MINERALS OF THE PACIFIC LITTORAL. 407 



Nicaragua has copper mines, but nothing has been done with 

 them owing to adverse labour and transport conditions. 



In Colombia, copper was worked by the Spaniards for centuries, 

 but the mines appear to be of no great importance, and are not now 

 in activity. 



Ecuador has a httle copper in conjunction with auriferous Ores. 

 Peru has been a small producer of copper for centm'ies, but the 

 output dwindled almost to vanishing point in the middle of last 

 centuiy, beginning to recover in 1895. In 1890, it was 150 long tons; 

 in 1899, 5,165; in 1906, 13,171- metric tons of fine copper. The chief 

 drawback is the difficulty of transport, and this will no doubt be ovear- 

 come, as over £3,000,000 of United States capital have lately been 

 invested in the industry. 



In Bolivia, copper is associated with the silver and tin mines of 

 Chlorolque (Potosi). The copper production of Bolivia advanced from 

 1,200 long tons in 1889 to 2,500 in 1899. It was 3,228 metric tons in 

 1906. At present the mines of Coro Coro are the most important. 

 Copper was worked in Bolivia by the Incas, but the occun-ence of the 

 mines in the high cordillera and the want of railway facilities were 

 disabilities which intert'ered with their competition in the markets 

 with mines better situated. In 1906 an arrangement was completed 

 between the Peinivian and Bolivian Governments for the construction 

 of a railway from Arica (Peru) to La Paz (Bolivia), with a branch to 

 Coro Coro. Most of the Bolivian copper is now shipped from the 

 Peruvian port of Mollendo. Some goes to the Chilian port of Antofo- 

 gasta. The total weight of ingots, precipitate, matte, and ore shipped 

 from these two ports was 6,708 metric tons in 1905, and 4,347 in 

 1906. 



Chile produced in 1891, 19,875 long tons of copper; in 1899, 

 25,000 tons; in 1904, 32,926 tons; and in 1906, 29,626 tons. It was the 

 largest copper producer in the world in 1875, but it now ranks after 

 the United States, Mexico, Spain, Japan, and Australia. There are 

 rich mines near the coast, Copiapo being the principal producing 

 district, as well as in the Atacama Desert, 140 miles by rail from Ihe 

 port of Antofagasta. 



The copper production of Japan has more than doubled since 

 1889. In 1906 it amounted to 38,515 long tons, and 245 tons of 

 ingots were imported from Australia. The requirements of the country 

 in the way of machinery and art probably absorb nearly the whole 

 production and import, with, no doubt, a margin of manufactured 

 copper for China. 



Korea has for many centuries been noted for its artistic work in 

 copper and brass. In the matter of bell-founding the Koreans of the 

 middle ages had attained a degree of perfection unsurpassed in Europe. 

 At present Korea is only a small producer, the output of 1906 being 

 186 tons, but its undoubted copper resources may be expected to be 

 vigorously developed by the Japanese. 



There are many copper deposits in Siberia, but notwithstanding 

 the facilities affoided by the Trans-Siberian Railway, nothing west of 

 the Irkutsk and Trans-Baikal provinces is likely to find its way into 

 the commerce of the Pacific. The entire production of Russia is 

 estimated at 10,600 metric tons in 1906, and no great proportion of 



