Catamarca Province

Catamarca, is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province has a population of 334,568 as per the 2001 census INDEC, and covers an area of 102,602 km². Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, from the north): Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja. To the west it borders Chile.

The capital is San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, usually shortened to Catamarca. Other important cities include Andalgalá, Tinogasta, and Belén.

Catamarca's economy is Argentina's smallest, though not its least developed. Its 2006 economy was estimated at US$1.7 billion, or, US$5,280 per capita, 40% below the national average. Less diversified than most in Argentina, agriculture has never played an important role in the Catamarca economy (contributing less than 5% to its output). The province's livestock includes around 200,000 bovine heads of cattle, 100,000 bovine, and 150,000 goats, with an annual production of 7,000 tonnes of beef, 5 tonnes of sheep meat, and 10 tonnes of pork, although outbreaks of foot and mouth disease has kept at times the production from reaching full potential.[citation needed]

Mining, however, has been unusually relevant in the past and, after becoming somewhat inactive in the early 1990s, grew to prominence again by the year 2000 (now accounting for over 20% of the economy). Catamarca is home to one of the largest copper gold mines in the world, Bajo de la Alumbrera which produces approximately 600,000 ounces of gold and 190,000 tonnes of copper annually. The mine directly employs over 1,000 people and contributes hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and royalties to the federal and provincial governments.

Its agriculture focuses on wood (walnut), vineyards, olive, citrus, cotton and tobacco, to which the government gives tax cuts to facilitate economic growth[citation needed] so far with failing results and no oversight.