The principal minerals are copper in Chile and Peru; tin in Bolivia; silver, lead, and zinc in Bolivia and Peru; gold in Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia; platinum in Colombia; bismuth in Bolivia; coal in Colombia; and iron in Chile, Peru, and Colombia.
Which are two rare minerals found in Andes?
South America Holds Treasure Of Copper, Molybdenum, Gold And Silver. Summary: Deposits of undiscovered copper, molybdenum, gold and silver may be present in the Andes Mountains of South America, according to a new scientific assessment.
What type of rocks are found in the Andes mountains?
The rocks run the gamut of sedimentary rocks, including: sandstones, siltstones, shales, limestones, and quartzites. Volumetrically and economically, Ordovician and Silurian shales and siltstones are probably the most important sequences (formed 500-440 million and 440-395 million years age, respectively).
What is found in the Andes mountains?
The diversity of animals in the Andes is high, with almost 600 species of mammals (13% endemic), more than 1,700 species of birds (about 1/3 endemic), more than 600 species of reptile (about 45% endemic), and almost 400 species of fish (about 1/3 endemic).
What natural resources does the Andes have?
The Andes are rich in natural resources, such as gold, silver, iron ore, gas, coal, tin, copper and nitrates. This is Yanacocha, the largest gold mine in the Andes and in the world.
Do the Andes have gold?
Andes are also the home to the greatest source of mineral wealth in the world today. 30 percent of the silver production and significant amounts of lead, zinc and gold.
Which country makes 95% of the world’s rare earth minerals?
China
However, China accounts for over 95 percent of the world’s production of rare earths. Therefore, having control of these elements puts China at a powerful position. It is estimated the world has 99 million tonnes of rare earth reserve deposits.
What is the most common rock of the Andes mountains?
The Andesite derives its name from Andes mountain ranges, which possess a large number of andesite rocks. Besides this mountain range, the Cordillera mountain range of North and Central America houses these rocks too.
What are 3 interesting facts about the Andes mountains?
Andes Mountains: Facts & Related Content
The summit of Mount Chimborazo in the Andes is the planet’s tallest point when measured from the Earth’s center. The Andes are the longest mountain chain in the world. Potatoes and tomatoes originated in the Andes.
What makes Andes mountains special?
The Andes is the longest mountain range in the world and boasts some of the highest peaks. The range is also known for its volcanoes, ruins of long-ago civilizations and the source of a malaria treatment.
Do the Andes have gold and silver?
The Andes are also the greatest source of mineral wealth in the world. Andean mines account for more than 45 percent of the world’s copper production, nearly 30 percent of the silver pro- duction, significant amounts of lead, zinc, and gold, and an array of industrial minerals and chemicals.
What are 5 facts about the Andes mountains?
10 Fascinating Facts About the Andes Mountains
- The Andes Mountains are so much more than just one mountain range.
- Most Andean peaks are volcanic.
- The world’s highest/largest/biggest etc is probably here.
- The Andes are a haven of biodiversity.
- The Andes is the source of the astounding Amazon River.
What crops were grown in the Andes mountains?
Two of the world’s most important crops — maize and potatoes — have a 7,000-year history in the Andes region of South America, where other “super foods” like quinoa, maca and amaranth are also native.
What are the major cash crops of the Andes region?
Cashews and Brazil nuts are cultivated. Fruits such as avocado, pineapple, papaya, and guava are also native to tropical South America. Two very important cash crops are coffee and cacao, which is the source of cocoa, the base ingredient in chocolate.
Is there oil in the Andes?
All of the Andean nations possess oil. Each has a unique historical relationship with petroleum, but there are also similarities between the histories of oil production in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru.
What did they develop to farm in the Andes mountains?
They developed resilient breeds of crops such as potatoes, quinoa and corn. They built cisterns and irrigation canals that snaked and angled down and around the mountains. And they cut terraces into the hillsides, progressively steeper, from the valleys up the slopes.
Where is the Earth’s most gold?
Oceans are the greatest single reservoir of gold at Earth’s surface, containing approximately eight times the total quantity of gold mined to date.
How much gold is in the Andes?
All in gold endowment, produced, illegally mined, historically mined, and yet to be discovered, may place the Andes as having around one billion ounces of gold. Compare this to the very rough estimates on total gold mined in the history of the world as being 6 billion ounces.
What are the Andes famous for gold?
In the rugged high Andes Mountains, gold is associated with volcanic rocks and in quartz veins disseminated throughout granitic rocks. The erosive forces of wind, water and scouring glacial ice eventually break down these rocks, freeing fragments of the dense and shiny metal.
What country controls 97% of the rare earth elements?
Their mining is also environmentally hazardous. The rare earths were discovered and first put to industrial use in the United States. But lower labor costs and less strict environmental regulations in China have now enabled the country to be the world’s predominant supplier of rare earths.
Who has the most rare earth?
China
Unsurprisingly, China has the highest reserves of rare earth minerals at 44 million MT. The country was also the world’s leading rare earths producer in 2021 by a long shot, putting out 168,000 MT.