The History of Cuba, vol. 5

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

Work began at Matahambre in the early part of 1913 under the technical direction of C. L. Constant, of New York. During the first year a number of galleries, only a little below the surface, were thrown out in different directions. Paying ore found in these galleries was very promising. The first two carloads of ore, shipped by rail from the City of Pinar del Rio to Havana, sold for a sufficient amount of money to pay for all of the preliminary work that had been done. In 1915, a shaft was sunk to a depth of 100 feet and afterwards carried down to the 400-foot level, where it about reached the level of the sea. Later this shaft was sent down 150 feet further. The ore taken out at the 400-foot level proved to be the highest grade of all found, although it is said that no ore was encountered at any depth that was not of sufficient value more than to pay for the cost of mining. In fact the percentage of gold and silver in many cases has paid for the expense of mining the copper. In 1918, six shafts, known as 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, were in operation, and all yielding excellent ore. There are some 15 different varieties of copper ore taken from Matahambre.

The ore for some time was conveyed to the docks at Santa Lucia with mule teams and motor trucks. These were eventually replaced by wire cables and the ore was sent to the coast by gravity, greatly decreasing the cost of transportation. Splendid wharves and receiving sheds, dumps, etc., have been built at Santa Lucia, whence the ore is lightered out to deep water anchorage. Fully 300 tons a day are now being removed and conveyed to the landing. An average of 8,000 tons a month is shipped in steamers that can take aboard 800 tons a day. This mineral is consigned to the United States Metal Refining Company. In 1916, thirty-three steamers carried 75,000 tons of mineral to this Company.

Quite a little city has sprung up around the mine, and 2,000 men are given employment by the Company. Comfortable quarters have been erected for the officials, employees and other members of the force. A large amount of ore was mined in 1918 and held for the completion of a new concentration plant, which will enable the Company to utilize ore which under war freight rates would not have been profitable to export. Following the demise of Sr. Luciano Diaz, his son Antonio Diaz assumed control and is carrying on the work of the proposed improvements.

At the time of the closing of the Spanish régime in Cuba, fourteen mineral claims had been made in the Province of Pinar del Rio. Between 1909 and 1911, 212 were denounced, including 48 of the Company headed by Mr. Astor. From 1911 to 1918, 2970 claims were registered in the Bureau of Mines. A large proportion of the interest in copper mining in Pinar del Rio was undoubtedly the result of the wonderful wealth that has come from Matahambre, the ore from which mined in 1916 was valued at $5,500,000.

Not until the early part of the 19th century did the presence of those enormous deposits of iron ore found throughout the mountain districts of Oriente present themselves to the outside world as a profitable commercial proposition.

Nearly all of the great iron deposits of Oriente lie within a few feet of the surface; and on the southern slopes of the Sierra Maestra it is necessary only to scrape the dirt from the side of the hills, take out the ore and send it down to the sea coast by gravity. Similar conditions exist at the Mayari mines on the north coast, just back of Nipe Bay, where the deposits need nothing but washing with cold water. The soil being thus removed at little cost, the iron is ready for shipment to the smelters of the United States.

In spite of the fact that this ore was found to be equal to the best Swedish, and that nature in her own laboratories had supplied the requisite amount of nickel and manganese, making these mines of Oriente perhaps the most valuable in the world, but little attention has been paid to this marvellously rich source of minerals, beyond those few who are drawing dividends from the industry. The recent purchase of the Spanish American Iron Company’s holdings at Daiquiri for $32,000,000, however, has called the attention of mining interests in the United States to the fact that millions of tons of untouched ore still lie in the eastern provinces of Cuba. Twenty-five percent of the area of Oriente contains wonderful deposits of ore, mostly iron, and awaits only the necessary capital to place it on the markets of the world.

This nickeliferous iron ore, in which the presence of nickel, so essential to the making of steel, has been contributed by nature in just the right proportions, is found in large quantities also in the provinces of Camaguey and Pinar del Rio. The extent of these mineral deposits is not yet known, but millions of tons are in sight, awaiting only cheap transportation to bring them into the markets of the world, where the grade and quality of the ore will undoubtedly command satisfactory prices.

Up to the present time nearly all of the iron ore exported from Cuba comes from the large deposits of Oriente. The iron on the south coast is loaded into the steamers from the wharves at Daiquiri and Juraguay. That on the north coast, brought down from the Mayari mines, is shipped from the harbor of Nuevitas.

Below are given the tons of copper and iron shipped from Cuba during the year from July, 1917, to June, 1918: