Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-09-27
Valparaiso HarboT

T01PdEN~SO N<oELoT
nitrate, the steamers that land there will
load up with American goods and bring
them back to Chile We are now taking
something like 900 pounds of nitrate
year and Chile is ready to consume
| like amount of American goods. This
nitrate business is controlled by Ameri-
cans. 1t is handled by the Nitrate
Agencies. Limited, the majority OF whose
stock is owned by w r. Grace & Co, and
its return freight will probably be run in
| connection with the Graces.
Another effect OF the war will be to send
millions of dollars worth of American
capital into Chilean investments 1t
means new banks and new syndicates Of
various kinds This is a land of big
things, and the Americans are gradually
getting their fingers on some Of the most
valuable properties. Take the Bethlehem
Steel company. 1t has recently acquired
an iron mountain near Coquimbo a port
on the west, coast. of Chile, between An
tofagasta and Valparaiso. The ore lies
only about five miles from the coast, and
is so situated that it can be loaded by
gravity. That property is said to contain
more than. 1OO0o0.Oo0 tons Of high-grade
ore, which assays from 60 to 20 per cent
of pure iron. The mines have enough ore
to supply the Bethlehem steel works for
more than fifty years.
Copper Mines Are Great.
Some of the greatest copper mines of
the world are in Chile, and in the hands
of the Guggenheim syndicate. / refer
to those being worked under the Chile
Exploration company and the Braden
Copper company. The Braden copper
mines lie about 300 miles southeast OF
Valparaiso. They were opened up by
| Americans, including William Braden,
z. w. Nash. Messmore Kendall and
others, and were afterward sold to the
Guggenheims. Within the last few
years something like S14OOO,OOO have
been spent upon them, and they are now
potentially about the largest of the
world. The Braden mines have some
thing like 200, 900 900 tons of ore in sigkt,
and the company is putting up mills mat
will treat 5000 tons daily. The mines
are now producing about 100000 pounds
OF copper a month, and I am told that
the profit Is over 8 cents a pound. Four
thousand men are employed, and among
them many Americans. The are milled
In 1918 amounted to 10000 tons, and the
company expects to produce almost g.,
100000 pounds per month from now on.
The Chile Exploration company Is the
name OF the Guggenheim branch which
is developing the Chuquicamata copper
mines These are situated far north OF
the Braden property. They are about
$50 miles by rail from Antofagasta, lying
in the coastal range of the Andes at an
altitude of $500 feet. The ore body al
ready developed is 5000 feet long 1000
feet wide, and no one knows how deep.
Diamond drills have been put down in
places to a depth of 1,10O feet, and
enough ore has been found to keep the
great plant now being built busy 70:
more than sixty years. There are some
thing like 100000 600 tons in sight.
Finest Plant I'm World.
The plant of the Chuquicamata mines
will be one of the finest In the world.
Tho Guggenheimts have 1900 men build
ing II, and II will be finished In 1915. II
includes great crushing machines, acid
proof concrete tanks, and electrolytic
plants that will treat more than 10000
pounds of copper a day. The machinery
has steam turbines. and generators of
1O,00O kilowatts Much OF the machinery
will be run by electricity, which will
come through a transmission line eighty
miles long. The plant has already built
twelve miles Of standard gauge railroad
and some OF its mining is 10 be done
with steam shovels from Panama, by
which the ore can be gotten out at an
extremely low cost All of this ma
chinery will be in operation next year.
at which time II should be producing
copper at the rate of 100000 pounds
per month, an output that will be dou-
BLEED in 1917 by the erection of an ad-
tional lO,OOO-ton plant. This copper will
go north by the canal, and the ships will
be ready for return frelghts to Chile.
VIII Need Many Men.
The Bethlehem Steel mines and the
Gugenheim mines will necessitate large
forces of workmen, and the management
will of course, be American. The Gug-
genheims are now building houses for
their employees at Chuqulcamata and
Braden, and they are introducing Ameri-
am methods and American conveniences.
They will have a number OF American
families connected with each property,
and these will Re permanent forces for
the Introduction OF American goods and
Of American trade. At Chuquicamata
the little city now going up will be sur
prise to lie Chieans. II Is to have a
theater a hospital, two public schools and
a public library and music halls for the
workmen. There will be { telegraph and
postoffice building and a Protestant and
a Catholic church. Everything Is being
done with a view to permanency; for the
getting out OF the enormous body OF ore
win require the mo ing OF more earth
than We moved at Panama. II will re-
quire the payment OF wages which will
eventually amount TO more than S225 600
COO II will last for generations and II
means a permanent American establish
ment In Chile. The Chuquicamata mines |