Amount of farmable lands in Patagonia up to 70-80%. Large climatic variations from northwest (Mendoza, temperate-warm) to Tierra del Fuego (cold-yet-not-polar).
As the State of Israel (or any civilization) started; with farming; kibbutzim:
"AMIA presenta nueva central sobre Colonias Agrícolas Judías en Argentina
Aquí se muestra que siempre han tenido los ojos puestos en nuestro país.
Fue el Barón Mauricio de Hirsch, célebre filántropo judeo-alemán, quien ideó y financió un plan de colonización de vastas proporciones. A lo largo de más de medio siglo, a través de la Jewish Colonization Association que él creo, asentó en distintas provincias de la Argentina a miles de inmigrantes judíos. Favoreció así no sólo sus trayectorias individuales, sino también su integración y legitimación en el país en tanto colectividad étnico-religiosa. De esta vivencia es que nace la mítica figura del "gaucho judío"."[A 1]
"South America's largest landowner, Chile's Forestal Arauco (CELCO) owns plantations in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, which amount to around 1.6 million hectares. The heirs of the late Anacleto Angelini are the majority shareholders in the firm."[L 1]
As pioneers, Chubut prohibited the use of glyphosate in all its territory (June 25, 2019 !):
"25 de junio de 2019
El herbicida, cada vez más cuestionado - Chubut prohibió el uso del glifosato
La Legislatura de la provincia patagónica fue la primera en sancionar una ley para impedir el uso del químico en la producción agrícola. Recibimos a Enrique Viale, representante de la Asociación Argentina de Abogados Ambientalistas.
En respuesta a la decisión de la provincia patagónica, las cadenas de cultivos emitieron un comunicado en que expresaron su preocupación porque “no se tengan en cuenta criterios objetivos tales como la opinión científica, estadísticas, trabajos de investigación realizados por organismos nacionales e internacionales, así como la vasta bibliografía sobre el tema”.
De manera pionera, Chubut prohibió el uso de glifosato en todo su territorio."[A 2]
So, while in June 2019 glyphosate (Monsanto) was forbidden in Chubut (Patagonia!), in Córdoba (far to the north) and elsewhere in Argentina, Monsanto is pushing to build a huge GMO plant...
"The agency in which these people are collected is called the National Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology (Conabia). According to Aranda, it is composed of representatives of Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Indear/Bioceres, Pioneer/DuPont, Don Mario, ASA (Seed Companies’ Association), Aapresid (Association of No-Till Producers – farmers who grow GM crops and use herbicide applications to control weeds), Argenbio and INTA (National Institute of Agricultural Technology). Out of 34 members, 26 belong to the same companies that produce seeds or are scientists with conflicts of interest.
Aranda writes that Conabia is a select and secretive group that decides which seeds are approved yet avoids responsibility for the resulting impacts: massive use of agrochemicals, land clearance, evictions, and health conditions. They are presented as “scientists”, “technicians” or “experts”, and hide their links with the companies that produce transgenics.
This corrupt system is having a devastating impact on the environment and the health of rural populations – just to supply GMO animal feed to factory farms in Europe.
Conabia was created on October 24, 1991, when the government of Carlos Menem made the decision to introduce GM crops in Argentina. It defined its profile as "scientific-technical". Its composition was kept secret until 2014, when the information was leaked to MU, the magazine of the cooperative organization Lavaca. Of 47 members, more than half (27) were employed by GMO seed companies and had conflicts of interest.
An example was Martin Lema, the head of Conabia and current director of Biotechnology in the Ministry of Agriculture, who published scientific papers with the very same companies that Conabia was supposed to be regulating: Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF and Dow Agroscience.
This news was not taken up by any of the hundreds of agricultural journalists, who recycle information from those same companies and often repeat the slogan “GM crops are safe”.
Intacta
Those within Conabia felt exposed for the first time: they refused to give interviews, nor did they attempt any explanation. The revelations impacted a legal case brought by the NGO Naturaleza de Derechos (Natural Rights) over the approval of Monsanto’s Intacta GM soybeans. The lawyer Fernando Cabaleiro was able to show that Conabia worked for two decades without internal regulations and without the participation of citizens, who had objected to the whole procedure.
Last year the Commission celebrated its 25th anniversary. As part of the festivities, they announced “the approval of two biotechnological events”, according to a notice put out by the Ministry of Agroindustry on November 2, 2016.
The Secretary for Added Value [sic. – El secretario de Agregado de Valor], Néstor Roulet, stressed “the contribution of Conabia to the technological development of agricultural activity”. The celebration was held at the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange. There they approved new soybean and corn seeds tolerant to the herbicides 2,4-D, glyphosate and glufosinate ammonium. The beneficiary was the US company Dow AgroScience.
“No recording”
Martín Lema, director of Biotechnology in the Ministry of Agroindustry, and head of he Conabia, has three points in common with the Minister of Science, Lino Barañao: they are strong proponents of the GMO model; they have links with, and work with, companies in the sector; and both moved from positions in the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to that of her successor, Mauricio Macri.
