The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

SCENE AT THE BORAX MINES OF AREQUIPA.

All the world is familiar with stories of the Incas’ splendor and the viceroys’ luxury, based on the enormous riches of Peruvian mines in past centuries. Gold and silver seem to have run in streams of never-failing abundance from the sierras of this wonderful country, their wealth gleaming in temples dedicated to the worship of the Sun in pre-Columbian days and forming a pavement for the footsteps of viceregal princes in the no less flourishing period of colonial Spain. But it is not generally known that the decline of this abundance was due entirely to other causes than an exhaustion of the source of supply, and that the mineral wealth of Peru to-day is, for practical purposes, as great as ever. The progressive spirit of modern enterprise promises to restore the prestige once enjoyed by Peru as the richest mining country of the globe.

The natural development of the mining industry was first arrested when repeated uprisings of the Indians interfered with its interests, especially during the latter part of the eighteenth century; and it was still further checked by the war of Independence, which, although it brought the blessings of national freedom, left the country in a condition of political disorder and confusion, with all industry comparatively at a standstill. The young republic had neither funds nor experience adequate to meet the needs of industrial development; and, for many years, political matters held supremacy in the national councils, to the great detriment of trade and financial well-being.

But when the effects of constitutional liberty began to be apparent in a more stable government, and the decline of militarism was succeeded by an increasing interest in economic affairs, the nation turned its attention to many sources of wealth that had remained practically unworked for half a century, and the government stimulated this awakening spirit of enterprise by making laws calculated to encourage individual endeavor in every branch of industry. The inauguration of the School of Mines in 1876, and the adoption, the following year, of laws governing mining property so as to ensure perpetual and irrevocable ownership, proved of great importance in promoting the mining interests of the country. Foreign capital was encouraged by the liberal attitude of the Peruvian government to make large investments in mineral lands of the sierra, and from this period date many of the extensive foreign enterprises now established in Peru.

The mining code now in force was promulgated in 1901; it has given additional impulse to the industry, as, by its terms, every facility is afforded for the acquirement of mining property, as well as ample liberty in working it and perfect security in possession. The rights of the foreigner are the same as those of the Peruvian mine owner, no distinction of nationality being made in the conditions of ownership. By the law of 1877, each mining claim is subject to a half-yearly tax of fifteen soles (seven dollars and fifty cents, gold), which guarantees possession as long as it is punctually paid. A special law, passed in 1890, further guarantees that, until the year 1915, no new tax can be imposed on the mining industry or on the export of its products.

A mining claim, or pertenencia, is usually marked off in the form of a parallelogram, one hundred by two hundred metres in area, and is of indefinite depth. The measurement is made from an angle indicated by the concessionaire. A pertenencia for a placer-mining property, a platinum bed, petroleum deposit, tin or coal mine, is measured in the form of a square of two hundred and thirty metres each side. The maximum of a single concession is sixty adjoining claims, but any person or company may solicit as many concessions as desired, though a separate petition must be made for each, the only charge for this privilege being a stamp of five soles, which covers the cost, whether the concession is for one claim or sixty.

Mining property is conceded under the direction of the government, through the Department of Fomento, in which a general register of mines is kept, containing a record of all the mining property in the republic with the names of concessionaires and the extent and locality of their claims. As an encouragement to the development of mining, the importation of materials and machinery required in the elaboration of metals and the construction of railroads for their transportation is allowed free of custom house duties. The government organized, in 1902, the Corps of Mining Engineers, whose duties are to promote the mining interests of Peru by providing the most thorough information obtainable regarding the geology and mineralogy of the country. Commissions have been appointed by this organization to explore and examine new regions and to ascertain their mineral wealth, so as to secure such knowledge about them as may be necessary in the granting of concessions and the general exploitation of mining lands. Regular bulletins are published by the Corps of Mining Engineers, giving the results of these explorations, their pages being usually illustrated with interesting views of the regions traversed by the appointed commissions. The School of Mines has been of invaluable service in promoting a technical knowledge of mining among the young men of those districts where such an education is of the greatest importance. Graduates of this school are prepared to assume the management of a mine, and are qualified to direct the various departments of mining industry.

HUÁNUCO.

Although it is not only in the region of the sierra that valuable minerals are extracted,—since gold placers are worked in the coast districts of Nasca and Camaná, as well as in the valleys of Sandia and Carabaya, and elsewhere in the Montaña,—the riches of the Peruvian Cordilleras are so enormous and so varied that to speak of the sierra is, of necessity, to refer to its mines. The Nudo of Cerro de Pasco and the Nudo of Vilcanota especially appear to form storehouses full of vast treasures of metallic ore; gold, silver, copper, and other mineral products abound; and the companies now engaged in developing these regions are daily opening up new properties of increasing importance.