THE CUBA REVIEW 



27 



CUBA RICH IN MINERALS 



In a recent article published in Mining 

 Science. Prof. H. S. Nicholson gave an 

 interesting discussion of the mineral re- 

 sources of the island of Cuba. According 

 to Professor Nicholson, Cuba possesses a 

 wealth of minerals that to-day remains 

 practically untouched, although some of 

 her mines have been in occasional opera- 

 tion for centuries. 



Though it has been known for over 400 

 years that the island was rich in iron ores, 

 it has only been within the last thirty years 

 that these ores have been mined. In 1884 

 several American companies became inter- 

 ested. Many millions have been invested 

 and their plants are among the most ex- 

 tensive and up-to-date in the world. Their 

 ores are quarried, rather than mined in 

 the ordinary sense. The output is smelted 

 in the United States. 



Professor Nicholson says that from the 

 mines on the south coast the shipments in 

 1909 amounted to about a million tons. 

 Apparently the supply is practically inex- 

 haustible, as immense beds of ore have 

 been discovered in various portions of the 

 island, and English and American investors 

 are busy possessing themselves of them. 



Professor Nicholson discusses one copper 



mine, the only one on the island, located 

 at Cobre, near Santiago, which was dis- 

 covered and opened in 1514. It was not 

 until sixteen years later, however, that 

 systematic mining was begun. It has con- 

 tinued, with varying fortunes, until to-day. 



Tradition has it that copper was pro- 

 duced here even before the coming of the 

 Spaniards. This idea is based on the fact 

 that copper implements and images found 

 in the ancient mounds of Florida have 

 been identified as having been made from 

 Cobre copper. 



In 1S.30 an English company came into 

 possession of the property and developed 

 ore bodies through a number of shafts to 

 a depth of 1,000 or 1,200 feet vertically, 

 and laterally for several miles. During 

 the "ten years' war" it filled with water. 

 After the Spanish-American war an Amer- 

 ican company acquired it. This company 

 unwatered it to a depth of 500 or 600 feet 

 and is now shipping" 6,000 tons of ore 

 monthly. From 1830 to 1860 this mine, 

 official records show, produced $50,000,000 

 in copper. 



Professor Nicholson's investigations have 

 convinced him that in many other sections 

 Cuba is marvelously rich in copper. 



With Our Advertisers 



INSURANCE IN CUBA 



The Liverpool & London & Globe Insur- 

 ance Company binds risks in the island of 

 Cuba at its New York office. 45 William 

 Street, where Ricardo P. Kohly is Cuban 

 general agent. It issues policies of insur- 

 ance against fire and boiler explosion, loss 

 of profits following fire, boiler explosion 

 and engine breakdown. 



The disastrous efifects of a fire are not 

 to be measured by the actual value of the 

 property destroyed. For example, the 

 destruction of the engine house of a mill 

 or of delicate and complicated machinery 

 would involve losses far in excess of the 

 actual damage done to the property. 



A fire policy, although valuable and in- 

 dispensable, fails to replace the above 

 losses, and the only remedy in such cases 

 is a "loss of profits" policy, which not only 

 maintains the net profit of a mill, but pro- 

 vides for the payment of standing charges 

 during the stoppage, which otherwise 

 would have to be met out of capital, or 

 from reserves intended for other purposes. 

 A Liverpool & London & Globe loss of 

 profits policy provides full compensation 

 by a simple contract at a small premium. 



It is expedient to insure as net profit the 

 average annual dividend paid on the or- 



dinary share capital, and in addition, the 

 standing charges, the latter usually com- 

 prising rent, rates and taxes, interest on 

 mortgages, debentures or loans, directors' 

 fees and salaries to stafif, depreciation, etc. 

 A sugar estate factory having an annual 

 output of 100,000 bags of raw sugar insures 

 its gross profits for $50,000. The sum re- 

 coverable would therefore be 50 cents per 

 bag on the shortage in output as per agreed 

 compensation, whether of the profits of 

 the current or previous year, or of the 

 average of a number of years. 



L. J. Martholomew has been appointed 

 agent for Porto Rico by the Lytton Manu- 

 facturing Co., with headquarters at San 

 Juan. 



]\Ir. William Hammond. President of the 

 Hammond Iron Works, Warren, Pa., has 

 recently returned from a business visit in 

 Cuba, and while there placed an agency for 

 his line with Sussdorff, Zaldo & Co., 

 26 O'Reilly Street, Havana. 



A splendid residence in New York State 

 is advertised on another page as for sale. 

 It is called the show place of the Catskills. 

 The owners guarantee that everything about 

 the house is as it should be, and that it is a 

 great bargain. 



