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<a href="textoingles.html" target=_self>Economic
Activities</a> <br>
<b>MINING
AND POWER</b>
<img width=88 height=10 border=0 src="../iconos/b88p.gif">
<a href="ecominig.htm#metal">Metalliferous
Minerals</a> <img width=11 height=11 border=0 align=ABSMIDDLE src="../iconos/bolas_11x11.gif">
<a href="ecominig.htm#combust">Fuels</a><br>
<a href="ecominig.htm#hidro">Hydroelectric Power</a> <img width=11 height=11 border=0 align=ABSMIDDLE src="../iconos/bolas_11x11.gif">
<a href="ecominig.htm#nuclear">Nuclear Energy</a><br>
<a href="ecominig.htm#altern">Other Alternatives</a>
Mining basically
tends to the extraction of <b>fuels</b>, <b>non-metalliferous</b> and <b>metalliferous</b>
<b>minerals</b>. <br>
The limitations of the domestic market; the lack of capitals for prospecting,
technology and infrastructure; the distance of the main metal fields from the
industrial centers, plus the fall of the international prices, do not foster
its development.
<b>
Metalliferous Minerals</b>
The total <b>metal</b>
output is 280,000 tons per year, iron accounting for a <b>60 per cent</b>. The
raw material is extracted and processed in <b>Zapla Blast Furnaces</b> and in
the <b>Sierra Grande metal field</b> in Río Negro, which is inactive
but will start operating again by mid-1996, when it is privatized.<br>
<b>Zinc</b> is extracted in Jujuy and in <b>Ángela mine</b>, Chubut,
and is <b>exported</b> to Japan, China, the Netherlands, Singapore and Pakistan.
<br>
<b>Lead</b> and <b>silver</b> are also obtained in Jujuy and, to a lesser degree,
in Chubut, Mendoza and Salta.
<b>Fuels</b>
In <b>Río
Turbio</b>, Santa Cruz, <b>coal </b>is produced and then used for furnace <b>coke</b>
and <b>power</b>. The coal output decreased to 200,000 tons per year during
the last years.
<br>
In <b>1907</b>
the <b>oil production</b> in <b>Comodoro Rivadavia</b> began. The sedimentary
basins in Argentina have a surface of 675,678 sq. mi. (1,750,000 km2) and are
situated in the <a href="../tierra/geoin/textoingles.html#noroeste" target=_blank>North-west</a>,<a href="../tierra/geoin/textoingles.html#cuyo" target=_blank>
Cuyo</a>, Neuquén and Magallanes.
The <b>crude oil</b>
<b>production</b> per year is <b>30 million</b> cubic meters. The <b>main refineries</b>
are: <b>La Plata</b>, <b>Campana</b>, <b>Dock Sud</b>, <b>San Lorenzo</b>, <b>Campo
Durán</b>, <b>Plaza Huincul</b> and <b>Comodoro Rivadavia</b>.<br>
<b>Hydroelectric
Power</b>
Rivers became an
important power supply, giving rise to the construction of <b>hydroelectric
dams</b>.<b> The most important</b> ones are those of <b>Salto Grande</b>, <b>Chocón
Cerro Colorado</b>,<b> Futaleufú </b>and <b>Yaciretá</b>, which
is still unfinished. When the works for the latter are over, it will allow savings
for 4 million tons of oil per year.<br>
<b>Nuclear
Energy</b>
Since <b>1950</b>
there was an approach to this power alternative with the establishment of the
<b>Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica </b>(CNEA, Nation
Commission of Atomic Power). In 1974, <b>Atucha I</b> <b>atomic plant</b> started
to operate in Zárate, with a capacity of 319,000 kilowatts. It was the
first in Latin America. In 1983, the second plant, <b>Embalse Río III</b>,
was inaugurated, with a power of 600,000 kilowatts. <b>Atucha II</b> plant,
situated in Paraná de las Palmas, which is still being built, will have
the same power.
<br>
<b>Other
Alternatives</b>
<b>Solar energy</b>
development is used for night lighting, desalting of subterranean water and
electrical power in several points around the country. <b>Aeolian energy</b>
coming from wind mills are used for the extraction of subterranean waters and
the lighting of whole towns.
<br>
For further information
: <a href="http://www.mecon.ar">Ministerio de Economía-Indice</a>
<br>
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Sur del Sur<br>
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