Pulacayo

Pulacayo is a mining town in the Potosí Department in the highlands of South American Andes State of Bolivia.

Location in near space

Pulacayo is the central place of the Canton Pulacayo district ( bolivian: municipality ) in the Province of Uyuni Antonio Quijarro. The village lies at an altitude of 4126 m on a damp surface high on the slopes of Huanchaca high plateau ( 5390 m).

Geography

The mean average temperature of the region is about 9 ° C (see climate chart Uyuni ), the average monthly temperatures vary between 5 ° C in July and over 11 ° C of November to March. The annual rainfall is only about 140 mm, with a pronounced dry season from April to November month rainfall below 10 mm, significant precipitation falls only in the months of January and February with monthly values ​​of about 40 mm.

Mining

The mining area around the " Pulacayo Mine" (also Huanchaca mine ) in Huanchaca is located about 20 km east-northeast of the town of Uyuni at an altitude of 4103 m and was discovered in 1833. In the 19th century was the " Pulacayo Mine" is the second largest silver mine in Bolivia, reaching up to the 1990s, a mining depth of about 1100 m. In addition to silver, among other things Andorit, Diaphorit, Freibergite, galena, Miargyrite, Pyrargyrite, pyrite, and tetrahedrite stephanite was found in the mine.

Traffic network

Pulacayo lies at a distance of 188 kilometers of road southwest of Potosí, the capital of the department.

From Potosí from the highway Ruta 5 goes past the villages Porco, Chaquilla, Yura and Ticatica after Pulacayo and from there to the Salar de Uyuni.

Population

The population of the town has declined sharply due to the decline of ore mining in the decade before the turn of the millennium and has since risen again:

Due to the historically evolved population distribution, the region still has a significant share of Quechua population in the municipality of Uyuni 43.4 percent of the population speak the Quechua language.

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