In the Territory of Rio Negro there are abundant quarries of gypsum, limestone, and other building materials; in that of the Pampa Central copper has been recently discovered and is being worked; in that of Misionès there is native copper, iron, and manganese; in that of the Andes (Puña de Atacama), there are immense deposits of borate of lime, as well as veins of quartz and “placers.”
Considering the vast extent of these territories, which have never been seriously explored except at a few points, we have every reason to believe that it will be many years before we have even an approximate knowledge of the mineral wealth they contain; but the data gathered up to the present time augur well for the future of the mining industry in the Argentine.
We will add finally, as a further reason for success, the fact that the law regarding mines is remarkably liberal; the State may not exploit them on its own account, but concedes them to any adult applicant capable of administering his own property.
The same mining laws are in force throughout the country. To acquire a claim it suffices to present a written demand, containing an exact indication of the position and nature of the claim demanded, the details of its discovery, and all other useful information, accompanied by a sample of the mineral. Immediately upon the presentation of this demand the administration enters it with the date of deposition, in order to prove the right of priority; and directly the concession has been surveyed and delimited, the claimant has full rights in his mine and may dispose of it as he wills. The mine is untaxed, and so are the mineral products, whether sold at home or abroad. The only obligation imposed upon the miner is that he shall work his mine with at least four miners during 230 days of the year; if this condition be not fulfilled, any other person may demand the concession of the abandoned mine.[88]
[88] Senator Domingo Perez has just laid before Parliament, a projected law substituting a fine or tax for this obligation.
The Electrical Industry.—It is greatly to the credit of the Argentine that everything that makes for progress, for an increased welfare or greater convenience, is immediately applied by the Republic. The latter quickly absorbs all improvements and, profiting by the experience of older nations, immediately puts new procedures into practice, instead of lingering in the rut of outworn systems. Thus it was, for example, in the case of the electrical industry. The Argentine has no need, in this respect, to envy the most advanced nations. In Buenos Ayres—for only the large centres can be progressive to this extent—all the tramway and electric lighting concerns are most excellently equipped, and are in this matter equal to the best installations of England or the States.
The electric tramway companies, whose tracks cross Buenos Ayres in every direction, are seven in number, forming a network of lines which are distributed as follows:—
The “Anglo-Argentine” Company, 18·8 miles; the “Capital” Company, 34·7 miles; the “Metropolitan” Company, 19·8 miles; the “Grand National,” 76·9 miles; the “Compagnie Lacroze de Buenos Ayres,” 44 miles; the “Southern Electric Tramways,” 49 miles; and the “Harbour and City of Buenos Ayres,” 6·8 miles.
The great event of 1908 was the amalgamation of these companies by the “Anglo-Argentine,” which proposes to unite these lines under a single management, in order to form a vast network, comprising all the principal lines, with the exception of the “Compagnie Lacroze” and the “Harbour and City of Buenos Ayres.” The total capital invested in this important undertaking amounts to not less than £14,000,000.