Article: Reviving Lota; Post-industrial Chile; Reviving a coal-town in Chile.(improving economy of Lota, Chile)(The Americas)(Brief Article)

PERCHED on a cliff overlooking the Gulf of Arauco, the town of Lota (population 52,000) was once the thriving heart of southern Chile's state-owned coal-mining industry. The mine closed in 1997, defeated by production costs that were seven times the coal's market price. The closure stopped that loss, but opened the question of whether the government's transformation plan for Lota would prove as much of a bottomless pit as the mine itself.

The authorities started by improving access to the town. Nowadays, the 40- minute drive south from the regional capital, Concepcion, is along a modern dual carriageway, and modern telecoms services have replaced crank-handle ...

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