The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-09-27
BY FRANK G.. CARPENTER

litIu Dath TO 1uilt. w dIt HOW l<ihtnS
something life 4o0,OooOoo pounds of nitrate
a year and Chile is ready to CONSUME a
like amount of American goods This
nitrate business is controlled by Amer-
cans. 1t is handled by the Nitrate Agen-
cies, Limited, the majority of whose
stock is owned by w. r. Grace & Co,
and its return freight will probably be
run in connection with tne Graces.
Another effect of the war will be to
send millions of dollars worth Of Amer
lean capital into Chilean investments. 1t
means new banks and new syndicates of
various kinds This is 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 Anto-
fagasta 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 con-
tain more than 1O0,0O0,000 tons of high
grade ore. which assays from 60 to 10
per cent of pure iron. The mines have
enough ore to supply the Bethlehem steel
works for more than so years.
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 200 miles southeast of
Valparaiso. They were opened up by
Americans. including William Braden,
e. w. Nash, Messmore Kendall and
others, and were afterward sold to the
Guggenheims. Within the past few
years something like S140OOOOO have been
spent upon them, and they are nov
potentially about the largest of the
world The Braden mines have some
thing like 200,000.00O tons of ore in sight
and the company Is putting up mills that
Will treat 5000 tons daily. The mines
are now producing about 100000 pounds
OF copper month, and am told that
the profit is over cents pound. Four
thousand men are employed and among
them many Americans The ore milled
In 1913 amounted to 10000 tons. and the
company expects to produce almost like
o,WO,0O0 pounds per month from now on.
The Chile Exploration company is
the name of the Guggenheim branch
!" HIGH rs ueVelOplHR the ChuQu1camata
copper mines. These are situated far
north of the Braden property They are
about $50 miles by rail from Antofa-
gasta, lying in the coastal range of the
Andes at an altitude of $500 feet The
ore body already developed is 5000 feet
long, 1000 feet wide. and no one knows
now deep. Diamond drills have been put
down in places to depth of 100 feet,
and enough ore has been found to keep
the great plant now being built busy
for more than go years. There are
something Nike 100000, 900 tons in sight.
The plant of the Chuquicamata
mines will be one of the finest in the
world The Guggenheims have 1900
men building it. and 1t win be finished
in 1915. 1t includes great crushing
machines. acid-proof concrete tanks.
and electrolytic plants that will treat
more than 100000 pounds of copper a
day. The machinery has, steam tur-
bines and generators of 10000 kilo-
watts. Much of the machinery will be
run by electricity. which will come,
a transmission line so miles
long The plant has already built ~
miles of standard gauge railroad. and
some of its mining Is to be done with
steam shovels from Panama. by which
the ore can be gotten out at an ex-
tremely low cost. All of this machin-
eiy will be in operation next year, at
which time it should be producing COP
rer at the rate of 100000 pounds
aer month, an output that Will be dou-
bIed in 1911 by the erection of an adj
ditional f0,000-ton plant. This copper