El Romeral is an

iron mine 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 ou ...

in north-central Chile. The mine benefits from being located only 22 km NNE of the city of La Serena and being next to Guayacán, a port with conditions for high-

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on '' tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a cal ...

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

s.Millán 1999, p. 153 The mine emerged as a replacement for the nearby mine of

El Tofo El Tofo is an iron ore mine in the Chilean Norte Chico region. The mine lies in northern Coquimbo Region within a larger mining district known as the Chilean Iron Belt. Geologically El Tofo is an iron oxide-apatite deposit. The first record of ...

that was close to depletion in the early 1950s. El Romeral was Bethlehem Chile Iron Mines last major investment as

Compañía de Acero del Pacífico The Compañía de Acero del Pacífico, also known by its acronym CAP, is the main iron and steel industry of Chile with its main facilities at Huachipato near the port of Talcahuano in Bío Bío Region. As result of Allende's nationalization ...

obtained the ownership of El Tofo and El Romeral in the early 1971 when they were

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

during the

Presidency of Salvador Allende Salvador Allende was the president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his suicide in 1973, and head of the Popular Unity (Chile), Popular Unity government; he was a Socialist Party of Chile, Socialist and the first Marxism, Mar ...

. Despite being initially an expensive mine in terms of infrastructure investment and having a troublesome geology El Romeral proved with time to host more iron than initially thought. Following an ownership restructuring Compañía Minera del Pacífico, now holds control of the mine. During the 1970s El Romeral would produce enough iron to fully supply the

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

Huachipato Huachipato FC is a Chilean football club based in Talcahuano that currently plays in the Chilean Primera División. Huachipato was founded on 7 June 1947 by workers of the homonymous steel mill in Talcahuano, and it currently plays its home g ...

.Millán 1999, p. 154 From the 1970s onward El Romeral came to overshadow El Algarrobo mine in iron production.Millán 1999, p. 155 The ore of the mine is one of various

iron oxide-apatite Iron is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the abundance of the chemical ...

(IOA) ores located in the southern end of the

Chilean Iron Belt The Chilean Iron Belt is a geological province rich in iron ore deposits in northern Chile. It extends as a north-south beld along the western part of the Chilean regions of Coquimbo and Atacama, chiefly between the cities of La Serena and Talt ...

.Rojas 2017, p. 1 As with other ores of the Chilean Iron Belt located south of

Chañaral Chañaral is a small coastal city and commune in the Atacama Region, Chile and capital of the Chañaral Province. The ocean is contaminated by the copper mining activity in the area. Just north of the city lies Pan de Azúcar National Park. It ...

, El Romeral is located on the

Atacama Fault The Atacama Fault Zone (AFZ) is an extensive system of faults cutting across the Chilean Coastal Cordillera in Northern Chile between the Andean Mountain range and the Pacific Ocean. The fault system is north–south striking and runs for more ...

.Rojas 2017, p. 12 El Romeral in particular is located on a southern extension of Atacama Fault known as El Romeral Fault Zone (). The ores of the mine are emplaced within andesite rocks of La Liga Formation.Rojas 2017, p. 4

References

Bibliography

* *{{Cite thesis , title=Genesis of the El Romeral Iron Ore: New contributions to the understanding of iron oxide apatite deposits , last=Rojas Martínez , first=Paula Amanda , date=2017-06-07 , degree=MSc , publisher=

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, place=Santiago de Chile Iron ore mines in Chile Mines in Coquimbo Region Compañía Minera del Pacífico