Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources
Science
Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources
Geology, Economic; Mines and mineral resources
=Commercial Control.=--Three companies now produce about three-fourths
of the total copper. Two of these are owned by _American capital_
and their product is refined and sold in the United States. Situated
near the Arizona border, they have not suffered from the revolution
as much as the properties farther south. These two companies are the
Greene Cananea Copper Co. (Ryan-Rockefeller, group 3 of Table 38) and
Montezuma Copper Co. (Phelps-Dodge, etc.; group 4 of Table 38). The
developed reserves at the Montezuma Copper Co. are equivalent to five
years at present production and those at Cananea can be considered
about the same. Both districts have important possibilities. Near
Greene Cananea is another American property, Democrata Cananea, which
is a producer of moderate size. The Cananea district is now producing
at the rate of over 50,000,000 pounds per annum. Another American
property of note is the Teziutlan Copper Co., Puebla, now idle due to
revolutions. It has a smelter which normally ships 12,000,000 pounds of
blister copper annually to the Anaconda company’s electrolytic plant.
Considerable copper is produced at the plants of the American Smelting
& Refining Co., which has three copper smelters, one at Matehuala, San
Luis Potosi; one at Asarco and another at Aguascalientes, Durango.
_French capital_ controls the third important property (among the
three most important in Mexico), which is on the peninsula of Lower
California. This is the Boleo, owned by the Rothschilds; as it is far
removed from the heart of Mexico, operations have not been greatly
disturbed. The mine is an old producer with large potential reserves,
and the actual developed reserves will maintain present output for
six years. The Boleo ore deposits, which are of an uncommon type, are
Tertiary sediments that contain 3.5 per cent. copper ore, usually as
oxides. Smelters near the mine produce blister copper and matte, which
normally is shipped to France. During the war a large part of the
blister and matte came to the United States and passed into the hands
of the American Smelting & Refining Co. French interests also own the
Compagnie d’Inguaran, near Ario, Michoacan. There are large developed
reserves, but the property is idle because of political conditions and
absence of equipment or rail connections. French capital also controls
the Magistral Ameca Co., in Jalisco, where large ore reserves have been
developed. This property is also idle due to political conditions.
_English capital_ controls the Mazapil Copper Co., which has large
plants, including smelters, in Zacatecas and Coahuila. This is one of
the largest copper companies in Mexico as well as one of the oldest
important mines. It was idle for some time because of the Mexican
revolutions, but has been reopened recently.
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