Moa is a municipality and an industrial city in the

Holguín Province Holguín () is one of the provinces of Cuba, the third most populous after Havana and Santiago de Cuba. It lies in the southeast of the country. Its major cities include Holguín (the capital), Banes, Antilla, Mayarí, and Moa. The province ha ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. Its name is believed to mean "water here".

History

Moa, one of the youngest cities in Cuba, was founded in 1939. One of the most significant personalities linked to its foundation and growth was a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n man, John Alexander Christie Duccas.

Geography

Located in the easternmost area of its province, at the borders with

Guantánamo Province Guantánamo is the easternmost province of Cuba. Its capital is also called Guantánamo. Other towns include Baracoa. The province has the only land border of the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay. Overview Guantánamo's architecture and cultu ...

, Moa is bordered by the municipalities of

Sagua de Tánamo Sagua de Tánamo () is a municipality and town in the Holguín Province of Cuba. Overview The Sierra Cristal National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Sierra Cristal) is partly located in the Sagua de Tánamo municipality and partly in neighboring Maya ...

Frank País Frank País García (December 7, 1934 – July 30, 1957) was a Cuban revolutionary who campaigned for the overthrow of General Fulgencio Batista's government in Cuba. País was the urban coordinator of the 26th of July Movement, and was a key or ...

Baracoa Baracoa, whose full original name is: ''Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa'' (“Our Lady of the Assumption of Baracoa”), is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was visited by Admiral Christop ...

and

Yateras Yateras is a municipality in the Guantánamo Province of Cuba. The municipal seat is located in the town of Palenque, in the northern part of the province. Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site is partly located in thi ...

. The large municipal territory includes the

Nipe-Sagua-Baracoa Nipe-Sagua-Baracoa, also known as Macizo Nipe Sagua Baracoa ("Nipe Sagua Baracoa Massif"), is a mountain range of eastern Cuba. Geography The range is located in Holguín Province and Guantánamo Province, and slightly into Santiago de Cuba Pr ...

mountain range and the

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park Alejandro de Humboldt National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt) is a national park in the Cuban provinces of Holguín and Guantánamo. It is named after the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt who visited the island in 1800 ...

. The villages belonging to Moa municipality are Arroyo Blanco, Brinquín, Cañete, Cayo Grande, Centeno, Cocalito, Cupey,

Farallones The Farallon Islands, or Farallones (from the Spanish ''farallón'' meaning "pillar" or "sea cliff"), are a group of islands and sea stacks in the Gulf of the Farallones, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States. The islands ...

, Punta Gorda, Yaguaneque and

Yamanigüey Yamanigüey is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Moa, Cuba, Moa, in Holguín Province. In 2009 it had a population of 2,394. History Geography Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ...

. The city includes the quarters (''repartos'') of Centro, Atlántico, Caribe, José Martí, La Playa, Las Coloradas, Los Checos, Los Mangos, Miraflores and Rolo Monterrey.

Demographics

In 2010, the municipality of Moa had a population of 75,015. With a total area of , it has a population density of . This city has the youngest citizens in all of Cuba, and is the second largest city (and the fourth municipality) by population in the

Environment

Large

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

and

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the 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. The free element, pr ...

deposits located in the Moa area are exploited in part by a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

company

Sherritt International Sherritt International is a Canadian resource company, based in Toronto, Ontario. Sherritt is a world leader in the mining and refining of nickel and cobalt – metals essential for the growing adoption of electric vehicles. Its Technologies Grou ...

. The extensive mining and nickel processing has large impact on the local environment. The coastal waters and nearby land is contaminated by the pollution from mines and processing plants. The soil has a reddish tint due to the iron ore in the ground.

Economy

Nickel production

The nickel production is concentrated on the factories "Pedro Soto Alba" and "Ernesto Che Guevara". While the Nickel Processor Plant "Pedro Soto Alba" is a limited liability company between Cuba and Sherritt International Canadian Company, the "Ernesto Che Guevara" belongs to the government enterprise Cubaníquel. As average per year, The "Soto Alba" and "Che Guevara" produce more than 30,000 tons of nickel each.Article on sulphuric-acid.com
/ref> This industry is what makes Moa a leading nickel producer, and what brings the town most of its

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

Transport

The city is served by the Orestes Acosta Airport , a regional airport with daily flights to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. It is crossed in the middle by the state highway "

Circuito Norte The ''Circuito Norte'' (CN), meaning "Northern Circuit", is a west-east highway spanning the length of the island of Cuba, through the Atlantic Coast. With a length of 1,222 km, it is the second-longest Cuban highway, after the " Carretera ...

" (CN), the second longest one after the " Carretera Central".

Gallery

Personalities

Addys Mercedes Addys Mercedes (, formerly known as Addys D'Mercedes) is a Cubans, Cuban pop and world music singer living in Germany and Spain. She made her UK debut in 2001 at the Guildford Festival and since then has undertaken two United Kingdom, British Co ...

(b. 1973), singer

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Cuba Populated places in Holguín Province