Abangares (canton)


Abangares is the seventh canton in the province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica. The canton covers an area of 675.76 km², and has a population of 18,895. Its capital city is Las Juntas.
The canton begins on the coastline of the Gulf of Nicoya north of the mouth of the Río Abangares. It widens between the Río Lajas on the northwest and Río Lagartos on the east as it reaches up into the Cordillera de Tilarán.

Districts

The canton of Abangares is subdivided into four districts :
DistrictPopulation
Juntas9,803
Sierra2,589
San Juan1,703
Colorado4,800

History

The canton was established by law on June 4, 1915.

Gold mines

The Abangares canton is home to the oldest gold mining tradition in Costa Rica, dating back over a century. The first major mining operation was Abangares Mining Company, founded in the Tilarán mountains by U.S. railroad, fruit, and shipping magnate Minor C. Keith.
One of the canton's major modern producers of gold, with silver as a by-product, has been the Tres Hermanos mine, which for many years was operated by El Valiente Ascari S.A., a subsidiary of Ariel Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. That company filed for insolvency in 2001 and abandoned the operation while still owing its workers two months worth of wages. More than 300 families continue to earn a meager living working through an independent local collective that now operates the mine.
A mining museum at La Sierra de Abangares with artifacts from the boom times of Costa Rican gold mining is a major tourist attraction of the canton.