1872.] ( 159 ) 
i, THE COPPER MINES, OF CHILI. 
By JAMES DoucGLas, Quebec. 
TAS S the produce of the Chili mines now regulates the 
vA price of copper all over the world, and all speculation 
“~*> as to its future price must depend on the probable 
future yield of these mines, their condition is a subject of 
prime importance to all interested in the copper trade. I 
have therefore thought that the following information, 
derived in great measure from personal observation during 
a visit made in the latter part of last year to several of the 
principal mineral districts of Chili, would not be unaccept- 
able to your readers. 
All the copper comes, with the exception of but a trifling 
quantity, from the coast range, and from within 30 miles 
of the sea, and nearly two-thirds of it from the three great 
mineral districts of Tomaya, Carrizal, and Chanaral. From 
the Cordillera of the Andes little is extracted, partly by 
reason of the drawbacks to mining at high elevations, where 
for half the year the mines are closed by snow, and where 
at all times hard work is impeded by difficulty of breathing, 
and partly by reason of the heavy freight to the coast. But 
apart from these obstacles, the copper deposits of the Andes 
have asa general rule been delusive, offering most tempting 
surface indications of great wealth, which further operations 
have not realised, while the ore is generally contaminated 
with other metals, whose separation is often difficult, and 
which depreciate the value of the copper. A small quantity 
of copper comes from the Cajon de Maipu in the Cordillera of 
Santiago, and the Condes Mines in the Cordillera of the same 
province produce 200 tons or so of 23 per cent ore annually. 
The only Cordillera mines which augment notably the pro- 
duction of Chili and the Cerro Blanco—which though 
situated at the base of the Cordillera, a little south of the 
Copiopo, prove their relationship to the Cordillera mines by 
yielding arseniurets of copper and silver and lead ores; and 
the Esploradora mines of Mr. Sievert, in the Atacama 
Desert, 120 miles inland to the east of Pau de Azucar. 
Proceeding from the south northward I shall briefly 
describe the several mining regions, and the quantities of 
copper they severally produce. 
South of Santiago very little copper is found. A number 
of small mines are worked both in the Cordillera and in the 
coast range ; but their total yield falls short of 1000 tons of 
fine copper annually. Crossing the line of 33°S. latitude 
