Iron ore, coal, and limestone deposits in Colombia, as a base for the iron and steel industry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32685/0120-1425/bol.geol.1.1.1953.68Keywords:
Colombia, Exploration, Mineral Deposits, Magnetite, Hematite, Siderite, Oolite
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Abstract
Having completed the first stage of economic evolution in the temperate and cold zones of the interior of Colombia based on agriculture and livestock, the country has extended its activities. It entered the second phase, based on large-scale heavy industry, which is being developed in the Belencito Center of the raw materials area of Paz de Rio, north of the town of Sogamoso, in the department of Boyacá. The high cost of transportation from the coasts to the interior has had an important influence on the decision to find the National Iron and Steel Company of Paz de Rio, located in a land with 100 million tons of oolite of 48%, proven, probable, and possible; 15 million tons of coal available and 1900 million tons unproven in a surrounding area of 400 km2; and 65 million tons of limestone. For transport reasons, the product will be destined mainly to supply the eastern interior of the country Therefore, it will be necessary to foresee the possibility of installing similar plants in the centers of development of the West and the North. To this effect, the determination of the raw materials leaves something to be desired. However, it can be said that a deposit of iron ore in the upper course of the San Jorge River (department of Cordoba), provisionally estimated at 50 million tons with a 55% content, could serve the supply of the central northern part, warning that it does not have coking coal or limestone of high concentration in the vicinity. Medellín deposit has a low percentage of iron ore (30% Fe) and does not enjoy appreciable quantities of coking coal in the vicinity. The supply with suitable limestone would be distant. There is sufficient coking coal and limestone available in the Valle del Cauca plain (Cali), but exploration being incipient, no iron ore deposits are yet known.