Lema does not talk to the press. MU attempted to interview him repeatedly, but only once did he propose a meeting, specifying that there must be no recording or note-taking. “I want to clarify some things”, he said. MU insisted that it would only agree to meet for the purposes of an interview. The meeting was never held.
Lema did speak with the rural supplement Clarín on November 4, 2016. The article was titled: “Argentina is a world benchmark in agricultural biotechnology”.
Lema stressed that Conabia
“guarantees the safety for the environment and for people of all products used in the Argentine countryside”.
He said that the criticisms of GM crops originate from “those who spread disinformation because they serve various interests and have a political agenda”.
Lema welcomed the fact that Argentina is the third biggest grower of GMOs after the United States and Brazil.
“This week two more soybean events were approved. Close to 40 have been authorized in the country, a third of them under my mandate,” he said. And he described the future: GMO “trees that produce better wood, improved flowers, more nutritious rice and plants resistant to drought”.
The winners
Through a former member of Conabia, MU was able to access an updated list of the current members. To the old squad have been added other officials with conflicts of interests:
Natalia Ceballos Ríos. General Coordinator of the Biotechnology Group or “Bio Group”, which includes and is financed by seed companies, cereal firms and agrochemical companies such as Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dow, and Pioneer/DuPont, among others.
Alejandro Tozzini, former manager of Monsanto, currently of Syngenta.
Gustavo Abratti, head of “regulatory” affairs for DuPont-Pioneer.
Miguel Rapela and Fabiana Malacarne (Asociación de Semilleros de Argentina/Association of Seed Companies of Argentina, which brings together all the multinational companies that market GM seeds).
Gabriela Levitus of Argenbio, a scientific and political lobbying organization founded by Syngenta, Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, Bioceres, Dow, Nidera and Pioneer.
Claudio Gabriel Robredo, Monsanto’s “director of regulatory affairs” between 2000 and 2011. He currently owns his own company, AgroReg, where he provides “advisory and management services in the crop and seeds regulatory area”. AgroReg is a member of ASA (Asociación de Semilleros Argentinos/Association of Seed Companies of Argentina).
Silvia Lede, from the multinational BASF.
Mariano Devoto, agricultural engineer and professor of botany at the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). He works within the framework of an agreement with Syngenta in the research project, “Pollination of soybeans: a study at different scales”.
Jorge Zavala, agricultural engineer and professor of biochemistry. He works alongside Eduardo Pagano, the former vice-dean and one of the representatives of agribusiness in the Faculty of Agronomy at the UBA. Zavala is also deputy director of the Institute of Research in Agricultural and Environmental Biosciences (INBA, of Fauba), where he and Pagano work in collaboration with GMO companies.
Santiago D’Alessio, director of wildlife at the Undersecretariat of Planning and Environmental Policy of the Nation.
Abelardo Portugal. Agronomist, former president and representative of Aianba (Association of Agronomic Engineers of Buenos Aires North) and part of the organization Maizar, in which all the companies in the sector participate. Aianba is sponsored by Bayer, Dow and Monsanto, among other companies.
Mauro Meier, of the Argentine Cooperatives Association (la Asociación de Cooperativas Argentinas), which defines itself as “one of the main grain operators in the country in the commercialization of cereals and oilseeds”. It’s part of the GMO industry.
Elba María Pagano is another INTA representative, responsible for the promotion of transgenics. Linked to Red Bio Argentina (Biotechnology Network of Argentina), a forum where scientific-technical agribusiness drivers converge.
Mariano Podworny, of the Coordination of Special Projects of Biotechnology at the National Institute of Seeds (Inase).
Old acquaintances
The following people continue to occupy their seats in Conabia:
Dalia Marcela (((Lewi))) (INTA). Part of the Institute of Genetics of INTA. Author of the book Biotechnology and Plant Breeding II, with co-author (((Clara Rubinstein))) of Monsanto Argentina. He also investigated the resistance of transgenic maize to cold and salinity together with the agribusiness company Bioceres and was a member of ILSI’s Biotechnology Committee, along with researchers from Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow Agrosciences.
Miguel Alvarez Arancedo, director of regulatory affairs at Monsanto.
Magdalena Sosa Beláustegui, manager of regulatory affairs and seeds for Bayer Cono Sur.
Mirta Antongiovanni, regulatory affairs manager for the seed company Don Mario.
Gerónimo Watson, technology director of Bioceres/Indear, where Gustavo Grobocopatel (chairman of Grupo Los Grobo, one of the largest agribusiness companies in Argentina) is a Board Member. Víctor Trucco (honorary president of Aapresid) is director and the chief executive officer at Bioceres.
Fernando Bravo Almonacid (Conicet) is an """independent""" researcher at the Conicet Institute of Research in Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology (Ingebi-UBA) and works on the genetic improvement of the potato. After six years of work, in 2013 he developed a new variety which is intended to be more resistant to viruses. In 2015 he obtained the approval of Conabia – of which he is himself a member – for a potato resistant to a virus. The company in charge of the transgenic potato is Tecnoplant, part of the Sidus Group.
