The Chilean Iron Belt is a geological province rich in

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

deposits in northern Chile. It extends as a north-south beld along the western part of the Chilean regions of

Coquimbo Coquimbo is a port List of cities in Chile, city, Communes of Chile, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo is situated in a valley south of La Serena, Chile, La S ...

and

Atacama The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barren lower slopes ...

, chiefly between the cities of La Serena and

Taltal Taltal is a Chilean commune and city in Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta Region. According to the 2012 census, the commune has a population of 11,132 and has an area of . The commune is home to Paranal Observatory and includes the northern po ...

. The belt follows much of the Atacama Fault System and is about 600 km long and 25 km broad. Iron oxide-apatite, iron oxide copper gold ore deposits (IOCG) and manto-type copper and silver are the main types of deposits. Iron-apatite and IOCG are considered to have different origins. Manto-type deposits are concentrated in the northern part of the belt and are chiefly emplaced on rocks of La Negra Formation. The belt host also significant resources of

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

which were deemed by 2017 to have the potential to be extracted as by-products of

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

mining along the belt. The ores of the Chilean Iron Belt formed in separate pulses in the

Cretaceous period The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth and longest geologi ...

as result of

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

tic and

hydrothermal Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...

processes. At least part of the iron oxide-apatite rock originated from molten iron in the form of

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a Volcano, volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, ...

. and

intrusions In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of Intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety o ...

. Thus iron oxide apatite magma cooled into rock variously from surface volcanoes to depths of 10 km over even more. Various deposits are covered by continuous sheets alluvial sedmients that form plains on surface. Some geologists have speculated that a large meteorite impact in the Pacific during the Cretaceous period may have set in motion a series of tectonic changes that led to the formation the ores. Systematic survey of the iron ores of the belt for economic exploitation begun with civil engineer Carlos Vattier in the late 19th century and continued with Juan Brüggen who published a report on them in 1913. Mining engineer C. Linnemann took over government-commissioned studies at the recommendation of Brüggen and surveyed southern part of the belt in 1917 and 1918.

Iron mines along the Chilean Iron Belt

* El Carmen * Cerro Negro Norte * Los Colorados * Boquerón Chañar (closed in the 1960s) * El Algarrobo (closed 1998) * Dominga (planned) * El Tofo (closed 1974) * El Romeral

References

;Bibliography * {{Major South American geological formations Cretaceous Chile Cretaceous magmatism Belt regions Iron ore deposits Iron mining in Chile Metallogenetic provinces Geology of Antofagasta Region Geology of Atacama Region Geology of Coquimbo Region