The chrome deposits, which up to the time of the visit of these engineers had attracted attention in Cuba, are all located within distances varying from ten to twenty-five miles from the north coast of the Island. Some twelve groups were examined which displayed considerable diversity in quality, size and accessibility.
Manganese claims have been registered near Mantua and Vinales, in the Province of Pinar del Rio, but time did not permit an extended study of those deposits. Valuable manganese deposits of known value are found also in the districts of Cienfuegos and Trinidad in the Province of Santa Clara. By far the largest deposits of this ore, and the only ones that are being extensively worked, are located in the Province of Oriente.
The most westerly deposit of chrome visited was found in the eastern part of Havana province, and two others were located, one near Coliser, in the Province of Matanzas, another near Canasi, and a third near the automobile drive about half way between the City of Matanzas and Cardenas. In the province of Camaguey, only a few miles north of the city, valuable deposits of chrome were found quite accessible to the railroad for shipment. Other chrome deposits were found in Oriente; one near Holguin, another south of Nipe Bay, and three groups in the mountains not far from the coast between Punta Corda and Baracoa.
All of the chrome deposits examined by these engineers were found in serpentinized basic rocks. The ore lies in lenticular and tabular masses, ranging in thickness from one to more than fifty feet. The ore is generally fine grained to medium coarse, and runs from spotted material, consisting of black grains of chromite ranging in diameter from 1/30 to ¼ of an inch, embedded in light green serpentine, to a solid black material containing little or no visible serpentine.
Most of the masses of ore are highly inclined and certain of them are exposed in ravines, on steep hillsides and in mountainous or hilly regions. The deposits west of Nipe Bay are in areas of moderate relief, and those near Camaguey are in an area of very low relief. The deposits in the eastern part of Oriente, which are the largest visited, are in a mountainous country and very difficult of access.
In Havana Province small pockets of chrome ore have been found about two miles south of Canasi, ten miles from the railroad. A little mining has been done and about 600 tons of ore shipped.
In Matanzas Province small deposits of chrome were visited on the “Jack” claim, seven miles northwest of the railroad station on Mocha, and on the Anna Maria claim ten miles west of Cardenas. The latter is only two miles from the railroad but no ore had been shipped from it. Considerable development work has been done on the “Jack” claim and about 450 tons of ore were on hand in February of 1918.
Another promising claim was located in a group of several serpentine hills that rise from the comparatively level surface about a mile north of kilometer 36, on the automobile drive between Cardenas and Matanzas. The outcropping chrome and loose lumps of float, found on the surface, were of high grade, exceeding probably 50%.
Since the visit of the American engineers another very promising chromite claim has been located some four kilometers from the railroad, near Coliseo, in the Province of Matanzas. The owners of this claim announce an unlimited quantity of good grade ore, and were shipping in the winter of 1918 and 1919 two carloads of ore per day to the United States by rail, using the Havana and Key West Ferry. Messrs. Burch and Burchard state in their report that the geological conditions in the areas referred to above warrant further exploration.
The deposits of chrome examined in Camaguey consist of three groups, which lie along a narrow zone, beginning nine miles north of the City of Camaguey and extending southeast to a point only two miles from Alta Gracia, on the Nuevitas Railroad. A level plain, covered with a thin mantle of clay and limonite gravel, extends from the City of Camaguey northward until its junction with the hills of the Sierra de Cubitas, rendering the country easily accessible by wagon road. Float ore is found in this zone, and broken ore caps some ten or twelve small hills that rise from five to fifty feet above the surrounding surface. In this zone there are also fifteen or more other outcroppings of chromite, most of them obscured by broken ore and rock debris. Prospecting has been done here to obtain samples of ore for analysis, but it has not shown either the nature or the extent of the deposits. On the surface, however, there is a considerable quantity of ore in the form of broken rocks or coarse float, probably 20,000 tons.