The nitrate industry has very naturally overshadowed all other mining enterprises in Chile, and especially in the northern section. And yet there are many more mining industries even in that part of the republic. The Spaniards cared for nothing but gold and silver and set thousands of Indians at work in the mines at Tucapel, Valdivia, and Quillota. The Malga Malga mines, near the latter town, and the Madre de Dios (mother of God) mines, near Mariguina, were the best producers of the yellow metal. The district around Taltal also produced gold and silver. By the primitive processes of the Spaniards only a portion of the ore was extracted. The refuse has since been refined, and even houses have been torn down that had been constructed of the by-products of the old amalgamation process. Some of this refuse contained as much as sixty ounces of pure silver to the ton. The total production of silver and gold to-day is not great when compared with the other gold-producing nations. Among the best mines now being worked are the Caracoles silver mines, which are inland from Antofagasta a little over one hundred miles, and the Inca Caracoles mines, which are fifty miles further inland. The total output of these mines during the years they have been worked reaches big figures, but the balmiest days have passed. Some of the workings have reached a depth of twenty-five hundred feet. The ores are generally chlorides or iodides, with mixtures of sulphides, but pockets of almost pure silver are occasionally found. Copper production is next in value after nitrate. There are smelting plants at Caldera, Cerro Blanco, Jarilla, Antofagasta, and other places. Central Chile is the copper country, although Lota is one of the greatest producers. The surface oftentimes shows the green outcroppings of the copper deposits. The superior attraction of the nitrate fields has at times caused a scarcity of labour there so that the development has been greatly hampered. Nevertheless the copper industry has been a fairly profitable and steady one. The annual output ranges from thirty-five thousand to forty thousand tons, but it is doubtless capable of considerable further development, with the aid of more modern methods and the installation of the latest machinery.