Los Catutos is a village and municipality in Neuquén Province in southwestern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is located in the center of the province, 20 km from the department capital,

Zapala Zapala is a city and touristic destination in the Patagonian province of Neuquén, Argentina with about 32,000 inhabitants according to the . The city is located at the geographic center of the province at the confluence of national and provincia ...

History

Before it became a municipality, Los Catutos started as a mining town in 1954. Since then until the 1990s, the town's economy was based on the extraction of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

flagstone Flagstone (flag) is a generic flat stone, sometimes cut in regular rectangular or square shape and usually used for paving slabs or walkways, patios, flooring, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstones, facades and other co ...

. In 1986, the last mining company closed down, but shortly after it re-opened. The municipality was created on August 15, 1997, comprising the area of Los Catutos and the nearby villages Laguna Miranda and El Ministerio.

Population

According to the 1991 census, a total of 214 people lived in town. From 1991 to 2001, the population increased to 281 inhabitants. At the time of the Argentine census of 2010, 229 people inhabited the area of Los Catutos. After the local quicklime factory closed down in the 1990s, many locals moved away to nearby municipalities, looking for similar jobs.

References

Populated places in Neuquén Province {{Neuquén-geo-stub