Argentina's mineral resources are mainly divided into oil, natural gas, copper, gold, silver, lithium, boron, uranium, iron, and other ores.
petroleum
Argentina is a country with abundant oil and gas resources in South America. Argentina was also the first country in the world to nationalize the oil industry and establish a national oil company. Argentina achieved self-sufficiency in oil and gas in the 1980s; After the privatization of the oil and gas industry in the 1990s, it attracted a large amount of foreign investment and achieved rapid development. At present, the proven oil reserves in Argentina are 343 million tons, distributed in the Chaco Basin and Cayman Sito Basin in the north, the Cuyo Basin and Neuqu é n Basin in the west, and the San Jorge Bay Basin and Magellan Basin in the south.
In addition, Argentina has 27 billion barrels of technically recoverable shale oil reserves, ranking fourth in the world after Russia, the United States, and China (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2012). In the 1990s, Argentina's oil industry developed rapidly, with oil production reaching 308 million barrels in 1998, making it one of the major oil exporting countries in Latin America; Since 2000, due to a lack of policy support and other reasons, Argentina's oil and natural gas production has been declining year by year. The four major oil fields that have been identified are: Rear Admiral Rivadavia City Oil Field in Chubut Province, Prasa Vinkul Oil Field in Neuqu é n Province, Tupengjato Oil Field in Mendoza Province, and the oil field in the border area between Huhui Province and Salta Province.
natural gas
70% of natural gas resources are distributed in the northern province of Salta, and 15% in the southern province of Tierra del Fuego. In 2015, the proven reserves of natural gas in Argentina were 350 billion cubic meters, the potential reserves were 319 billion cubic meters, and the annual output was 42.8 billion cubic meters. In 2016, the mining output of natural gas in Argentina was 44.9 billion cubic meters. The proven reserves in 2017 amounted to 442 billion km ³.
These two charts are from the "2017-2022 China Oil and Gas Exploration Market Operation Situation and Investment Strategy Consulting Report" and the trend chart of Argentina's natural gas production and consumption from 2005 to 2015. In addition, Argentina also has abundant shale gas resources, mainly distributed in the Necken Basin and Cuyo Basin. In 2011, the US Energy Information Administration listed Argentina as the world's third largest shale gas reserve country, second only to China and the United States. In summary, due to the impact of the economic environment, Argentina's natural gas production has been declining year by year (with a trend of recovery). While energy production is gradually shrinking, Argentina's economy is growing rapidly, driving a sustained increase in energy demand. However, nearly 90% of energy demand relies on oil and natural gas, which has accounted for over half of Argentina's domestic energy demand in the past decade. This has made the contradiction between natural gas supply and demand in Argentina increasingly prominent, and energy imports have also been steadily increasing.
copper
Argentine copper mines are mainly distributed in the Andes metallogenic belt along the Chile Argentina border, which stretches for more than 1000 kilometers from Salta Province in the north to Neuqu é n Province in the south. There are dozens of mineral deposits in the belt, mainly of porphyry type, often accompanied by gold, silver, and molybdenum deposits. The region is also a mineral producing area for lead, zinc, gold, silver, iron, potassium, manganese, tin, antimony, and other minerals. The main copper deposits are Bajo de La Alumbrera, El Pach ó n, and Agua Rica. The production of copper mines in Argentina has been declining in recent years, a decrease of 41% compared to 187000 tons in 2005. In 2013, 110000 tons of copper concentrate were produced, a year-on-year decrease of 19.1%. The Bajo de La Alumbrera copper gold mine is located in the Catamarca province of northwestern Argentina, at an altitude of 2560 meters. This mine is the only copper mine produced in Argentina, producing 425000 ounces of gold and 143000 tons of copper in 2009. The proven copper reserves are 3.91 million tons with a copper grade of 1.51%, and the gold reserves are 491 tons with a gold grade of 0.64 grams per ton. The El Pach ó n copper molybdenum mine is located in the province of San Juan and is the largest copper mine in Argentina. The mine has a resource of 32.8 million tons of metallic copper with a copper grade of 0.55%; The proven reserves exceed 5.3 million tons, with an average grade of 0.69%. The Paqiong copper mine is currently undergoing mining construction and is expected to start production in 2018, with an annual output of 200000 tons of copper concentrate. The Agua Rica copper molybdenum gold deposit is one of the important undeveloped copper gold molybdenum deposits in the world, located in the province of Catamarca. The mine has reserves of 8.14 million tons of copper metal, 414 tons of gold, and 630000 tons of molybdenum, and feasibility studies have been completed. Aguarica and two other potential large-scale copper mining projects such as Los Azules and Taca Taca do not have exact production dates.
