El Indio Gold Belt

The El Indio Gold Belt is a mineral-rich region spanning the border between Chile and Argentina that contains large quantities of gold, silver and copper. On both sides of the border the belt is located within the Andes. The El Indio mine within the district was the first mine in Chile to produce gold as its main product. In Chile the main precious metal containing mineral is enargite. The El Indio belt is bordered in the north by another gold-silver mining district known as the Frontera District., alunite and poughit are some of the minerals present in the area. It formed during the Late Miocene period.

The world's largest gold miner Barrick Gold used to be the only foreign company heavily invested in the region however more recently a number of other companes have begun exploratory activity.

In Chile the district was first officially recognized in 1975 and operated in 1979. El Indio, the main mine in the area was purchased by Barrick Chile in 1994; that mine is associated with a hydrothermal system of a volcanic caldera. In 1981 Compania Minera El Indio was the first company to exploit the area's mineral resource. Chile's portion of the belt consisted of 3 major mines; El Indio, Pascua Lama, and Tambo (since 1995). Gold reserves in the belt located within Argentina may be as high as 35 million ounces.

One of the largest mines in the belt, the Tambo Mine operated by Barrick Gold, closed in 2001 after attempts by the company to replace reserves proved unsuccessful. The mine, with a design capacity of 200,000 ounces a year was deplete of gold by 1999–2001.

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