Impressions of Spain

by Albert Frederick Calvert

When I was at Escurial I visited two other groups of properties in the neighbourhood which had been acquired by British capitalists. The successful developments in the Escurial property proper—especially on the Jaime and Antigua Pilar leases—attracted a good deal of attention to the district, which subsequent prospecting work shows to have been thoroughly warranted. One of these groups comprises the Recompensa, the Pepitanga, and the San Antonio leases, which have a combined area of 437 acres. The local theory is that the nature of the country and the constitution of the lodes is the same throughout the district, and the work done on these mines bears out that belief. The lodes and veins are numerous, varying in thickness from seven inches to three feet; and the ores have yielded, as the result of assays, from eleven per cent. to thirty per cent. of copper. Seven lodes, which are distinct and well defined, have been followed for a distance of over 6,000 feet through the property, and five separate workings have been undertaken to test the value of the mineral deposits. As the workings are 750 feet above sea level, at which depths the lodes usually improve, the quantity of ore in the property must consequently be very considerable. The ore also yields both silver and gold, but it is not possible to estimate the profit likely to be made from this source. Only one assay has been made from this ore, but it disclosed the existence of nearly thirteen ozs. of silver and over nine dwts. of gold. The other group that is now the property of English capitalists, consists of five concessions, called the Clarisa, the Morena, Natividad, Mitry, and the Mercedes, having a total area of 2,111 acres.

The Huercal Copper Cobalt Mines.

A railway journey of 20 hours’ duration, over three railroad systems, transports the visitor from Madrid to the little mining town of Huercal (pronounced Whercal) Overa. We leave the capital by the express train for Alicante, and travel via Alcázar and Albacete to Chinchilla, which is reached at some unearthly hour in the middle of the night. From Chinchilla the line runs through the beautiful province of Murcia to Lorca, where we change onto a small English railroad which takes us to Huercal. We had left Madrid in our winter overcoats and rugs; when we stepped out into the soft sunshine of Almeria we could have dispensed with our under coats and waistcoats. We are in the land of the spring roses and early oranges, and the nipping and eager air of the capital is forgotten. Our visit is regarded by the community with general interest, for the townsfolk look to El Monte Minado, as the copper mines are known locally, to make the fortunes of Huercal-Overa. Many of the leading people here are shareholders in the mines, and all the labour employed on the property is drawn from the town. There is not a child in the neighbourhood who is unacquainted with the personality of the Spanish representative of the English proprietors, who acts as our cicerone, and the word goes round that he is come to town. The mine captain, and several prominent people of the district, are at the station to meet us; and in the sitting-room that has been reserved for our use in the comfortable hotel we find the table laid, not for dinner, but

BÁRRIS CUTTING, HUERCAL.

with an array of valuable specimens taken from the mine. Here is copper in practically every form—green carbonate of copper (malachite), blue carbonate of copper (azurite), red oxide of copper (cuprite), copper pyrites (yellow sulphuret of copper), and native copper. Added to this, the abundant association of cobalt—cobalt steel-gray, and pinkish purple, like the hue of peach-blossom in colour—and of bright emerald green tinted nickel, give the specimens an extremely beautiful appearance. The Monte Minado property comprises a copper hill not unlike the celebrated Mount Morgan in conformation, and has an area of 111½ acres. There are indications that point to Phœnician industry in the Huercal Mine, but the traces of later workmanship demonstrate conclusively that the Romans were the last of the Ancients who exploited this copper mountain on a large scale. It was the Romans who obliterated so carefully all traces of their handiwork, and filled up with rubbish the openings of their levels and other workings.

AGUILAS—THE RAILWAY.

The composition of the mountain, being of volcanic creation, it is a crumbling conglomerate mass; and unless the galleries are substantially timbered, the chances of their falling in present an instant danger to the miners. The men who are employed in the work of clearing the ancient galleries and putting in new levels have had many narrow escapes from falling earth. The Spanish mining regulations impose a very high rate of compensation in the case of accidents which occur in the mines; and as a doctor, whose duty it is to report on all casualties to the Department of Mines at Madrid, is attached to every working property, mine owners are exceptionally careful for the safety of their employées. On one occasion, when the Spanish representative of the present proprietary was being conducted by the manager through some new workings, a huge piece of the country rock fell upon his guide. His head was very luckily protected by one of the hard pot hats which the underground hands always wear; and although this helmet was badly dented, it probably saved the wearer’s life. The visitor was naturally much concerned, but the manager accepted the mishap with smiling philosophy. “You see,” he remarked, “I am not meant to be an expense to the owners, just yet.”

The labour of fortifying all the drives, as the work advanced, rendered exploitation both slow and expensive, while not entirely eliminating the element of danger from the operations. It was at one time intended to cut the lode by driving an adit into the mountain at a level of 150 feet below the ancient workings; but as it was discovered that this adit would have had to be shored up and cemented like an electric railway tube, the proposal was abandoned as impracticable. Since then, the difficulty has been successfully overcome by the adoption of another policy.