This data set consists of records for over 900 mineral facilities in
Latin America and Canada. The mineral facilities include mines, plants,
smelters, or refineries of aluminum, cement, coal, copper, diamond,
gold, iron and steel, nickel, platinum-group metals, salt, and silver,
among others. Records include attributes such as commodity, country,
location, company name, facility type and capacity if applicable, and
generalized coordinates. The data were compiled from multiple sources,
including the 2003 and 2004 USGS Minerals Yearbooks (Latin America and
Candada volume), data to be published in the 2005 Minerals Yearbook
Latin America and Canada Volume, minerals statistics and information
from the USGS minerals information Web site
(http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/), and data collected by USGS
minerals information country specialists. Data reflect the most recent
published table of industry structure for each country. Other sources
include statistical publications of individual countries, annual reports
and press releases of operating companies,and trade journals. Due to the
sensitivity of some energy commodity data, the quality of these data
should be evaluated on a country-by-country basis. Additional
information and explanation is available from the country specialists.