Monica Liliana Pequeño Araujo and Ana Vicario (for Inase).
Silvia Passalacqua and Leonardo Gorodsky (Senasa, the Argentine National Food Safety and Quality Service).
Gustavo Schrauf, from the Faculty of Agronomy at the UBA.
Sara Maldonado (Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences at the UBA).
Hugo Permingeat, of the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences of Rosario. As secretary general of the Faculty and along with the dean (Liliana Ramirez), he openly justified the private presence in the public university: “Monsanto trains its employees here. They are agronomists who provide them with postgraduate training and Monsanto values the training we offer.” This was the way he justified the fact that Monsanto, Pioneer and Syngenta had “donated” a laboratory of biotechnology to the Faculty, along with equipment worth USD 300,000.
Lucas (((Lieber))), of the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences of the University of Rosario. His CV details his work at the Indear/Bioceres company.
Andrés Venturino, from the Center for Research in Environmental Toxicology and Agrobiotechnology at the University of Comahué [PATAGONIA].
Atilio Castagnaro is an expert at the Estación Experimental Agro industrial Obispo Colombres (EEAOC). In 2011 he was part of a team of Mercosur scientists who created a robot that looks for those soybean plants that best withstand drought. Two companies participated in the working group (and patenting): Nidera (one of the big agro-multinationals) and Indear/Bioceres (Rosario Agrobiotechnology Institute).
Alejandro Petek, of the business organization Aapresid (Association of No-Till Producers), a lobbying forum that promotes the GMO model of agriculture. He now has a position in the Ministry of Agroindustry.
Luis Negruchi, also from Aapresid.
No critical voice
In 2017 Conabia, which according to its official announcements supports “transparency”, has 34 members for the approval of GMO seeds. A large majority of them – 26 – belong to companies that produce GM crops or are scientists/entrepreneurs with conflicts of interest.
That is: they sit on both sides of the counter, both as a regulator and as a part of the industry that directly benefits from a favourable opinion on the GM crop.
The body responsible for releasing seeds of soybeans, maize, cotton, potatoes and sugar cane and for the growing crops has no scientist critical of the development of GMOs. It also has no representatives of civil society.
In private hearings and without public records, 34 people decide that the future of 24 million hectares will be to grow GM crops that involve the massive use of pesticides.
They also conceal the approval dossiers for these GM crops.
If a university, research institute, social organization or journalist wants to access the approval dossiers for soybeans, maize, cotton or transgenic potatoes, they cannot: they are “confidential”.
The results are well known: since 1996, 41 GM soybean, maize, cotton and potato "events" have been approved in Argentina. The beneficiaries were Syngenta, Monsanto, Bayer, Indear, Dow, Tecnoplant and Pioneer and Nidera, among others – the very same companies that dominate Conabia."[A 3]
"Anti-Monsanto and environmental activists also held events in Germany, Switzerland, Serbia, Portugal, Australia, Argentina, Chile and the United States.
May 18, 2019 marks the seventh edition of the Global March Against Monsanto, which was initiated May 25, 2013 to protest against glyphosate and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) created by the mega-corporation.
"We want a alternative, ecological and productive agriculture which is capable of providing farmers with a fair income and consumers with healthy and affordable goods," a French woman protesting in Strasbourg, France told local media saying what's also required is "transparent agriculture without GMOs," which cause severe damage to a crop's surrounding biodiversity."[A 4]
09-01-2016
"Activists mobilized across the country to stand in solidarity with communities affected by Monsanto and reject the eviction of a Monsanto protest camp.
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Argentina to protest Monsanto following news of an impending eviction at a key resistance camp blocking a huge Monsanto GMO seed plant in the agricultural province of Córdoba.
Protests in Buenos Aires and other major cities on Friday slammed Monsanto over the dangers of widespread use of toxic agrochemicals on large-scale export crops like GMO soy and corn that cover large swathes of agricultural areas, shouting slogans like "Monsanto, get out!"
The protests stood in solidarity with the Monsanto blockade in the Malvinas Argentinas municipality in the province of Córdoba, where a resistance camp has managed to suspend construction of a new Monsanto GMO seed plant.
The camp was recently handed down an eviction notice, prompting the day of action against Monsanto’s project in Malvinas Argentinas and ongoing presence across the country.
Activists set up the blockade in 2013, self-organized under the banner of being “in favor of food sovereignty and life.” The camp has successfully blocked the completion of the GMO plant.
The latest wave of anti-Monsanto protests come after Buenos Aires Governor Maria Eugenia Vidal appointed former Monsanto executive Leonardo Sarquis as the Minister of Agriculture in the province. Sarquis was the general manager of Monsanto's vegetable seed division for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay from 2005 to 2007.
President Mauricio Macri has also shown his support for big agribusiness in his first month in office. In a move he promoted as a boost to agricultural production, Macri scrapped export taxes on big agricultural corporations producing corn, wheat, and beef, and lowered taxes on soybeans, eliminating a key funding source of social programs and infrastructure governments under his Kirchnerist predecessors.
"Malvinas resists for life!"
