El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-03-21

, not This is by means Of a ta.Ilow candle
/ They light the candle. and by busting it
/ with the ore, the copper in it gives forth
a green flame, the color Of which shows just
/ about the percentage Of metal the ore con-
] tains
/ In going through the tunnels we used
/ acetylene. the carbide for which comes from
/ the United States, and every miner we met
, had an acetylene lamp on his cap. The
] managers find that this is much cheaper
than candles The mines are worked by
/ electricity which is now generated by steam,
but the company is installing a great cleo
trio plant at Groya, about IS miles away,
where they own a stream with fall which
will generate about IS, 600 horsepower.
Within short time all Of their works
here and at the great smelter and also at
the associate mines Of Morococha will be
operated by the fall of this river. At pres
ent the steam is produced by coal from the
{ companyS coal mines, which are about Is
miles from Cerro de Pasco. They use this
to make coke for the smelter and they have
great quarries of almost pure limestone,
half way between the mines and the smell
feet lower down
The Great smeiter.
During my stay have spent some time
at the smelter. The place is known by the
Peruvian name of La Fundicion. The works
are situated on the side Of the mountain, so
that the ore starts in at the top and goes
by gravity through the various processes
until it comes out in copper mates as big
around as a bread bowl, ready to be sent
down on the cars The smelter is the larg-
est in South America It must cover sew
buildings, colored black with the smoke
They are walled with glass windows and
have roofs Of galvanized iron Rising above
them are three mighty smoke stacks, each
so big around that you could run a Pullman
car through it without touching the walls
These stacks are about 300 feet high, and
from them day and night pour out vast
volumes Of white and yellow smoke into the
clouds Of the Andes.
The smelter has the finest Of modern ma
chinery and every pound Of it came from
the states This is so also of the great iron
buildings and Of the wood used for the
structures and railroad The establishment
has duplicates Of everything needed for
smelling. 1t runs three eight hour shifts l
and keeps busy Sunday and week days all
day and night I told that It is the
largest copper smelter outside the United
States
Is 1900 Feet in Air.
In building this smelter the engineers had
to contend with difficulties unknown before
No one had ever constructed a smelter at I
$4,000 feet above the sea. and the experts |
said that furnaces could not be run at that I
altitude They claimed that the air was
so rare that you would have to blow /
through the fire several times as much air
per minute as is usually done in order to /
secure the oxygen sufficient for the reac- |
ton Nevertheless, the syndicate determined {
10 Try II Ihey got the best men they could /
and put up the buildings. But the furnaces !
would not work and one engineer after an
other came here and left throwing up his |
hands in despair.
At last there was> a man from Mexico.
who had passed through Missouri and had |
that the figures told the real story He
was an old smelter man and he said the
furnaces did not sound right. He began by
taking off all the cages and putting the =,
blasts in such way that he got the right (
sound He then started to working and, 10; /
the plant did its work.
Up to that time it looked as though
these mines which had already cost tens
Of millions, would fail The capitalists
poured in money like water and they had /
poured IN so much that they could not let /
go. Since that discovery their fight has
been successful and it is a proposition 1
winch pays exceedingly well As soon as 4
they discovered the secret Of the smelling |
they got an expert engineer, named Frank /
klepetkO, who had been connected with
the Guggenheims. and who had built !
think, the smelter at Great Falls. Mont It /
was he who planned the great buildings /
mere and made them successful He intro !
duced new inventions and put in treat /
ments that are especially fitted for these /
mines and works high up the roof Of 4
the world One Of the curious things used /
IS called the cindering machine. This takes 4
the fine ore and turns it into q coke 90 /
that 1t can be easily smelted
The output Of the works, as I have said. /
IS now more than 100000 pounds Of matte 4
every month, and that means 1000. 900 /
pounds OF copper, silver and gold It is ,
equal to more than 133, 900 pounds every
day or to more than 5000 pounds every i
hour Of the day and the night Sunday and /
week days all the year through