The History of Cuba, vol. 5

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

In spite of these early discoveries, however, the amount of gold found in Cuba, although encouraging at the time, has never approached the value of other metals far more common and found in almost unlimited quantities. The district that first seems to have yielded a fair amount of gold was along the shores of the Arimao River, where the Cubenos panned a few hundred dollars in nuggets from the bed of the stream, and this determined the location of the city of Trinidad in 1514.

The first and largest shipment of gold from the Island of Cuba, amounting to $12,437, was forwarded to Spain in the summer of 1515, and was converted into coin of the realm by the King. Since the royal share was one-fifth of all produced, it would seem that the total yield during the first four years in Cuba amounted to $62,000.

The large quantities of gold found in Mexico by Cortez, some ten years later, so greatly excited the Spanish conquerors in their quest for this metal, that gold mining in Cuba gradually became an abandoned industry, and by 1535 had practically ceased. Since that time there have been no discoveries that would seem to justify further search.

Some time during the year 1529, copper was discovered on the crest of a hill known as Cardenillo, about ten miles west of Santiago de Cuba. Mines in this vicinity had apparently been previously worked by the Cubeno Indians, who did not enlighten the Spaniards in regard to their existence. The value of the find was not recognized until a certain bell-maker, returning as a passenger from Mexico, visited the mines and analyzed samples of the ore. As a result of his report the people of Santiago soon became aroused over the prospective value of the find and petitioned the crown for experts and facilities with which to develop the mine.

Dr. Ledoux, the famous French metallurgist, carefully analyzed the ore from these mines, and as a result reached the conclusion that the natives of Cuba, although apparently making no use of the copper themselves, had trafficked with the Indians of Florida, since in the many assays made of the copper relics of those tribes, it was found that the same percentage of silver and gold were contained in them as was found in the ore of the Cuban deposits. No other copper ores known have percentages of silver and gold so closely identical to those of “El Cobre.”

Little was done, however, toward the development of the Santiago mines until 1540, when the Spanish crown found itself short of material with which to make castings for its artillery and ordered an investigation of the Cuban copper deposits. In April of 1540, a German returning from a Flemish settlement in Venezluela visited “El Cobre” and entered into an agreement with the town council to work the mine. The ore yielded, according to the records, from 55% to 60% of pure copper, carrying with it also gold and silver. Samples were again sent to Spain to be tested by the crown. In 1514 forty negroes were set to work in the mines, under the direction of Gaspar Lomanes, and smelted some 15,000 pounds.

In 1546 the German referred to above, John Tezel of Nuremberg, returned from Germany, where he had carried samples of ore from the “El Cobre” and reported it “medium rich in quality and very plentiful in quantity.” Tezel spent the remainder of his life, 20 years, in exploiting the copper of that section.

Up to 1545 Juan Lobera had shipped 9,000 pounds of Cuban Copper to Spain. In the spring of 1547 still further shipments that had arrived in Seville and were ordered cast into artillery to be placed in the first fort in Cuba, La Fuerza, for the protection of the City of Havana. Three cannon were cast, of which one, a falconet, burst in the making, and was perhaps responsible for the report that Cuban copper was of “an intractable quality.”

Don Gabriel Montalvo, appointed Governor of Cuba in 1573, was much impressed by the reports he had heard of the rich copper deposits near the city of Santiago de Cuba, and visited some of the old workings, but found the native Cubenos very reluctant to give him information in regard to mineral deposits, fearing evidently that they would be compelled to work in them as miners.

A copper deposit was soon afterwards found near Havana, and samples of ore were forwarded to Spain with the request that 50 negroes be detailed to exploit the mine. The quality of the ore was apparently satisfactory for the casting of cannon, and the king ordered that it be used for ballast in ships returning from Havana, in order to furnish material for the Royal Spanish Navy.