Argentina is the world's largest soybean producer, and Monsanto sees the country as a target for future growth.
According to activists, the province of Cordoba where Monsanto wants to build the GMO plant is suffering an "environmental emergency."
The movement against Monsanto, agrochemicals, and GMOs in Argentina is part of a larger mobilization of social organizations and researchers across Latin America that have also spoken out against Monsanto products in pursuit of wider ban of the biotechnology company in the region."[A 5]
"“Monsanto and industry stakeholders continue to engage in positive dialogue with the government of Argentina,” the company said in a statement from Buenos Aires, adding that the government should have “a predictable business environment that recognizes intellectual property protection.”
A source at the Agricultural Ministry said there would likely be advances at the talks soon.
Argentina, the world’s third biggest exporter of raw soybeans, is expected by the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange to harvest a 56-million-tonne crop this year. The estimate was cut from a previous forecast of 60 million tonnes due to floods that hit key farm areas in April.
Reporting by Hugh Bronstein and Maximiliano Rizzi; writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by David Gregorio
"MALVINAS ARGENTINAS, Córdoba, Argentina , Dec 2 2013 (IPS) - The people of this working-class suburb of Córdoba in Argentina’s central farming belt stoically put up with the spraying of the weed-killer glyphosate on the fields surrounding their neighbourhood. But the last straw was when U.S. biotech giant Monsanto showed up to build a seed plant.
The creator of glyphosate, whose trademark is Roundup, and one of the world’s leading producers of genetically modified seeds, Monsanto is building one of its biggest plants to process transgenic corn seed in Malvinas Argentinas, this poor community of 15,000 people 17 km east of the capital of the province of Córdoba.
The plant was to begin operating in March 2014. But construction work was brought to a halt in October by protests and legal action by local residents, who have been blocking the entrance to the site since Sept. 18.
On the morning of Saturday Nov. 30, troops arrived at the plant, as seen in this video posted on Facebook, and escorted several trucks out of the construction site. The trucks had forced their way past the roadblock on Thursday Nov. 28, when members of the construction union stormed into the camp set up by local residents, with the aim of breaking the blockade. More than 20 people were injured in the clash.
The protesters don’t like to describe themselves as environmentalists, and do not identify with any specific political party. Most of them are women.
In Malvinas Argentinas, one of the poorest districts in the province, everyone knows someone with respiratory problems or allergic reactions that coincide with the spraying of fields around Córdoba, one of the biggest producers of transgenic soy in this South American country, which is the world’s third largest producer of soy.
Doctors have also reported a rise in cases of cancer and birth defects.
But the final stroke was Monsanto’s plans for a local seed plant.
“I’m participating because I’m afraid of illness and death,” María Torres, a local resident, told Tierramérica*. “My son is already sick, and if Monsanto comes things will get worse,” she added, in the midst of a protest that this reporter accompanied in mid-November.
Her 13-year-old son was at home, with sinusitis and a nosebleed. “In Malvinas, a lot of people have the same symptoms,” she said.
Montenegro complained that the Córdoba Secretariat of the Environment authorised construction of the plant without taking into account studies by an independent interdisciplinary commission.
In the case of transgenic crops, there are “external pesticides,” like the ones that are sprayed on the fields, and pesticides “that come from inside the seeds,” such as the Cry1Ab protein in Monsanto’s MON810 GM maize, said Montenegro.
Each MON810 corn seed contains between 190 and 390 ng/g of the protein, whose impacts on health and biodiversity are not clear.
“In Canada it was found that pregnant and non-pregnant women had insecticide protein in their blood,” added the biologist, saying this runs counter to Monsanto’s claim that the proteins are degraded in the digestive tract.
According to a study by the University Network, the seeds to be processed by the plant in Malvinas Argentinas will be impregnated with substances such as propoxur, deltamethrin, pirimiphos ethyl, trifloxystrobin, ipconazole, metalaxyl and especially clothianidin, an insecticide banned by the European Union.
For now, the Monsanto plant construction site is blocked by five camps, where men and women – some there with their children – take turns keeping the trucks out.
Daniela Pérez, a mother of five, told Tierramérica that “this was a quiet town,” where people barely complained about problems like the lack of paved roads.
“Now what is at stake is the health of the children,” she said. “We feel so impotent…there is no one defending us.”
Soledad Escobar has four children who attend a school located next to the lot where the plant is being built.
“I’m worried about the silos and the chemical products they use,” she said. “Because of the changes in the climate, it’s now windy year-round in Córdoba and the school is right next door – I live across the street.”
Another protester, Beba Figueroa, said “What the TV and newspapers are saying, that there are political parties involved in this, isn’t true…most of us are mothers who are scared for our children.”
The demonstrators said many local residents were not taking part out of fear of losing their municipal jobs and the social assistance they receive from the government.
The protest that Tierramérica accompanied from the town square to the camps had a festive atmosphere, with colourful murga musical theatre groups, typical of the Argentine and Uruguayan carnival – a sharp contrast with the tension and violent clashes that would break out a few days later.
Like other people in this impoverished district, Matías Mansilla, his wife and their baby came out to the doorway of their humble home to watch the “carnival for life”. Mansilla didn’t take part, but he said he supports the cause “because of the illnesses that have appeared.”
A survey by two universities and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) found that 87 percent of respondents in Malvinas Argentinas wanted a plebiscite to be held, to let voters decide whether the Monsanto plant should be built, while 58 percent were opposed to the factory.
Neither the provincial government nor the company responded to Tierramérica’s request for an interview.
On its website, Monsanto claims it is committed to “sustainable agriculture.” A communiqué issued in September stated that the company had the “necessary permits” from the local authorities in Malvinas Argentinas for the construction of the plant, and that the environmental impact assessment was being studied by the provincial government.
Monsanto complained [:roll:] about “dirty campaigns [:roll:] that manipulate [:roll:] the technical data to generate fear... and lies [:roll:], in the name of environmentalism... that mask spurious interests.[:roll:]”
In April, the provincial high court dismissed a request for protective measures, presented by local residents in an attempt to block construction of the plant.
In the last few months, the police have cracked down on the protesters on several occasions. The demonstrators have also received threats.
Malvinas Argentinas forms part of a growing global movement against Monsanto. The protests in this district have drawn up to 8,000 people, Marizza said. And it’s no wonder, he added: “The monster is right on top of us.”"[A 7]
Those used to the close connection between Scientism and Corporatism, seen all over but especially in BigPharma and AGW, will not be surprised to see De Moares 1, huge owner of soy bean farmlands in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and De Moares 2 an "expert" on insecticide susceptibilities in soy bean growth.
"Nicknamed 'the King of Soya', the late Brazilian farming mogul Olacyr de Moraes was the founder of the world's largest soya plantation. Today, the magnate's children own around 390,000 hectares in South America, an area the size of Cape Verde."[L 1]
"Chinches nuevas en cultivos de soja de la región pampeana. ¡No tan nuevas!
Históricamente, en el área pampeana, los cultivos de soja han sido colonizados y perjudicados por cuatro especies de Hemípteros fitófagos (comúnmente llamados “chinches”): Nezara viridula L. (“chinche verde”), Piezodorus güildinii Westw. (“chinche de la alfalfa), Edessa meditabunda F. (“chinche alquiche chico”) y Dichelops furcatus F. (“chinche de los cuernitos”) (Massaro y otros, 1983).
SOSA-GÓMEZ, D. R.; DA SILVA, J. J.; de OLIVEIRA NEGRAO LOPES, I.; CORSO, I. C.; ALMEIDA, A. M. R.; PIUBELLI de MORAES, G. C. & BAUR, M. E. 2009. Insecticide Susceptibility of Euschistus herus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) in Brazil. J. Economic. Entomol. 102 (3):1209-1216."[A 8]
"Note: "Patagonia" is an enormous area covering all provinces in Argentina and Chile south of the Colorado River. Dealers generally put it on mineral labels just to mystify potential competitors. Many agate specimens so labelled are from either Chubut (q.v.) province or Mendoza Province (q.v.)."[R 5]
Type locations
Two minerals have their so-called type location; the location where they were first described from, in Patagonia:
(Pb,Cu)2-3(CO3)1.5-2(OH,F)0.5-1[(Al,Fe+++)2(Si,Al)4O10(OH)2]·n(H2O)' - Surite - Cruz del Sur mine, Comicó, Nueve de Julio department, Río Negro[R 9][R 10][R 11]
Disseminated ore with silicification alteration in Cretaceous granitoids.
Epithermal gold ore emplaced in late Jurassic calcalkaline andesite and dacite.
50 km NNE of the town of Gastre and 125 km south of Jacobaci Eng.
(Also includes most of the species listed for Los Manantiales district (qv).).
The "Ángela" mines and "Susana Beatriz", part of a low sulphidation polymetallic deposit since it also contains gold, lead, zinc, copper and silver, formed in the Tertiary age. Since 1992 these mines remain closed due to lack of reserves."[R 8]
Hayase, K. Dristas, J.A., Tsutsumi, S., Otsuka, R. Tanabe, S., Sudo, T. Nishiyama, T. (1978) Surite, a new Pb-rich layer silicate mineral. American Mineralogist: 63: 1175-1181. Checked 2017
Sierra de la Vaca Muerta, Zapala Department, Neuquén
"Elevation: 1,208 m. asl.
Located at the east of Provincial Route Nº 14 and 33 Km at the north of Zapala city.
Important Basin oil and outcrops of solidified oil (asphalt, var. Rafaelite) and abundant fossils that are found in the formation of the same name."[R 12]
"Stratiform gold-rich massive sulphide replacement skarn mantos, hosted in limestones, and lesser veins, hosted in dacitic volcanic rocks. Past production and reserves amount to about 10 million tons of ore grading at 8% Zn, 0.6% Cu, 1.5% Pb, 1.5 grams/ton Au and 50 grams/ton Ag, on average.
