The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1914-03-28
CERRO DE PASCO
MINE WORLD WONDER
Great Mine, Perched High in
Andes, Now on a Pay
ing Basis.

Frank c. Carpenter writes interesunsl
of The famous Cerro dc Pasco eoppe
mines In Peru in which \. w. McCun
OF this city, after years Of effort an
the spending OF millions for himself an
associates, has brought about the sue
cessful handling of the enormous coppe
deposit Mr.. Carpenter says II Is VI
largest mining project in South Americ
and that It will probably be suceessiuli !
operated FOR many years. ms stofy
part is as follows;
The Cerro de Pasco mines arc at
an altitude of over $4,000 feet the
highest camp In the world. ne
syndicate operating them, includlnG
j. L. Haggin, H 6 Frick. tne van,
already spent tens OF millions ana
has mines reputed worth at least
$50, 900. 900. The shares are not
listed. and no stock has ever been
offered for sale. For some years the
company sank millions Wlthout as
surance of return. oo,
Ry 1907 II shipped over 2o.o0o.Ooo
pounds, and the smelter Is now turn
Ing out over 100000 pounds OF matte
a month. shipped to New York. Gold
and silver values about cover the
expense of mining and milling. The
snelter Is the finest In South Amer
ica and in many respects Is unique
miles great mines OF bitum'nous coal,
which il has connected by railroad,
and makes It's own coke. 1t also has
built over 100 miles of standard
gauge TO connect with the Central
railway OF Peru to the coast,
About the mines IL owns also an
estate OF 200,000 acres on surface
rights title. and through branch
company owns copper properly at
Norocoha. near the Central railway,
l,,.N s.f., tod nfl- nI
where the ore Is reported even richer
than at Cerro de Pasco The latter
ore averages per cent 10 lo per
cent copper, each ton yielding about
$50 in copper, $40 in silver and 81 in
gold.
The company has great body OF
ore Of vet undetermined dimensions,
right under the town, with veins run
ming out in n dozen directions, and
with the ore getting richer with
the veins. with enough ore there in
sight for ten years work without
further development. Ore not assay
ing over per cent is discarded, and
mines, originally opened long since
for silver, which dwindled with depth
from 100 to 10 ounces per ton COM
prise forty miles Of working, al
though present operations are CON
fined between the 200 and 600-foot
levels in n space about one mile by
a mile and a half
The machinery is the most mod
ern type, with compressed. air drills.
and the native miners, working in two
eight-hour shifts and paid GO cents
and upward a day. are excellent
workers. About $50 samples are as
sayed daily. Acetylene lamps are
used, and cars are moved by gravity
The company Is installing at falls
seyentyfive miles distant an cleo
trio plant of $4,000 horsepower,
which will soon supplant coal. Near
the smelter, six miles down mountain
from the mines. the company has
great quarries Of almost pure lime
stone
The smelter the largest outside
the United States and patterned after
that at Great Falls, Mont. contains
the finest American machinery. IT
has three 300-foot stacks. and runs
three eight-hour shifts Its building
involved difficulties new TO mine engi-
neering, Experts declared furnaces
could not be run al $4,000 feet nlti-
tudc: and under one engineer after
another, while the company was
spending millions. they did refuse TO
work. They finally worked, after a
smelter man from Mexico. who de-
clared they did not sound right, took
orr the gauges and put the blasts In
such a way that he got the night
sound.
Frank rdepetko, who built the
Great Falls smelter. planned the ma
chinery department. He introduced
new inventions and put in treatments
tude. One curious device is called the
clndering machine, which makes tho
fine ore into a coke so that II can
easily be smelted.