Cerro Bolívar facts for kids

Cerro Bolívar is a mountain located in the state of Bolívar, Venezuela. It stands about 600 meters (around 1,970 feet) tall. This mountain is very special because it holds a huge amount of iron ore. Iron ore is a type of rock that contains iron, which is a strong metal used to make many things, especially steel. Experts believe that more than half of Cerro Bolívar is made of this valuable iron ore. There might be as much as half a billion tons of it!

Mining History of Cerro Bolívar

Mining at Cerro Bolívar began in the 1950s. The first company to mine the mountain was U.S. Steel, a large company from the United States. They started digging for the iron ore to use it for making steel and other products.

Nationalization and Resumption of Mining

In 1975, the government of Venezuela decided to take control of the mining operations. This process is called nationalization. It means the government took over the company that was mining Cerro Bolívar. This happened under the leadership of the Venezuelan president, Carlos Andrés Pérez.

Mining at Cerro Bolívar stopped in 1997. However, it started again in 2009. This time, a company from Switzerland called Commodities and Minerals Ltd took over the operations. They were invited by the then-president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. This allowed the valuable iron ore to be mined once more.