Located in once the most impoverished area of Inner Mongolia, Erdos sits atop a lot of coal and gas.

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Second, if the mines actually do get built and go into production, each mine may create over 750 new jobs, which would become available in an impoverished area of the state.

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While visiting the mine, Fortuna Silver showed different areas where they work with the people of the area, namely the heavily impoverished area of San Jose del Progreso, 800 meters away from the mine.

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The area was desolate and impoverished, and Lanier has speculated that the move was driven, at least in part, by fear.

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