Gold Mining in Chile
Gold mining in Chile dates to pre-Hispanic times. During the century in which the northern territories of Chile were under the rule of the Inca people. It was estimated that they obtained about 150,000 kilograms of gold.
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Then, with the interest of Spanish adventurers to find the Chile’s natural wealth, there is a second wave of gold mining started by Pedro de Valdivia, who arrives at the Marga Marga and Quilacoya laundries. Under the shadow of these discoveries the arrival of numerous miners happened, therefore new discoveries were made in Imperial, Villarrica, Osorno, Tucapel and Angol. With the death of the Conqueror in 1553, a fall in the exploitation of gold placers was reached. Only 350 kilos of gold per year during the seventeenth century were achieved. The main reason was the opposition of the Indians to reveal the location being the principle cause of their slavery and extermination.
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In the 18th century, gold mining in hard rock began due to the development of new technologies in the deposits of Til Til, El Inca, Chamonate and Chachoquín and others in Quillota, Limache and Alhué. During this century, a production of 95 tons was reached, of which 57% came from hard rock deposits.
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This situation was reversed in the early nineteenth century due to the fall of the laws of the vein and the lack of technology for operations deeper and deeper and rock harder. This meant that during the first decade of the century 75% of the gold production came from laundries.
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Due to the War of the Pacific, the abolition of encomiendas, the overturning of silver mining along with the discovery of the California laundries, which caused the transfer of thousands of miners to this area, production between 1876- 1880 fell to 240 kilos per year. At the end of the century the discovery of the El Guanaco deposit and the transfer to the south and extreme south of the country, Lonquimay, Carahue, Carelmapu, Rio del Oro, reactivate the gold mining. With all this the 19th century ended with a production of approximately 122,015 kilograms of gold.
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In the twentieth century, in the late 1920s and early 1930s there was a global economic crisis that, together with the fall of the nitrate industry and the fall in the price of copper, propelled the government of the time to create The Headquarters of State Gold Laundries to create jobs by reactivating artisanal mining.
In 1939 the production record was reached with 11.49 tons in which around 22% of gold came from goldish pleasures. Until 1971, through the creation of a law that subsidizes the price of gold, a rebound in the national production is achieved. In this period, the recovery of gold in the copper plants grows, generating 21% of the total production.
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Beginning in the 1970s, with the release of the US $ 35 equivalent of the US oz., and the emergence of new methods and technologies for the treatment of low-grade deposits, large corporations make large investments in search of the mineral. From 1980 great projects are generated while the activity of gold placers goes into decline.
Alluvial Gold Placers in Chile
Alluvial Mining in Chile
The beginning of the use of the gold in Chile takes place under the tribute demanded by the Incas to the native towns. Then, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries gold mining was restricted, almost exclusively, to the laundries, producing 8,820,000 oz. From the eighteenth century, which is estimated around 2,470,000 oz. of placers, there is a decline, with 1,341,000 and 882,000 oz. being produced in the 19th and 20th centuries respectively.
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In 1926 the main placers operating were: Andacollo, Punitaqui and Quilitapia in the IV Region; Las Dichas in the V; Carahue in IX Region; Madre de Dios in the XV Region; And Rio del Oro in Region XII. At the beginning of the 30s the reactivation of gold placers activities was motivated by the Laundries chiefs, increasing laundries national production in 22%.
Gold placers production per regions during la crisis the 30s crises.
Source: Portigliati (1999) [8], Statistical data from SERNAGEOMIN’s fields
Between 1946 and 1971 there was a decline in domestic gold production, from 229,280 oz. to less than 70,500 oz. annually, with an incidence of placers mining of only 0.1% of total and remaining around 1% up to 1992. This percentage suffered a slight increase during the crisis of the 1980s, when the government, through the National Mining Company (ENAMI), implemented a national gold plan that led to an increase in production in the Period 1984-1988. Thanks to this plan, production reached 75,100 oz. of gold in a five-year period, compared to 1,800 and 5,820 oz. in the five and a half years respectively. Since 1993, no production has been reported from gold placers.
Regional production of gold placers 1986 and 1987
Source: Portigliati (1999) [8], Statistical data from SERNAGEOMIN’s fields,
Background
Gold Mining
Gold Mining Production 1900 - 2014. Source USGS.
Gold has been and is today the most lusted metal by man because of its physical and chemical characteristics. Its possession has been the cause of wars, invasions, conquests and colonization. The first historical reviews are between 4,000 and 3,000 BC, when the Sumerians built Mesopotamia towers covered by tons of gold.
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Tutankhamen’s grave (1371-1352 BC), discovered in 1922, contained many gold objects. The discovery, generated the possibility of estimating the production of this metal by the Egyptian people in approximately 4.8 million oz., being placed as the world's largest producers of this metal until the first century D.C.
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Based on Portigliatti (1999), "until the fall of the Roman Empire gold mining was mainly carried out in placers, being on the most important the Pactulus River in Anatolia, Turkey. Although there were also hard rock deposits in Spain, France, Brittany, Germany, Central Europe and the Middle East, with estimated production around 250,000 oz. per year. "
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During the Middle Ages, gold’s production decreases heavily due to the exhaustion of European and Middle Eastern placers, reaching about 100,000 oz. per year. Being the Celtic people in Ireland the most prolific in this field. At the end of the 16th century, the discovery of America, led to new deposits development from the West Indies to South America, contributing most of the world’s gold production during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
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Between 1492 and 1600, a production in American lands of 10,000,000 oz. of gold was estimated, corresponding to 40% of world production. It increased over the next 2 centuries to 38,000,000 oz., having 80% of world’s production. From this moment, the world’s gold production suffered a big increase due to the discovery of placers and deposits in hard rock of Siberia, California, Australia and New Zealand between 1820 and 1880. Also, placers and veins of Alaska and Yukon in the United States and Canada, along with the hard rock deposits of the Witwatersrand in South Africa between 1890 and 1920. These discoveries led to a figure of 16,580,000 oz. in the first period, 44,100,000 oz. in the second.
While it should be noted that since the 19th century gold production has been linked to hard rock deposits, there are numerous countries where gold mining is an important industrial activity from medium to artisan scale operations.
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It is estimated that between 1933 and 1965 15% of the world's gold production corresponds to this type of exploitation, reducing to 9% in 1992. Historically 25% of the total gold benefited by man has been from placers. Currently countries like; United States, New Zealand, Canada and Russia have this type of exploitation.
