The first mines worked in the Island of Cuba were at the place now called El Cobre, situated about twelve miles west of the City of Santiago de Cuba, and celebrated for its shrine and miracle-working image of the Virgin. These mines were opened in the year 1530, and were worked as Crown property for more than two centuries, and then abandoned. Following a century of disuse, the mines were re-opened by a British corporation, exactly five hundred years after work was first started in them. The venture proved highly successful. The official records show that between fifty and sixty million dollars’ worth of ore was taken from El Cobre between the years 1830 and 1868. About the close of this period the mine-owners encountered various difficulties. They became involved in a long and costly lawsuit, which they lost, with the railroad upon which they were dependent for the transportation of their product. This was followed by a fall in the price of copper, and unsettled political conditions. As a result, the mines were shut down, and in the succeeding wars the plant was destroyed and the workings flooded to such an extent that it was not even possible to inspect them. After the last war, an American company, styled the San José Copper Mining Company, took over the property and revived it. This concern and a few others are now actively at work in the El Cobre district, with good prospects of success. Previous to the year 1830, the only copper properties in Cuba that were developed were those at El Cobre. But about that time, deposits were discovered in numerous parts of the Provinces of Puerto Principe, Santa Clara, and Matanzas. The most notable of these that were worked in days past are near the town of Las Minas, which is about twenty-seven miles east of the City of Puerto Principe, on the Puerto Principe and Nuevitas Railroad. Some of the many old shafts at this place show signs of considerable productiveness at one time. About ten years ago these properties were taken in hand by an American corporation, called the Cuban Copper Company, which in 1909 exported 59,430 tons of copper.