The mining sector contributes only 0.1% to the GDP of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Uruguay's mineral commodities include

clays Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

, semiprecious

gemstones A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) 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, Abundanc ...

and steel,

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

and gravel, and

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

. Uruguay has no proven

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

oil reserves An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

but it does have substantial hydroelectric capacity.Gurmendi, Alfredo C
"The Mineral Industry of Paraguay and Uruguay"
(PDF). ''2006 Minerals Yearbook''.

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

(April 2008) .

Structure of the Mineral Industry

The mineral industry of Uruguay mostly consisted of Uruguayan state-owned firms. The structure of the country's mineral industry could change to a privately owned, government-regulated regime from one that was government owned and government operated. Foreign direct investment (FdI) inflows to

Mercosur The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Arge ...

had a positive effect on Uruguay's FdI inflows, which increased to $1.4 billion in 2006 from $847.4 million in 2005, and that mostly reflected the high international prices of several commodities, such as cement, steel, sugar, textiles, and wood products.

Commodities

Gold

In 2006, gold production in Uruguay remained at about the same level as that of 2005.

Iron and Steel

Uruguay produced 57,000 t of crude steel in 2006 compared with 64,000 t in 2005, which was a decrease of 10.9%. The increase in metal prices and higher output of iron ore did not provide the necessary boost to the steel sector. according to the Uruguayan Dirección Nacional de Minería y Geología, the country produced 15,525 t of iron ore in 2006 compared with 12,436 t in 2005, which was an increase of almost 25%.

Natural gas

In June 2006, the administración nacional de Combustibles, alcohol y Portland (anCaP) announced the completion of an appraisal of natural gas reserves in Uruguay's offshore Punta del Este basin. according to anCaP, the basin contained at least of potential reserves and first production could take place as early as 2015 provided that exploration takes place in the basin. Two natural gas pipelines connect Uruguay and Argentina. The first, Cr. Federico Slinger or gasoducto del Litoral, which runs from Colon,

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 ...

, to

Paysandú Paysandú () is the capital of Paysandú Department in western Uruguay. Location The city is located on the banks of the Uruguay River, which forms the Argentina–Uruguay border, border with Argentina. It lies northwest of Montevideo via Rout ...

, Uruguay, was constructed and operated by anCaP and had an operating capacity of per day. The second, the gasoducto Cruz del Sur (gCdS), was operated by a consortium led by

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Servi ...

group (Bg group). This pipeline extends from Argentina's natural gas grid to Montevideo and has a capacity of per day. The gCdS-Bg group project also held a concession for a possible pipeline extension of to Porto alegre, Brazil. Argentina, however, had begun to disrupt its natural gas exports to Chile and Uruguay because of natural gas output shortages. as a result, Uruguay approached the

Bolivian government The politics of Bolivia takes place in a tree of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is head of state, head of government and head of a diverse multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the gover ...

to discuss the possibility of direct supply of natural gas. In March 2006, both governments agreed to conduct a feasibility study of such a plan.

Petroleum

References

External links

Mining in Uruguay
(in Spanish) {{South America topic, Mineral industry of Economy of Uruguay *