THE CUBA REVIEW 



21 



can corroborate the statement, which is only emphasized by his further study of the chrome 



fields of Cuba. 



Before finishing this review of the mining industry in Camaguey, reference should be made 

 to the Caguasal Copper Mines west of Ciego de Avila which, at the present time, are the only 

 camps shipping copper ores from the Province of Camaguey, while chromite is being shipped 

 from the chrome deposits mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. 



Mayari Iron Mines, showing the steam excavators at work. Notice thickness of ore 



Mantle. 



PROVINCE OF ORIENTE. 



The Province of Oriente is the most mountainous part of Cuba, and also the richest in 

 mineral production. 



The mining districts are distributed around the largest cities and towns of the Province, 

 and so we find Holguin, the biggest of the western cities, as the centre of a region in which gold 

 has been mined for many years; its gold mines, centuries old, are still productive although the 

 output is rather limited. There is a chrome mine some 12 kilometres northeast of the town 

 which is shipping 33% chromite. To the northwest there are several copper prospects, among 

 which the Guabasiabo claim is said to be a real mine. 



Felton, on Nipe Bay, is the shipping point of the great iron deposits of the Spanish Amer- 

 ican Iron Company, which along the North coast of the Province, extend, roughly speaking, 

 from Mayari to Baracoa, with an average depth of 25 feet, several kilometres wide, and about 

 100 kilometres in length, making up the most important one body iron deposit knowa in the 

 world, with a tonnage of thousands of millions of tons. 



The ore is earthy and moist and is mined by open cuts made by steam shovels. The 

 pine forest growing on the plateau is cleared and the shovels are turned right in to scoop the 

 ore, that is the "soil," into the cars which are taken by locomotives to the edge of the plateau 

 and then sent dowoi an incline to the coastal plane 2,000 feet below, and here again it is taken 

 by steam locomotives to the drying or noduUzing plant, where the ore is dried in big ovens and 

 deposited in appropriate bins from which a modern loading devise dumps it into steamers 

 of about 8,000 tons which are constantly sailing from Felton to Sparrows Point and other 

 mineral centres of the United States. 