The deposit was discovered in the early 1970s. The Metallgesellschaft AG owned the property for a number of years and then sold it to a Chilean entrepreneur, who started mining it in 1984. It was subsequently purchased by Lac Minerals. In 1994, Barrick Gold Corporation acquired Lac Minerals which included El Toqui. Breakwater Resources Ltd. purchased Toqui in August 1997.
The property includes the stratiform Aserradero, Concordia, Doña Rosa-Mallin Sur, Estatuas, Mallin-Mónica, and San Antonio orebodies, and the Antolin and Zúñiga discordant vein deposits.
Chili Komitee Nederland and Onderzoeksgroep Multinationale Ondernemingen Latijns-Amerika (MOL) (1983) Het koper van Chili. Amsterdam, 55 pp. (in Dutch) (p. 18).
Wellmer, F.W., Reeve, E.J., Wentzlau, E., and Westenberger, H. (1983) Geology and ore deposits of the Toqui District, Aysen, Chile. Economic Geology, 78(6), 1119-1143.
Mining Annual Review (1985) 56.
Ruiz Fuller, C. and Peebles, F. (1988) Yacimientos metalíferos de Chile. Fondecyt (Santiago de Chile).
Townley, B.K. and Godwin, C.I. (2001) Isotope characterization of lead in galena from ore deposits of the Aysén Region, southern Chile. Mineralium Deposita, 36, 45-57.
Maksaev, V., Townley, B., Palacios, C., and Camus, F. (2007) Metallic ore deposits, in Moreno, T. and Gibbons, W. (Eds.) The Geology of Chile. The Geological Society (London), 414 pp."[R 13]
Loreto mine
Loreto Mine, Punta Arenas, Magallanes,
"One of a series of former coal mines along the Rio de Las Minas "River of Mines".
The area is now part of a National Reserve."[R 14]
Estancias Los Mirasoles, El Retiro, Los Pinos, True Aike, Pirámides, La Aurora, Balcarce, Maria Aike y La Patricia, Santa Cruz, 1300 km2 owned by Gold CORP (Canada).[L 2]
Controls all access to the lake, in dispute with local Mapuche and others about it. Tourist visits are possible (on camera), but hard to get. Owns an airstrip here and in the east of Río Negro. Bahía Dorada, Lago Escondido, la concesión del Cerro Perito Moreno y el Proyecto Laderas (Río Negro). Lewis es fundador y propietario del Grupo Tavistock y accionista de Pampa Energía.
"La Meseta del Lago Strobel es una meseta basáltica, que forma parte de la vasta meseta árida de la Patagonia extrandina. Se ubica al pie de la cordillera de los Andes, aproximadamente en el centro del Departamento Río Chico, en el centro-oeste de la Provincia de Santa Cruz. La localidad más cercanas es Gobernador Gregores.
Al centro de esta meseta se encuentra el lago Strobel. Se ubica en unas de las zonas más remotas y menos pobladas en toda la Argentina. Su superficie aproximada es de 2.600 km2, es el hogar de cientos de lagos, estanques y lagunas, dulces o salados, que son el hábitat de gran diversidad de aves. El tamaño de estos cuerpos de agua puede oscilar entre 0,5 y 700 hectáreas. Ubicado en la estepa desértica patagónica, el clima en la región es seco, extremadamente ventoso y muy frío.
El nombre de la meseta recuerda al misionero jesuitaMatías Strobel, que misionó en el norte de la Patagonia a mediados del siglo XVIII. Pero también en la Patagonia Austral, en una expedición que comenzó en el año 1745, Strobel junto con otros dos jesuitas, José Cardiel y José Quiroga, desde la Bahía de San Julián se internan 120 kilómetros al oeste, en territorio de la actual provincia de Santa Cruz, convirtiéndose en los primeros exploradores europeos en el interior del continente en esas latitudes de la patagonia austral. Otros dos lagos cercanos al Strobel recuerdan a aquéllos otros dos jesuitas, Cardiel y Quiroga."[G 2]
"Matías Strobel (en su idioma natal alemán: Matthäus Ströbel) (1696-1769) fue un sacerdote jesuita, que actuó como misionero y explorador en las colonias españolas del Virreinato del Perú desde 1729 hasta la expulsión de la orden de la Compañía de Jesús en 1768, por orden del rey Carlos III de España expedida en 1767.
Nació en la ciudad de Bruck an der Mur, en el Archiducado de Austria, el 18 de febrero de 1696, y fue ordenado sacerdote de la Iglesia católica en Viena.1
Llegó a Buenos Aires en 1729 y se incorporó para participar en la tarea de evangelización de los naturales en las misiones instaladas en la provincia jesuítica del Paraguay. En 1732 actuaba en el pueblo de Jesús, en las misiones guaraníes, que gobernó durante siete años.2
Posteriormente la Orden amplió su presencia hacia las regiones pampeanas cercanas al Río de la Plata, y también a la Patagonia lindante con las costas del Atlántico, con el auspicio de la Corona Española.
