El Salvador was founded by the Andes Mining Copper Company in 1959, [1] in the southern area of the Despoblado de Atacama. It originated as a new copper company town [2] designed to fulfill residential and labor functions related to copper mining, based on a project by American architect Raymond Olson of Anaconda-Jurden Associates, Inc. It operates the underground Inca mine, as well as the Campamento Antiguo and Damiana Norte open-pit mines. It complements the smelter located in the company town of Potrerillos, 72 km away. El Salvador was first "Chileanized," later "nationalized," [3] and finally integrated into the Chilean state company CODELCO during the 1980s.
