Pallaqueo
In the Andean mining tradition pallaqueo, palleo[1] or pirquineo[2] is the hand selection of rock fragments with ore for further processing.[3][4] Usually, pallaqueo is done in piles of discarded material with little planning, randomly and without authorization.[5][3] However, historically in places like Potosí, Bolivia, pallaqueo has been regarded as an integral part of the mining operation.[6][7] Pallaqueo has the benefit that it can allow for high –or over-all increased– ore grades to be processed.[8] In some places the selected rocks are then sold to the local mining company,[9] but this model has the drawback that it could incentivize smuggling of ore from the mine to make it pass as recovered through pallaqueo.[5][10]
The term pallaqueo and palleo are derived from the Quechua word pállay.[11] Those that practice pallaqueo are variously referred to as buscones, pallacos, pallaqueros, pallaqueadores and, in Bolivia, palliris.[11] In some places like La Rinconada in Peru,[9] this activity is primarily made by women known as pallaqueras, as they are otherwise not allowed to work inside the mines.[12][11] For artisan miners known as pirquineros, pallaqueo is a secondary activity to proper mining.[13]
The work of pallaqueros and pallaqueras can be physically demanding given uncomfortable stances and – in the high Andes – also because of the cold climate.[9]
Historically, the term pallaqueros applied sometimes also to any independent miner of surface ores, similar to what is today understood as a pirquinero,[14] and they were important agents of mineral exploration.[7]
See also
References
- ^ Serrano Bravo 2004, p. 84.
- ^ Lenz, Rodolfo (1905). Diccionario etimológico de las voces chilenas derivadas de lenguas indígenas americanas (in Spanish). Santiago: Impresa Cervantes. pp. 550–551.
- ^ a b Orozco Zevallos, Olinda (2017). Pallaqueras: Entre piedras y oro. Diagnóstico participativo en las regiones de Arequipa, Ayacucho y Puno
- ^ Lang 1986, p. 217.
- ^ a b Lang 1986, p. 221.
- ^ Povea Moreno 2012, p. 112.
- ^ a b Povea Moreno 2012, p. 113.
- ^ Camus, Francisco (2005). "La minería y la evolución de la exploración en Chile". In Lagos, Gustavo (ed.). Minería y desarrollo (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile. p. 236. ISBN 956-14-0844-9.
- ^ a b c Villantoy Gómez, Abigail (2024-05-24). "Pallaqueras: la actividad femenina poco conocida donde se trabaja seleccionando manualmente rocas con metales preciosos". Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-03-01.
- ^ Povea Moreno 2012, p. 126.
- ^ a b c Povea Moreno 2012, p. 111.
- ^ Chepe, Óscar Espinosa (2017-09-09). "La Rinconada, el 'dorado' helado". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-01-03.
- ^ Porteous, J. Douglas (1978). "Urban Symbiosis: A Study of Company Town Camp Followers in the Atacama Desert". North-South Canadian Journal of Latin American Studies. 3 (5–6): 210–221.
- ^ Godoy Orellana, Milton (2016). "Minería popular y estrategias de supervivencia: Pirquineros y pallacos en el Norte Chico, Chile, 1780-1950" [Popular mining and survival strategies: Pirquineros and pallacos in the Norte Chico, Chile, 1780-1950]. Cuadernos de Historia (in Spanish) (45): 29–62. doi:10.4067/S0719-12432016000200002.
- Bibliography
- Lang, Mervyn (1986). "El derrumbe de Huancavelica en 1786: Fracaso de una reforma borbónica". Histórica (in Spanish). X (2): 213–226.
- Povea Moreno, Isabel María (2012). "Los busconesde metal. El sistema de pallaqueoen Huancavelica (1793-1820)" [The buscones of metal. The pallaqueo system in Huancavelica (1793-1820)]. Anuario de Estudios Americanos (in Spanish). 69 (1): 109–138. doi:10.3989/aeamer.2012.1.04.
- Serrano Bravo, Carlos (2004). Historia de la minería andina boliviana (siglos XVI–XX) (PDF) (in Spanish). Potosí, Bolivia.
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