En 1740 Strobel fue designado junto al sacerdote Manuel Querini, al frente de la reducción de “Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción”, en cuya fundación intervino. Esta reducción se creó en la región pampeana al sur del río Salado de Buenos Aires, cerca de su desembocadura, en una zona considerada entonces más allá de los límites del poblamiento español. Esta reducción se formó con indígenas puelches, llamados también pampas serranos, y se mantuvo hasta 1753."[H 1]
Lago Cholila
"For several months in 1905, the outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid may have hidden from Pinkerton detectives in a cabin where the Tigre River joins Lake Cholila. The two outlaws owned a ranch near the town of Cholila.
Sport fishing is popular in the lake and in the rivers. Trout, not native to South America, are the chief attraction, including brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, and landlocked Atlantic salmon. Native species of fish include "trucha criolla" (Percichthys trucha) and "puyen" (Galaxias). Boating is popular on the lake and rafting, kayaking, and canoeing are popular on the Carrileufú River below the lake."[G 3]
"The Puerto Deseado and Colonia Las Heras Railway (native name: "Ferrocarril Puerto Deseado a Colonia Las Heras") was a State-owned railway company that ran between the cities of Puerto Deseado to Colonia Las Heras in Santa Cruz Province. The 283-km broad gauge railway was established with the intention of encouraging settlement in Patagonia, which was sparsely populated at that point. The railway also contributed to the commercialisation of wool in the region.
The railway was considered the southernmost passenger railway in the world, due to other lines of the region focusing on exploitation and transport of natural resources (such as the Comodoro Rivadavia Railway did with petroleum) rather than operating passenger services.
Decline and closure
During the 1950s trains transported oil for private companies (therefore YPF was not included). During the 1960s both passengers and freight services decreased resoundingly. From 1961-67 trains carried less than 10,000 people and 10 tons, with few exceptions such as 1962-63 (25 tons). In the last years of operation, lead -which was obtained from Lago Carreras in Chile- was the most carried merchandise.
The Argentine Government did not make any investment in the railway, so the rolling stock became obsolete. In the 1970s passenger services were served by two old Drewry railcars at 30 km/h (19 mph). Freight transport had decreased to one or two services in a month. Finally in 1978, the de facto government led by Jorge Videla closed the Puerto Deseado Railway. The Government alleged economic problems as the main reason for the closure as the deficit was considerably high.
The line was also completely dismantled, with the wagons, workshops and locomotives sold to wrecking yards. Nevertheless, some of them were preserved. Unlike the Comodoro Rivadavia Railway, rail tracks remained intact but they would deteriorate as time passed.
On December 1, 1996, the historic "Km. 200" station in Pico Truncado was destroyed by a fire.
In 2009, Correo Argentino, the National post service, released a special edition stamp commemorating the Puerto Deseado Railway's 100th anniversary. The stamp showed a steam locomotive and the Puerto Deseado station building, c. 1930."[H 2]
The Patagonian coasts and mountaintops are very windy, Antarctica even more.
15-04-2019 - Eolian energy is the main player in renewable energy now. Patagonia provides 542 MW of the 944 MW country total (57.4%) and 42 MW is obtained with hydroelectrics. In 2011, eolian energy was 1% of the energy market, 2019 is 57%.
"La Patagonia argentina es la región que más energía aporta al Sistema Argentino de Interconexión eléctrica (SADI) proveniente de proyectos de generación renovable. Según datos de la Compañía Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Eléctrico (Cammesa), esta zona del país alcanzó hasta la fecha los 589 megavatios de ERNC. Entre ellos, los parques eólicos representan 542 megavatios de potencia instalada y los restantes 47 megavatios corresponden a tecnología minihidro.
En el país, precisamente la eólica se destaca como la tecnología de generación renovable que más penetración tiene en la actualidad. Ya alcanza los 944 MW, presentes en la región Centro (48 MW), Buenos Aires (256 MW), Comahue (40 MW), Noroeste (58 MW) y la anteriormente mencionada Patagonia (542 MW)."[E 3]
99 MW park opened in Buenos Aires Province (2018).[E 4]
European Wind Turbine Manufacturers Flock to Argentina (2018)
"Argentina offers a bright spot for international turbine companies as the wind industry faces falling prices and slower growth. The country received $1.8 billion in clean power investments last year, up from almost nothing in 2016, and has some ambitious goals, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That’s especially attractive for Nordex, which expects weak demand this year in its core European market and is seeking to cut costs.
“We intend to be a very active player in Argentina,” Vincent Riedweg, Nordex’s country manager for Argentina, said in an interview. “Localizing production in Argentina is a way to reduce the cost of energy.” The company is in advanced talks with a local industrial partner that will help it set up the facility and expects to formally announce the plant within a few weeks, though he declined to say where.
