To the east and west of Santiago de Cuba are many deposits of iron ore, most of them denounced, but none of them developed. Among these is a group of mines, chief of which is the Camaroncids, fifty-six miles from Santiago de Cuba, the ore of which is said to average sixty-eight per cent. iron. In part, it is widely believed that iron ore of the finest quality abounds throughout the Sierra Maestra region. A mining engineer of experience is responsible for the statement that, in the vicinity of Mayari, near Nipe Bay, deposits of high grade ore have been discovered “of sufficient extent to supply the demands of the whole world for the next century.” Iron is the chief mineral product of Cuba. The first “denouncement” of an iron mine in the Island was made in the year 1861, but it was not until 1883 that the investment of capital made the exploitation of the deposits of the Sierra Maestra possible. In the following year, the Juragua Iron Company, an American concern, made the first shipment of iron ore from the Island. At this time the Spanish authorities granted a number of concessions favorable to foreign corporations engaged in mining. Under this encouragement the pioneer company extended its operations and a few years later the Spanish-American Iron Company, organized in the United States, entered the field. The Sigua Iron Company and the Cuban Steel Ore Company followed. The operations of all these concerns were carried on in the vicinity of Santiago de Cuba until a few years ago, when the Spanish-American Iron Company established a large plant at Felton, in the Nipe Bay district. The most important recent development in the industry is the acquisition by the Bethlehem Steel Company of an iron ore deposit occupying an area of about 900 acres, lying twelve miles to the east of Santiago. This is regarded by experts as one of the most important mineral discoveries ever made in Cuba. Measurements by mining engineers give the contents of the ore-beds as 75,000,000 tons. The ore obtained from the Sierra Maestra is both hematite and magnetite, rich in iron and low in phosphorus and sulphur. It is especially adapted to the Bessemer process of manufacture. An average analysis shows more than sixty-two per cent. metallic iron. These properties are not mines in the strict sense of the word. The ore is found in small irregular bodies, near the tops of the hills, and it is extracted by quarrying, so that the workings are entirely exposed to view. Explosives and steam shovels are used in taking out the ore, which is unusually hard. As it does not lie in seams, with definite walls, one of the chief difficulties of operation consists in sorting it from the ordinary rock.