El Tofo is an iron ore mine in the Chilean Norte Chico region.
[2] The first record of the iron ores of El Tofo dates to a 1840 study of Ignacy Domeyko.
[3] Subsequently the El Romeral mine was opened 30 km to the south in replacement.
[4] Compañía de Acero del Pacífico obtained the ownership of El Tofo and El Romeral in the early 1970s when it was nationalized during the Presidency of Salvador Allende.
[3][4] Later the ownership passed to Compañía Minera del Pacífico as it was privatized during the Pinochet dictatorship.