Huasco River is a river of Chile located in the Huasco Province

Huasco Province

Huasco Province is one of three provinces of the northern Chilean region of Atacama . Its capital is the city of Vallenar.-Geography and demography:...

, Atacama Region

Atacama Region

The Atacama Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It comprises three provinces, Chañaral, Copiapó and Huasco. It is bordered to the north by Antofagasta, to the south by Coquimbo, to east with Provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan of Argentina, and to west with...

. It begins at the confluence of the rivers Del Carmen and Del Tránsito. A small portion of its course is impounded by a small dam forming the Santa Juana Reservoir.

Glaciers that form part of its drainage basin can be affected by the Pascua Lama

Pascua Lama

Pascua-Lama is an open pit mining project of gold, silver, copper and other minerals. Pascua Lama is located in the Andes mountains, south of Atacama, straddling the border between Chile and Argentina at an altitude of over 4,500 metres. Toronto-based Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold mining...

  project.

Cities and towns along the Huasco include: Vallenar, Freirina

Freirina

Freirina is a Chilean commune and town in Huasco Province, Atacama Region. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute, Freirina had 5,666 inhabitants; of these, 3,469 lived in urban areas and 2,107 in rural areas. At that time,...

 and Huasco

Huasco, Chile

Huasco is a Chilean city and commune, in the Huasco Province, Atacama Region.The port city of Huasco is located 50 km west of Vallenar and close to the town of Huasco Bajo, which lies on the southern bank of the Huasco River and only a few km from its mouth...

.