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Looking down the northern slope of Cerro Picoloro; the mining camp at the edge of Salar de Empexa.
The deposit is approximately 8 km south of the settlement San Pablo de Napa, but is not one of the San Pablo de Napa sulfur mines. San Pablo de Napa is by far the richest Bolivian sulfur deposit; Ponce (1967) mentions reserves of approximately 4 million tons of sulfur. Ahlfeld (1954) mentions the deposits Victoria, Concepción, El Desierto, and Maria Eugenia occurring in that order from the top downwards on the northern slope of Cerro Caite, but Anonymous (1992) describes Mina Victoria (Santa Victoria) as occurring in a separate mineralisation at 20°33'12'' S, 68°31'54'' W, whereas mines Beatriz, Concepción, El Desierto and Maria Eugenia operate on another deposit at 20°32'14'' S, 68°31'46'' W, both which are supposedly located on Cerro Caite. Anonymous (app.1976) treats Victoria, Concepción, Beatriz, El Desierto and the deposit Empexa as a unit.
The mountain with the El Desierto deposits is called Cerro Caize by La Vieja (1943), Cerro Caite by Ahlfeld (1954), Ahlfeld & Reyes (1943, 1955) and Velasco (1955), Cerro Cayte by Anonymous (1992), Cerro Picoloro by SGB series II MTB-13D (1996), Cerro Caite and alternatively Cerro Pico de Loro by Anonymous (app. 1976), and is labeled peak 16962 in TPC P-26D (1990). The province is variously called Provincia Daniel Campos (e.g., Velasco, 1955; SGB series II MTB-13D, 1996) or Provincia Nor Lipez (e.g., Ahlfeld, 1954; Ahlfeld & Reyes, 1943, 1955).
The mines lie from the top downwards on the northern slope of Cerro Picoloro (peak 16962 in TPC P-26D, 1990), southwest of Salar de Empexa. It is a gentle slope with the military compound at the base and lodging for the miners a bit further up along a ridge, followed by a plethora of pits and the refining plant next to the ridge. The mines used to be separate but merged and the company Empresa Minera Clavijo operates them as a unit.