[85] The Argentine lost much of its mineral wealth when Potozi and La Paz were lost to Bolivia.—[Trans.]
There are many villages which ever since the Spanish Conquest have drawn their sustenance from the gold and silver which their inhabitants obtain, by rudimentary processes, from the beds of stream or river, and by plain mining. Also, despite the difficulties of transport, various well-organised companies have obtained very fair results from their workings, since they obtained their concessions a few years ago. Now that the feelers of the railway systems have reached these districts, and the mining companies have established aerial cable-ways to connect them with the mines, we can already perceive a greater vitality in this industry.
In addition to the wealth of the Cordillera, prospectors are discovering new lodes in the interior of the country; but, as always happens, miners prefer to gather in already familiar
districts, rather than undertake long journeys, and the labour of prospecting at their own expense.
The best-known mines of the Argentine are distributed as follows:—
In the Province of Mendoza there are mines of copper, silver-bearing galena, gold-bearing quartz, coal, alabaster, slate, and marble, and wells of petroleum; in the Province of San Juan, of gold-bearing quartz, silver, copper, antimony, coal, sulphur, and amianthus.[86] In view of the development which this region may undergo through the exploitation of the coal-measures, the Great Western Railway has decided to construct a branch line as far as the coal mines of Salagasta (Mendoza).
[86] Amianthus—the best quality of asbestos.—[Trans.]
The Province of La Rioja has been known for a long time for its rich mines of metallic silver, and also for its copper mines, whose ores contain a high percentage of gold and silver; and for its gold “placer” mines. It is to facilitate the working of these mines that the aerial cable-way is being constructed, which will unite Cerro de Famatina and the mining centre of Chilecito with the railways. Here, as everywhere, skilled miners are somewhat scarce.
The Province of Catamarca, the centre of the Capillitas mining country, possesses copper mines with a high percentage of silver and gold, which have been worked for more than thirty years. These mines, which are, it appears, very rich in minerals, have been acquired by a foreign company, and will be the object of an important enterprise; here, too, an aerial cable-way will be built to transport the ore from the mines to a lower level.
There are also in this region two important smelting works; “Le Pilcian” and “La Constancia,” which are buried in the depths of the forests of carob-trees, which furnish abundant fuel. In other parts are found surface veins of copper, silver-bearing galena, bismuth, antimony, mica, gold-bearing quartz, as well as “placer” mines and coal-measures.