Litargirio y plomo (± plata) en la mina La Argentina, Córdoba: Aporte de la mineralogía a la metalurgia extractiva de mediados del siglo XIX

Mining and metallurgical activities at El Guaico and La Argentina mining districts, northwest of Córdoba province, began at the dawning of the 19th century; however, mining records in the province date back to the end of the 16th century. At present there are surviving vestiges of what once was the...

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Autores principales: Lira, Raúl, Sfragulla, Jorge A., Espeche, María J.
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales 2020
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Acceso en línea:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/FCEFyN/article/view/28652
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Sumario:Mining and metallurgical activities at El Guaico and La Argentina mining districts, northwest of Córdoba province, began at the dawning of the 19th century; however, mining records in the province date back to the end of the 16th century. At present there are surviving vestiges of what once was the focus of socio-economic benefit for the region, such as abandoned establishments, ruined smelting furnaces and voluminous dumps masked by vegetation. In 2018, a noteworthy sample was found in dumps close to the smelting furnace of La Argentina mine. X-Ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy studies allowed its identification as litharge (PbO) with inclusions of silver-bearing lead (Pb ± Ag). Even though the sample showed some physical aspects suggestive of an artificial product, its study was justified knowing that both chemical compounds can also crystallize under natural conditions forming homonymous mineral species, precisely in the oxidation zone of this ore deposit type in several worldwide occurrences. Its characterization as a metallurgical product derived from silver ore processing from La Argentina mine allowed to deepen into the barely available knowledge of the metallurgy historical development along the northwestern mining region of Córdoba province, and to validate previous data of the existence and origin of litharge published during the late XIX century.