THE NITRATE FIELDS OF CHILE 223 



liiiiiiiiiili IHHHfeiiWi 



Ut'siduuces of ihi? manager aud his assistants, fruni tlie " jilaza." 



taining millions of tons of waste some time may be reworked if condi- 

 tions in the industry should make economies necessary. 



A good deal of capital is needed now to start the nitrate business 

 on a large scale. Many of the older oficinas, as the establishments are 

 called, are small, representing an investment of not more than 25,000 

 pesos to 50,000 pesos. But a large modern plant may cost 6,000,000 

 pesos or more. For this reason the industry tends to remain in the 

 hands of companies, about 80 in number, of which a few large ones 

 really dominate the industry. In all there are about 160 oficinas in 

 existence, English, Chilean, x\ustrian, German, etc., but for one reason 

 or another not all of them are being operated. Exhaustion of the sup- 

 ply of caliche is the most common reason, for as a general rule an 

 oficina is built for a given tract of nitrate land, with the idea of aban- 

 doning the oficina when that supply is exhausted. It does not pay to 

 haul caliche any considerable distance, for a ton of average caliche will 

 yield only about 30 pesos' worth of nitrate, on which the profits may be 

 10 pesos. There are only one or two '' Yanqui " oficinas, the " powder 

 trust " being interested in at least one of these. United States capital 

 invested in western South America seems to have been attracted more 

 strongly by other kinds of mining. 



A modern oficina, like the Anibal Pinto, in central Antofagasta, 

 running twentv-four hours at full capacity, may have a daily output 

 of 5,000 Spanish quintals (quintal = 101 pounds) of nitrate. The 

 cost of production in May, 1912, at this plant, was stated to be about 

 2.50 pesos per quintal, covering everything up to the time of shipment. 

 To this figure must be added the transportation charges to the vessel in 

 Antofagasta harbor, about 1 peso per quintal, and the export duty of 

 2.50 pesos per quintal, making total costs on board vessel 6 pesos per 



