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Mineral

Considering to the location of Venezuela on South America Plate, which is among Atlantic and Pacific Plates and also North America Plate, it has a seismic condition but has appropriate mineral potential. Due to particular geological conditions, such as Precambrian shields, complex geotechnical conditions and vast sedimentary basins, it has various mineral deposits. Precambrian shield regions have considerable amounts of iron, aluminum, manganese, gold, diamond, rare elements, thorium and kaolin. Geotechnical regions of coastal range, the Andes and Perija indicate metamorphic and volcanic events. They are rich in nickel, lead, copper titanium, asbestos, magnesite, talc, feldspar, gypsum and dolomite. Sedimentary basins and internal mountain ranges have hydrocarbon, phosphate, coal, silicic sands, clay, pyrophyllites, lime, dolomite, red sandstone, diatomite and sand.

Mineral resources production (Venezuela)

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Aluminum
alumina	1,469	1,755	1,833	1,901	1,882
bauxite	4,166	4,361	4,585	5,191	5,446
non-alloy primary metal	570,321	570,870	570,580	605,290	601,290
gold mine rock	5,946	7,332	9,076	9,465	8,190
steel & iron
gross weight of iron stone	14,051	17,350	16,902	16,684	17,954
net weight of iron stone	9,292	11,092	10,817	11,092	11,936
directly reduced iron	5,071	6,401	5,903	6,824	6,645
iron alloys
ferromanganese	10,694	15,655	12,715	---	---
ferronickel	---	133	32,300	51,700	57,300
silicomanganese	47,635	69,735	56,640	36,794	30,632
ferrosilicon	38,886	56,926	46,236	99,576	90,543
total	97,215	142,449	147,891	188,070	178,475
pure steel	3,261	3,835	3,814	4,164	3,930
pure lead	25,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000
nickel
nickel mine rock	---	2,540	13,600	18,600	20,700
ferronickel	---	40	9,700	15,500	17,200
Industrial minerals
amphibolites	---	---	14,230	18,610	18,610
hydraulic cement	8,500	8,600	8,700	7,000	7,000
clay
kaolin	12	---	---	---	---
other material	2,180	2,319	4,664	2,643	2,643
diamond
jewelry	59,446	29,280	14,321	45,707	45,707
industrial	35,698	80,317	27,826	61,060	61,060
toal	95,144	109,597	42,147	106,767	106,767
feldspar	125	130	142	147	147
gypsum	42	25	5	---	---
lime	400	400	400	400	400
nitrogen	522	423	808	666	666
phosphate rock
gross weight	366	389	399	390	390
P2O5	99	105	114	111	111
pyrophyllite	32	32	32	32	32
salt	350,000	350,000	350,000	350,000	350,000
serpentinite	550	550	550	550	550
rock
dolomite	---	12	66	92	92
granite	1,151	581	796	750	750
limestone	13,735	11,302	18,158	13,434	13,434
coarse sand and sand	5,431	3,106	8,601	4,677	4,677
silica soil	295	422	627	690	690
sulfur & oil by product	68	328	322	283	283
Mineral fuels and related materials
Black carbon	60	60			60
tar coal	6,593	7,910	7,685	8,097	7,034
natural gas
impure	57,062	61,878	62,941	61,982	61,657
sold	34,148	36,597	35,347	33,124	26,060
liquid natural gas
natural gas oil	12,379	10,281	10,619	11,619	11,500
liquid oil gas	56,629	53,649	54,360	57,206	55,000
total	69,008	63,930	64,979	68,825	66,500
oil
pure	1,116,705	1,151,436	1,115,075	1,105,793	964,695
refinery products
liquefied oil gas	3,679	4,530	4,931	7,961	6,500
petrol	71,887	73,460	74,128	68,565	55,000
other gasoline	70,405	66,350	63,601	79,461	64,000
jet fuel	35,022	34,226	32,233	32,113	26,000
	146	---	157	---	125
mazot essence	121,465	116,176	110,642	114,584	92,000
grease	2,033	1,880	1,814	1,723	1,350
mazot wastes	73,624	92,046	92,914	81,475	65,000
asphalt	12,990	12,297	11,581	11,129	9,000
oil coke	2,869	10,454	11,362	12,235	9,500
paraffin	157	193	150	153	152
for internal consumption	25,032	24,667	28,010	30,328	24,000
unclear	2,584	2,295	1,447	1,507	1,200
products and waste materials	2,807	-281	-3,409	15,783	16,200
total	424,700	438,293	429,561	457,017	370,000