Minas de Corrales moves away from gold and approaches iron. The locality of the department of Riveraknown for its historical gold miningtakes almost four years without activityits most qualified workers have had to go to work in other departments and current proposals to revive its economy come from the side of the iron deposits.
The locality of 3,788 inhabitants according to the 2011 Population Census, located 96 km from the city of Rivera and 60 km from the city of Tacuarembolive today times of uncertaintyaway from its characteristic activity and attentive to the different investment proposals that may come to revive a mining sector that knew how to employ up to 700 people.
In the mine, it was possible to produce 70 thousand ounces of gold in the year 2003this amount was decreasing until obtaining between 2012 and 2015 an average of 30 thousand ounces per year.
In mid-2018 the Canadian company Orosur miningthe only one dedicated to the exploitation and processing of gold in the country, ceased its activity at the San Gregorio mine and sent most of its workers to unemployment insurance. At that time, the lack of financing for its projects and some environmental permits led Loryser SA –one of its subsidiaries– to declare bankruptcy.
Uruguay practically stopped exporting gold in August 2018, according to customs data. This year, the firm Loryser made sales for US$ 16.3 million whose destination was the Swiss market. In 2017, sales to that market had climbed to US$43.7 million and by US$40.6 million in 2016.
Currently they are still being maintenance tasks in the mine and tailings dam closure (they are used to store water and waste derived from the extraction process), under supervision of the Ministry of Environment (MA).
Municipality of Minas de Corrales
Corrales Mines
Far from gold near iron
In mid-August 2020, a Canadian firm was in talks with the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM) with the intention of investing in Minas de Corrales and reviving the activity. But nevertheless, the talks did not come to fruition and through the pandemic, the company withdrew its interest.
Marcelo Pugliesi, National Director of Mining and Geology of the MIEMsaid to The Observer that they are looking for new investors to reactivate gold production but that “It is not easy mainly because of the capital needed to start up again.”.
The estimates made by the hierarch show a minimum investment of US$ 40 million but he was emphatic that “it is difficult to make numbers in mining without carrying out previous studies” due to the fact that there are different variables such as production, drainage from the quarries – especially the underground ones -, complementary explorations and type of machinery, among others.
Hugo Pereira, Secretary of the Municipality of Minas de Corralestold The Observer that interest in iron extraction over gold is gaining strength and that there are several interested companies.
Pugliesi, for his part, specified that the interested companies are in a stage of exploration of what the Cerro del Papagayo area – southeast of Minas de Corrales – to determine “if there are volumes of iron that warrant significant production”.
In addition, he reported that there a Uruguayan company that will start small-scale iron production in 2023. “It is a small project. It’s not like Aratirí, which is around 18-20 million tons a year. Here we are talking about an enterprise of 300 thousand tons per year”, he explained.
Municipality of Minas de Corrales
Corrales Mines
Workers had to reinvent themselves
The mining company had a regular workforce of 400 employeesaccording to Pereira, who also indicated that 700 workers were reached during production peaks and that closer to the closure of the company, the workforce reached a minimum of 200 employees.
With the closure of Orosur Mining, these workers went on unemployment insurance and some are in that condition to this day. However, they are a minority since, as Pereira explained, thanks to the training that many obtained during their years of work in the mine –in what has to do with the operation of heavy machinery, for example– They were recruited to work on the central railway and the UPM II plant in Pueblo Centenario, Durazno.
The secretary of the Municipality of Minas de Corrales valued this situation and the “continuity of labor sources” that he provided to the town. “In gross numbers, we must have about 100 people unemployed”, he explained.
Along these lines, he maintained that there is great expectation for the arrival of companies interested in the exploitation of iron since it is “what is most advanced” and could “provide labor faster”. The installation of the small iron production enterprise planned for 2023 added to the fact that another of the interested companies advances in the investment process could generate between 30 and 50 new jobs.
