THE CUBA REVIEW 



IT 



developed the ore bodies through a number of shafts to a depth of 1,000 feet or 1,200 

 feet vertically, and by drifts and cross-cuts to a lateral extent of several miles. The 

 troubles of the 'ten years war' and the difficulty of handling the water caused this 

 company to suspend operations. 



"After the close of the Spanish-American war an American company came into pos- 

 session of the property. They have partially unwatered it, possibly to a depth of 500 

 feet to 600 feet at present. After some expensive and unprofitable experiences in the 

 way of smelting, leaching and concentrating, they have apparently settled down to mining 

 and shipping the high-grade ores. 



"By official reports, they shipped about 60,000 tons in 1909 and are now shipping 6,000 

 tons monthly. Their superintendent states "that all ores of copper are found from the 

 red and black oxides in the gossan to native copper of considerable quantities in the 

 top of the sulphides down to clean shalcopyrites." The depth of the enriched zone of 

 the sulphides has never been determined. It occupies at least the area from the 100-foot 

 level to below the 600-foot level. In this area occur large lenses of three and one-half 

 per cent ore containing shoots of very rich sulphides. One slope on the 550-foot level 

 yielded 22 per cent ore. As, at the time when the lowest workings were mined, only 

 ore of a high grade could be handled, it is safe to assume that the zone of enrichment 

 extended this far. Official records in Santiago show that from 1830 to 1S60 this mine 

 is credited with a production of some $50,000,000. 



"At present Cobre is the only productive copper mine in the island, yet ores of copper 

 are abundant and very widely disseminated. Throughout the Sierra Alaestra range and 

 in general in all of the mountain districts copper float is abundant. A few miles to the 

 eastward of Cobre, boulders of amygdaloid basalt occur with native copper amygdules. 

 This formation is of the same character as that of the Lake Superior region of the 

 United States. 



"In the province of Santa Clara nuggets of native copper are sometimes turned out 

 in cultivating the fields. In one district of considerable area in this province are numerous 

 old workings, some of which, a generation or so ago, produced a large amount of high- 

 grade ore, most of which was shipped to Wales for sale and treatment. 



"On the north coast rich float and many old w^orkings are found, especially near 

 Sagua de Tanamo and Gibara", in Oriente ; near ]\Iinas. in Camaguey, in the mountains 

 and hill country in the northern part of Matanzas Province. 



"At San Diego de los Banos. in Pinar del Rio, I had brought to me samples said 

 to have come from the adjacent hills, which assayed 65.25 per cent copper. 



"Xext to iron, copper seems to be the most abundant and widely scattered metal. From 

 the report of the Cuban Department of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor there was 

 exported in the year 1909 by the one operating company 59,430 tons of copper ores." 



President Gomez has sent a mes- 

 sage to Congress asking for a vote of 

 $587,000 with which to settle the balance 



due Judge Riley, the contractor who has 

 been doing the work of the Cienfuegos 

 aqueduct. 



A rich copper mine. \'ie\v of El Cobre in Oriente Province. 



Una mina Rica dc Cobre. Lcmada "El Cobra" in la 

 Prcvincia de Oriente. 