gold
Argentina has discovered 337 gold deposits and mineralization points, distributed in 21 mineralization zones. In 2015, Argentina's gold production was 57.6 tons and silver production was 768 tons. The main large-scale gold mines are Valadero and Pascua Lama. The Valadero shallow low-temperature hydrothermal gold deposit is located in the province of San Juan, and its main ore minerals include natural gold, gold and silver ore, pyrite, chalcopyrite, alum, and clay. The ore reserves announced in 1999 were 118 million tons, with an average grade of 1.4 grams of gold per ton and 21.8 grams of silver per ton. The Pascua Lama shallow low-temperature hydrothermal gold mine, also located in the province of San Juan, is an extension of the Pascua mine in Chile to Argentina, with Chile accounting for 80% and Argentina accounting for 20%. Currently, the two sides are jointly mining. The estimated ore reserves are 325 million tons, with an average grade of 1.4 grams of gold per ton and 59 grams of silver per ton. In 2013, Argentina produced 52.7 tons of gold, a year-on-year decrease of 2.8%. In 2010, gold production increased significantly by 36%, reaching 63 tons, the highest level in history. Almost all existing gold production enterprises are foreign mining companies. In 2013, Barrick Gold, a Canadian gold company, produced 19.9 tons of gold from the Beradalou gold mine, a decrease of 15 tons from the historical peak of 34.9 tons in 2010. The Anglo Gold Company in South Africa has a production capacity of 8.1 tons at the Banguadia gold mine located in the province of Santa Cruz. In 2014, the San Jose gold mine produced 4.1 tons of gold, while the Maandia gold mine produced 1.9 tons of gold.
Lithium and boron
At present, the global lithium reserves are 13 million tons, and the lithium resources are 39 million tons. South America is the region with the richest brine lithium resources in the world, accounting for about 85% of the world's brine lithium resources. It is mainly distributed in the Puna Plateau, including Bolivia (9 million tons), Argentina (6.5 million tons), and Chile (7.5 million tons), and is known as the world's lithium triangle region. The lithium resources in Argentina are mainly distributed in the Puna Plateau, with a salt layer thickness generally ranging from tens of meters to over 100 meters. The lithium content in the brine is 0.01% to 0.09%, accompanied by 0.34% to 0.91% potassium and 0.01% to 0.90% B2O3. The Puna Plateau salt lake (marsh) has abundant resources of K, Li, and B in brine, low magnesium lithium ratio, good resource endowment conditions, superior mining process conditions, and low product production costs. Argentina is the second largest producer of boron in the world and the largest in South America. Boron is mainly distributed in salt lakes in the northwest, coexisting with lithium and potassium. The boron reserves are 2 million tons and the resources are 30 million tons.
Uranium and iron mines
Argentina has 1.1 billion tons of iron ore, ranking second in South America after Brazil. Uranium is one of the relatively abundant minerals in Argentina, with a reserve of 29400 tons in 2015, mainly located in the provinces of Salta, Cordoba, Mendoza, and Chubut. Argentina's uranium industry development level ranks among the top in Latin America, capable of independently producing enriched uranium. It is one of the earliest Latin American countries to research and utilize atomic energy, and the first nuclear power plant in Latin America was built in 1974. In the 1950s, with the earliest nuclear research and technological developments, Argentina began mining uranium deposits. Between 1952 and 1996, 5600 tons of uranium ore were extracted and 2500 tons of enriched uranium were produced. In the late 1980s, due to the impact of low international uranium prices and the Chernobyl disaster, Argentina's nuclear activities significantly decreased, most uranium mining facilities were closed, and mining exploration and extraction were suspended. In 2003, the Argentine government announced a new nuclear development plan, encouraging both government and private nuclear development activities.
Lead zinc mines in Argentina are mainly distributed in the Aguilar region of Jujuy Province and the Castanoobejo region of San Juan Province. The reserves of Agilar lead-zinc mine are approximately 66 million tons, including 6.2% lead, 7.6% zinc, and accompanied by gold and silver.
There are more than 30 varieties of non-metallic minerals, including gypsum, porcelain clay, salt, sulfur, borate, quartz, etc. Mainly distributed in Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Saint Louis, Entre Rios, La Pampa, Chubut and other provinces. Porcelain clay is distributed in most parts of the country, gypsum is mainly distributed in provinces such as Entre Rios and Rio Negro, sulfur is produced in provinces such as Mendoza, San Juan, and Salta, and borates are mostly found in provinces such as Buenos Aires and La Pampa. In the composition of non-metallic mineral products, the top three are gypsum, porcelain clay, and salt. In the entire mining production, the production speed of non-metallic minerals has accelerated, but their proportion has been continuously decreasing.
