Cerro de Pasco

Cerro de Pasco (sĕr`rō thā päs`kō), city (1991 pop. 30,000), capital of Pasco dept., central Peru. At an altitude of 13,973 ft (4,259 m), it is one of the highest cities in the world. Cerro de Pasco is noted for its silver mines, which, according to tradition, were discovered in 1630. When silver deposits declined late in the 19th cent., the exploitation of other metals, chiefly copper, again made Cerro de Pasco Peru's leading mining center. Its products include bismuth, zinc, lead, and gold. From the nearby Minasraga mines comes about 80% of the world's supply of vanadium.

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Cerro de Pasco

a town in central Peru, in the Andes: one of the highest towns in the world, 4400 m (14 436 ft.) above sea level; mining centre. Pop.: 62 749 (1993)

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Cerro de Pasco 

a city in central Peru, at an elevation of 4,200 m. Capital of Pasco Department. Population, 21,400 (1961). An important transportation junction, Cerro de Pasco is linked by highway and railroad with Lima. The city was founded in the 17th century near a large deposit of silver. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was one of the world’s major silver mining centers. In the early 20th century it was primarily a center of copper, zinc, and lead mining, and since 1963 of lead and zinc mining. Cerro de Pasco has an ore-dressing plant; metals are smelted at a metallurgical combine in La Oroya.