The Placer herald., 1865-02-11
SILVER MINES IN MEXICO.

by that material that it has paid for the com
modties which it required from Europe. The
annual silver coinage, we learn on the All
thority OF gentleman who presided for
many years over one of the principal mints,
amounted, until recently, to about 500 o,ooo,,
00O to which may be added 100000
worth Of the metal which was smuggled un,
coined out of the country, the two sums
combined representing the net annual silver
production. A large proportion of this
came to Eng land, and enabled her to meet
the demands for the metal 10y India. Hum
boldt expressed a hope that the Mexcans
would some day turn their attention to pro-
ducing articles of intrinsic value, and not
those which are merely sign to represent
it. But silver and gold are as much articles
OF Intrinsic value to the producer as coffee,
spices or sugar. The same great traveller
stated as fact corroborated by the highest
authority, that two-thirds of all the silver
circulating in the world was the produce Of
the Mexican mines. The mineral resources
of Mexico, however, can scarcely be said to
have been yet even explored. There has
been no geological survey, aud its richest
mining district, Sonora, is still almost a terra
incoqnita. Humboldt may some day be
proved to have been fully justified in the
expression of his apprehensions that, should
the mineral wealth of Mexico be ever thor
oughly developed, Europe would be again
inundated, as in the sixteenth century, with
silver. That the quantity which has hitherto
been raised might be trip!ed with ease, no
person acquainted with the country can en-
tertain a doubt; for, since it has been found
profitable to work the poor ores, which occur
in exhausriLle masses silver mining has be-
come much more regular and steady pur-
suit. 1t was formerly carried on very cum-
silly. When water was reached the mine
was abandoned; but, notwithstanding the
unscjentfic method of working which pre-
vailed, the yield was sometimes immense. A
singIe vein, only 100 feet in length, produced,
in six months, 1924 pounds troy Of silver,
valued at 81 100000. The great mine Of
La Luz, in the province of Guanaxuato, pros
duced annually, for five years, net profit of
81 ,O00,000O it then suddenly fell eff in
productveness, and was afterwards abanl
doned. The veins are sometimes most ca
PRECIOUS, both in their continuance and in
their yield. Deposits of enormous thickness
often contract in depth and dwinde to the
form of a wedge. Others, which present
every Indication Of indefinite extension, sud
denly diminish to a thread Notwith
standing this uncertainty, silver mining in
Mexico is a favo,ite, and, on the whole,
profitable pursuit, and much native capital is
embarked in it. At the time of HumboIdts
visit there were 500 mining establishments
in the country, and from 5000 to 1000
veins or masses of rock were worked. One
of these veins, in the State Of Guanaxuato,
from 1870 to lao feet wide, was worked to
the length Of eight miles.
The geological character Of the districts
ia which the silver ores occur varies consld-
erably. In the great central plateau Of Ana
huac they are found in porphyry character.
lied by the constant presence of hornblende,
and the almost entire absence of quartz. In
other places the deposits occur in sienite.
In Guanaxuato, probably the richest mineral
district Of Mexico, the ore lies in a formation
of clay.sate, while in some places it is i'm.
bedded in transition limestone. The only
aurierous veins worked as gold mines are in
Oaxaco, where they traverse formations Of
gneiss and mica,slate; but many of the silver
veins contain proportion OF gold, which is
separated from the silver by the well known
process in metallurgy called parting.
"Of the excellence of the mines of Mexi-
&C" wrote Mr.. Ward,in 1927, mo doubt can
be- entertained; for if ever mining was re-
duced to a certainty, it was so in Mexico be-
fore the revolution. There might be fluctua-
tons, but they originated not in the mines
but in causes wholly unconnected with them
which rendered the supply Of quicksilver
and other Indispensable articles more or less
precarous." 1t is in the immense masses o.
ore which they are capable of producing
and not in the proportion of silver contained
in it, that the riches of the chief mining dis
tricts consist; for the produce of silver in
proportion to the rock operated upon did
not, previously to the revolution, according
to The best Spanish authorities, exceel two
and half ounces to the hundred weight
The large capitals invested by the old Span
iards in the mines were almost entirely
Withdrawn after the revolution, and we have
the high authority Of Mr.. Ward for the
statement, that there never was greater
spirit of enterprise, more liberality, or In
general, better faith, displayed in any par
of the world, than among the miners o
Mexico before the year 1910. Unexamplet
prosperity was their reward; but after tb'
great commissions of 1910, 1911 and 1872
little remained to denote, amid the genera
wreck, the epoch of splendor which imme
diately preceded it.
There is scarcely town in Mexico tha
does not own its origin directly or Indirect.
to the mines, and considerable cities hav
survived the prosperity which gave then
birth. Almost the whole landed property il
the country was, before the revolution, il
the hands Of mobiles or others, who mad
} fortunes by successful mining, and agrcu
ture has followed in the direction of mlnln
adventure. There are few instances in whlc
a district of known richness has disappolnte
the hopes Of those who possessed the mean
. of thoroughly exploring it. The chances {