science

La Francia

La Francia is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand La Francia rather than just read about it. In short: La Francia is a coal mine in the Cesar-Ranchería Basin, located in the municipalities Becerril and El Paso, Cesar, Colombia owned by the Goldman Sachs Group. It mines coal from the Paleocene Los Cuervos Formation, time-equivalent with the Cerrejón Formation, which is mined in the northeastern part of the basin in Latin America's largest coal mine, Cerrejón.

Key takeaways

La Francia belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect La Francia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of La Francia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

La Francia is a coal mine in the Cesar-Ranchería Basin, located in the municipalities Becerril and El Paso, Cesar, Colombia owned by the Goldman Sachs Group. It mines coal from the Paleocene Los Cuervos Formation, time-equivalent with the Cerrejón Formation, which is mined in the northeastern part of the basin in Latin America's largest coal mine, Cerrejón. In 2016, La Francia produced 11.6 Megatons of coal.

History The mine was owned by Coalcorp Mining until 2010. It was acquired by Goldman Sachs for US$200 million in 2010. It closed in January 2013 after the contractor hired by Colombian National Resources opted out, but opened again in January 2014, at a lesser capacity. During the strikes of 2013, miners occupied the mine and refused offers provided by the companies involved. In 2015, Murray Energy (now known as American Consolidated Natural Resources) purchased the mine from Goldman Sachs. As of August 2020, the mine has suspended operations indefinitely.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with La Francia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what La Francia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to La Francia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about La Francia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of La Francia

In research: La Francia appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses La Francia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: La Francia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Coal mines in Colombia, Colombia stubs, Geography of Cesar Department, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for La Francia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study La Francia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what La Francia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain La Francia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is La Francia in simple terms?

Why does La Francia matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study La Francia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on La Francia.