Page images
PDF
EPUB

To of rich ores (polvillos and rabones), containing

[blocks in formation]

Oz.

3360

[blocks in formation]

The quantity of rich ores was consequently, to that of the poor ores, nearly in the proportion of 3 to 14. The ores which only contained 60 ounces per ton, supplied in 1791 (we are always speaking of the Valenciana mine alone) more than 123,508lbs. troy of silver; while there was a sufficient quantity of rich ores (from 60 to 3,360 ounces per ton) to yield a produce of more than 247,000lbs. troy. At present, the mean richness of the whole vein of Guanaxuato may be estimated at 80 ounces of silver per ton of ores. The South West part of the vein, which intersects the mine of Rayas, yields, however, minerals, of which the contents generally amount to more than 450 ounces per ton.

In the district of the mines of Pachuca, they divide the produce of the vein of Biscaina into three classes, of which the richness varied in 1803 from 32 to 160 ounces per monton of 30 quintals. The minerals of the first class, which are the richest, contain from 144 to 160; and those of the second class, from 56 to 80 ounces troy. The poorest ores which form the third class are only computed at 32 ounces of silver per monton. The result is, that the good contains 100 ounces; the middling 80 ounces; and the worst about 50 ounces of silver per ton.

[blocks in formation]

In the district of mines of Tasco, the minerals of Tehuilotepec contain in a tarea of four montones or 5 tons, 15lbs. troy of silver; those of Guautla yield 45; their mean wealth is consequently about 50 ounces of silver per ton of minerals.

It is not then, as has been too long believed, from the intrinsic richness of the ores, but rather from the great abundance in which they are found in the bowels of the earth, and the facility with which they can be wrought, that the mines of America are to be distinguished from those of Europe *. The three districts of mines which we have just alluded to, furnish alone about 500,000lbs. of silver, and from the whole of these data we cannot entertain a doubt that the mean contents of the Mexican ores do not amount, as we have already stated, to more than from 60 to 80 ounces of silver per ton. Hence these ores, though somewhat richer than those of Freiberg, contain much less silver than the ores of Annaberg, Johann-Georgenstadt, Marienberg, and other districts of the Obergebirge in Saxony. From 1789 to 1799, there have been extracted communibus annis from the mines of the district of Freiberg, 7,838 tons, which have yielded 30,230lbs. troy of silver; so that the mean contents

*The silver ores of Peru do not in general appear to be richer than those of Mexico: the contents are estimated not by the monton, but by the caxon (chest), which contains 24 cargas, reckoning each carga at ten arrobas or 250lbs. At Potosi, the mean richness of the minerals is ; in the mines of Pasco, 1 ounces per 100lbs.

were 25 ounces per ton of minerals.

But in the

mines of the Obergebirge the mean riches have amounted to 200, and at very fortunate periods even to 300 ounces per ton.

We have thus taken a general view of the rocks in which the principal mines of New Spain are found; we have examined on what points, in what latitudes, and at what elevations above the level of the sea, nature has collected the greatest quantity of metallic wealth; and we have indicated the ores which furnish the immense quantity of silver which annually flows from the one continent to the other. It remains for us to afford some details relative to the most considerable mining operations. We shall confine ourselves to three of these groups of mines which we have already described, to the central group, and those of Tasco and Biscaina. Those who know the state of mining in Europe will be struck with the contrast between the great mines of Mexico, for example, those of the Valenciana, Rayas, and Tereros, and the mines which are considered as very rich in Saxony, the Harz, and Hungary. Could the latter be transported to the midst of the great works of Guanaxuato, Catorce, or the Real del Monte, their wealth, and the quantity of their produce, would appear as insignificant to the inhabitants of America, as the height of the Pyrenees compared with the Cordilleras.

[ocr errors]

180

CHAPTER X.

Number of mines-laws respecting mines-quantity of si ver raised-state of mining operations-condition mines-smelting-amalgamation.

[ocr errors]

THE kingdom of Mexico in its present state con tains nearly 500 places (reales y realitos) cele brated for the mines in their environs. It is pro bable that these 500 reales comprehend nearly thre thousand mines (minas), designating by that name the whole of the subterraneous works which com municate with one another, by which one or more metallic depositories are worked. These mines are divided into 37 districts, over which are placed the same number of Councils of Mines, called Diputaciones de Mineria.

In taking a general view of the mineral wealth of New Spain, far from being struck with the value of the actual produce, we are astonished that it is not much more considerable. It is easy to foresee that this branch of public industry will con tinue augmenting as the country shall become bet ter inhabited, as the smaller proprietors shall obtain greater security for good government and for the enjoyment of property, and as geological and chemical knowledge shall become more generally dif fused. Several obstacles have already been re

moved since the year 1777, or since the establishment of the supreme council of mines, which has the title of Real Tribunal general del importante cuerpo de Mineria de Nueva España, and holds its sittings in the palace of the Viceroy at Mexico. Till that period the proprietors of mines were not united into a corporation, or the Court of Madrid, at least, would not recognise them as an established body by a constitutional act.

The legislation of the mines was formerly in infinite confusion, because, at the beginning of the conquest, under the reign of Charles the Fifth, a mixture of Spanish, Belgic, and German laws was introduced into Mexico; which laws, from the difference of local circumstances, were inapplicable to those distant regions. The erection of the supreme council of mines, the head of which bears a name celebrated in the annals of chemical science, was followed by the establishment of the school of mines, and the compilation of a new code of laws, published under the title of Ordonanzas de la Mineria de Nueva España. The council or Tribunal general is composed of a director, two deputies from the body of miners, an assessor, two consultors, and a judge, who is head of the juzgado de alzadas de mineria. On the Tribunal general depend the thirty-seven councils of provincial mines or diputaciones de mineria, of which the names have been already mentioned. The proprietors of mines (mineros) send their representatives to the

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »