El Loa

The Province of El Loa () is one of three provinces of the northern Chilean region of Antofagasta (II). It is named after the longest river of Chile, the Loa. The provincial capital is Calama.
Geography.
The El Loa province has an area of .
The province is bordered on the north by the Tarapacá region, on the east by Bolivia, on the south by Argentina and on the west by the Antofagasta and the Tocopilla provinces.
Population.
 (last national census), there were 143,689 people living in the province, giving it a population density of inhabitants/km².
The largest city of the province is Calama, its capital, with a population, in 2002, of 126,135 inhabitants.
Administration.
As a province, the El Loa province is a second-level administrative division, consisting of three communes ("comunas"). The city of Calama serves as the provincial capital. The province is administered by a governor.