Argentina got about 60 percent of its energy from fossil fuels in 2016 and almost nothing from renewables. It’s set a goal of boosting clean-energy consumption to 20 percent by 2025, a plan that will include 10 GW of new wind farms — equivalent to about 10 """nuclear power""" plants."[E 5]
Parque eólico construido por la empresa Genneia en Puerto Madryn, en la patagonia argentina. (2018)
"Solo entre el 2% y el 3% de la energía eléctrica que consume Argentina procede de fuentes renovables, pero aspira al 20% en 2025. El marco regulatorio para semejante gesta es el Régimen de Fomento Nacional, aprobado durante el kirchnerismo y al que el presidente Mauricio Macri ha dado continuidad a través del programa RenovAr. "Se han adjudicado hasta la fecha 197 proyectos de energías renovables por 5.941 MW, de los cuales 86 —3.067 MW— se encuentran ya en operación o construcción. El monto de inversión estimada es 4.500 millones de dólares", dice el subsecretario de Energías Renovables, Sebastián (((Kind))).
Los recursos naturales sobran: viento constante en la Patagonia y sol abrasador en el norte. En los últimos 12 meses, la generación renovable creció un 35% sin que el desarrollo de Vaca Muerta, una verdadera aspiradora de inversiones, supusiese, al menos por ahora, un límite. "Son éxitos complementarios. Estamos ante dos sectores que de ningún modo consideramos excluyentes", dice Kind."[E 6]
8 MW park opened in Santiago del Estero (2015).[E 7]
Developer: Pampa Energia (Marcelo Mindlin, has 40,000 ha in Río Negro & Chubut)
Operator: Pampa Energia
Owner: Pampa Energia
Localization
Latitude: -38° 43' 15.8"
Longitude: -62° 19' 35"
Geodetic system: WGS84
Precise localization: no
Potential in Patagonia (2011)
"Strong, reliable winds in Patagonia offer potential for wind power growth. The relatively narrow landmass separating the Atlantic and Pacific oceans creates wind-promoting pressure differentials similar to those in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, which has seen substantial investment and growth.
The biggest hurdle to generating wind power appears to be the region’s isolation from major power demands largely located to the north in both Chile and Argentina, the two nations with jurisdiction [still??] over Patagonia.
Economic considerations drew at least one other regional player to tap wind, says José Ignacio Escobar, executive vice-president at the Chilean Renewable Energies Association, citing the Aysén Electricity Company’s 2MW wind farm in Alto Baguales, near the town of Coyhaique north of Magallanes.
Alto Baguales supplies 55% of Coyhaique’s power, and the rest comes from diesel power, Escobar says. "They have capacity factors of over 50%. If you are replacing diesel with over 50% capacity-factor wind farms, the numbers are very attractive."
Escobar believes it makes sense for wind to supply local demand in these regions, but points to substantial hurdles to exporting wind power from Patagonia.
"The distances involved are more than 2,000 kilometres from the centres of demand," Escobar says. The price of building power infrastructure could be reasonable if the region could generate 5GW of power or more, he argues.
"We are a very small country and 5GW would be around 80% of all Chilean power capacity," he adds."[E 9]
Large extensive flat lands with bright days can produce loads of solar energy.
"Patagonia clothing company [Tompkins] recently completed the installation of a large solar photovoltaic carport project at its Ventura, California headquarters. The system incorporates 360 Sharp solar panels rated at 185-watts for a combined output of 66.6 kW. The panels are on three custom-built carports erected in the parking lot. The eye-catching structure produces an amount of energy equivalent to the energy used in approximately 60 California homes during peak usage periods and also shades cars during the day, according to the project's designers."Our new solar system proves energy independence can be aesthetically pleasing," said Jill Dumain, Patagonia. "Patagonia believes in using business to inspire solutions to the environmental crisis, and our solar solution is just one example of our commitment to that belief."[E 10]
The volcanoes and volcanic field of the Chilean-Argentinian Andes provide excellent opportunities for the production of geothermal energy, the greenest and most eternal around.'
Argentina vive una amplio y dinámico proceso de inversión en el sector renovable y tiene un alto potencial para geotérmica estimado en 1600MW, aprovecharlo podría marcar un antes y un después en la economia del país suramericano. Datos de Energía Limpia XXI indican que Argentina cuenta con un basto potencial para la energía geotermica se habla de una área de 300 zonas con potencial para este tipo de producción eléctrica a partir del calor de la tierra.
Este potencial es más evidente en Jujuy, Neuquén, San Juan, La Rioja, Tucumán, Salta, Catamarca y Mendoza. Cutro áreas emblemáticas de este potencial comprobado son Los Despoblados, Tuzgle, Falla Cotomar y Volcán Copahue en Neuquén. Energía Limpia XXI destaca que este es el mejor momento para explorar el potencial geotérmico de Argentina estimado en 1600 MW.En Argentina la Ley N° 27.191, prevé que se incremente la participación de las fuentes renovables de energía en la matriz eléctrica hasta alcanzar 20% al 31 de diciembre del año 2025 y 50% en el año 2040."[R 18]
High potential with many flowing rivers and predictable geographic terrain.
Patagonia Energía - "Grupo Lago Escondido" (Lewis):
"Patagonia Energia S. A. es una empresa del Grupo Lago Escondido
Con la creación de Patagonia Energía hemos logrado cumplir nuestro sueño de producir Energía Renovable en un proyecto sustentable y totalmente innovador para la región y nuestro país.
Veinte años de historia generando energía verde RENOVABLE, nos avalan."[E 11]
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