Andacollo

Andacollo is a city and commune in Elqui Province in the Coquimbo Region of Chile, in the semi-arid mountains of the Norte Chico, with a population of 11,093 recorded in the 2012 census, most of it urban. Its name derives from Quechua, combining anta, meaning copper or gold, with coya, meaning queen. The town was founded in 1891 as a mining settlement and is one of Chile's oldest and best known pilgrimage centers, its shrine to Our Lady of Andacollo drawing thousands of visitors each year, and it experienced a gold rush in the early 1930s before becoming home to the Carmen de Andacollo copper mine that lies beside the town today.