218 GEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 



general average of K 2 in the deposits mined at Stassfurt, Germany, is 

 10 per cent. 



The present methods of mining in the Cerros de Sal are very crude. No 

 explosives are used. The tools used are axes, crowbars, and wedges. 

 There is almost no timbering, although mesquite bushes of ample size grow 

 on the hills close at hand. The soft shale that surrounds the salt lenses 

 slacks and does not stand well, so that all the pits are shallow. Hillside 

 locations that can be worked tunnel-fashion are sought, but, as the roofs 

 will not stand without timbering the tunnels are very short. It is the 

 present practice to work in one locality for a few months and then shift to 

 another. Probably the pits at one place are pushed as far as is deemed 

 safe and then temporarily abandoned. When erosion and weathering 

 have removed the dangerous overhanging rock the miners return, clear 

 out the debris, and resume work. 



It is said that about 15 or 20 miners are usually employed in the workings 

 of the Commune of Las Salinas. When we visited the mines work was in 

 progress at only the Manuel Perez excavations. Wages were $1 a day 

 when powder was used, but now that it is not used the average is reported to 

 be $1.20 a day. It is said that under favorable conditions one man can 

 mine as much as 10 mule loads of salt in a day (say 750 kilograms), but 

 the average daily production per man is probably not half that amount. 

 The salt is sold for $1.25 a mule load (70 to 80 kilograms) at the mine 

 and for $1.50 a mule load at the town of Las Salinas. Probably more salt 

 is sold at the mine than in town. People come for long distances to get 

 this salt, as it has a reputation for being superior to that obtained by the 

 evaporation of sea water at the coast. The quantity sold daily is reported 

 to range from 20 mule loads to 100 mule loads, but 20 mule loads is probably 

 above the average. 



Crude as the methods of operation are they may be the best that is possi- 

 ble under the present conditions. The rock is too firm for steam shoveling 

 without blasting and the salt lenses are probably too small and too discon- 

 tinuous to be worked by steam shovel or large-scale quarrying, yet more 

 intelligent and systematic work, with the use of explosives and timbering, 

 would no doubt materially lower the cost of mining. Transportation is 

 not very difficult. There is already an automobile road between Barahona 

 and Las Salinas, a distance of about 26 kilometers, and though it is poor it 

 could be greatly improved at slight expense. There is now only a winding 

 pack-mule trail from Las Salinas to the mines, and the slopes are so steep that 

 the construction of a road which could be used for motor trucks would be 

 somewhat expensive, but there would be no great difficulty in building a 

 tramway. Whether the financial returns to be expected would warrant 

 the outlay necessary to equip these mines with modern appliances could 



