Chile

The Iron Ore mines in Chile are owned and operated by Minerales Nacionales SPA (Minal). They are in two areas; the area itself is vast, where there are many billions of tons of material containing iron ore spread over many mines, very few that have been developed so far. There is a consistency of mineral deposits throughout, unlike other countries with Iron Ore deposits.

All the areas exploited, covering many tens or even hundreds of miles or more in each direction, has material containing Iron Ore throughout. The area is hilly, however, there are good access roads; the area is very dry; there has been no rain in 10 years; there is no problem with flooding or mud slides.

The first mines Minerales Nacionale has concessions on, or owns, are all visible to each other in each area, are sited 12 kilometers from a main highway and that road is some 90 kilometers from the port of Totolarillo. The above is the first area the company has first developed.

The area has no population; it is extremely quiet and walking through the mine area sites you can see where some have been excavated to the head of the material containing Iron Ore veins and seams, in many places.

General road access is good, heavy trucks can easily navigate and one can see where some mines are being actively worked, there is one mine very near Eleonor which is being operated by CAP themselves on a continuous basis.