an extremely long-lived cushion plant from the umbellifer family, which grows in the high Andes of South America. It thrives at altitudes of between 3,000 and 5,000 metres in the barren, rocky regions of the Puna. The plant forms dense, hard, cushion-like mats of tiny leaves, which grow extremely slowly and can live for several millennia. Thanks to its compact form and resin-rich structure, it is perfectly adapted to extreme cold, drought and intense sunlight. - Province of Tacna. – Peru – 1976