El Romeral is an

iron mine 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 ...

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 ''Guaiacum'' (''OED'' 2nd edition, 1989.Entry "guaiacum"
in
tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying 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 r ...

cargo ships.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 Bethehem Chile Iron Mines last major investment as Compañía de Acero del Pacífico 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 usually refers to p ...

during the

Presidency of Salvador Allende Salvador Allende was the president of Chile from 1970 until his 1973 suicide, and head of the Popular Unity government; he was a Socialist and Marxist elected to the national presidency of a liberal democracy in Latin America.Don MabryAllend ...

. 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 of

Huachipato Club Deportivo Huachipato is a Chilean football club based in Talcahuano that is a current member of the Chilean Primera División. The club was founded 7 June 1947 and plays its home games at the Estadio CAP, which has a capacity of 10,500 p ...

.Millán 1999, p. 154 From the 1970s onward El Romeral came to overshadow

El Algarrobo El Algarrobo is an iron mine in north-central Chile. Geologically it is an iron oxide-apatite (IOA) type of deposit. El Algarrobo is part of a wider province of iron ores known as the Chilean Iron Belt The Chilean Iron Belt is a geological pr ...

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 with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) 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, right in front ...

(IOA) ores located in the southern end of the Chilean Iron Belt.Rojas 2017, p. 1 As with other ores of 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. It is largely unknown by tourists, who generally head straight for towns such as San Pedro de Atacama. The town has no high rise ...

, 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 t ...

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

La Liga Formation La Liga Formation ( es, Formación La Liga) is a geologic formation Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous age cropping out in Coquimbo Region, Chile. Rocks of the formation are andesites. Locally the rocks of the formation present epidote alteration. ...

.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 ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a 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