The mining districts of Cuba are confined almost exclusively to the mountainous or eastern end of the Island, and so far the province of Santiago is the chief producer. Its leading product is iron ore, mined principally by American companies with American corporations. The first real iron-mining in Cuba began about 1884, when 21,798 tons were shipped to the United States. This was the first Cuban iron ore received in this country, and was about one-twenty-third of the total iron ore importation. In 1897 we received 397,173 tons of Cuban ore, which was three-fourths of the ore imported. During the years 1884-1897 we received 3,401,077 tons of Cuban ore. [Illustration: OLD COPPER MINES AT LA COPERA.] The ore is a brown hematite, in large quantities, easy to work, of excellent quality, about sixty-two per cent. iron, and is especially adapted for the making of Bessemer steel. Though there are many mining properties, three American companies, the Juragua Iron Company, the Spanish-American Iron Company, and the Sigua Iron Company, do all the business. The Juragua does far more than all the others. Its shipments to the United States in 1897 were 244,817 (5932 tons, in addition, to Nova Scotia) to 152,356 tons by the Spanish-American Company, which made its first shipment in 1895, and none by the Sigua Company, which has shipped, in all, 21,853 tons. The Sigua began operations in 1892, the Spanish-American in 1885, and the Juragua in 1884. In 1897, the Spanish-American Company shipped 51,537 tons to foreign countries; bringing its total output for the year up to 203,893 tons. Although iron ore of the best quality outcrops in many places on the estates once devoted to coffee on the southern slope of the coast range, it was not until the year 1881 that the first claim was located, or "denounced." Since then more than a hundred locations have been denounced in this range (the Sierra Maestro), both to the east and the west of the city of Santiago de Cuba. Of these denouncements the most important, and in fact the only ones that have ever been worked, are to the east of the city, covering a distance of twenty odd miles along the range, a few miles in from the coast. The deposit is not continuous, but there are numerous separate deposits along this distance; some of them very extensive.