Located within the Atacama Desert, it borders the El Loa and Tocopilla provinces to the north,the Pacific Ocean to the West and the Atacama Region to the south.
The region’s main copper deposit is Candelaria, which produces around 200,000 tonnes per year and is controlled by Phelps Dodge, an international corporation.
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Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region.
It was first reported in 1888 for an occurrence in Tierra Amarilla, Copiapó Province, Atacama Region, Chile and named by G. Linck in 1889 for the German mineralogist F. A. von Quenstedt.
During the Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle administration Provoste was the Atacama Region director of the National Women's Service (1996–97) and governor of the Huasco Province (1997–2001).