The History of Cuba, vol. 5Johnson, Willis Fletcher
History
The History of Cuba, vol. 5
Johnson, Willis Fletcher
Cuba -- Economic conditions; Cuba -- History
The deposits of the Cayojuan group contain probably about 22,500 tons of
available chrome ore, but may run as high as 60,000 tons. These
estimates include 2,000 tons of float ore in the Cayojuan River and the
tributary arroyo. The group of deposits is about eight miles by mule
trail from an old wharf at Punta Gorda, to which a road will have to be
built along the valley of the Cayojuan, a narrow gorge bordered in many
places by steep cliffs. A light tramway for mule cars, or a narrow gauge
steam railway, will probably be the most economical way of removing the
ore.
The Potosi chrome claim is located on Saltadero Creek four miles above
its mouth. This is a tributary of the Yamaniguey River. The ore body is
a steeply dipping lens that reaches a depth of more than 100 feet and at
one place has a thickness of 250 feet with a length along the strike, of
45 feet. The upper edge crops out about 325 feet above the creek bed,
and about 600 feet above sea level. The ore is medium to coarse grained.
Some of the material in the drifts is spotted but most of the
outcropping and float ore is black and of good appearance. According to
the analysis that accompanied the report of G. W. Maynard, the
representative ore contains 35% to 41% chromic oxide. This deposit
contains from 10,000 to 20,000 tons and the work of getting the ore to
the coast involves rather a difficult problem in transportation.
A small body of chrome ore occurs on the Constancia claim,
three-quarters of a mile south of Navas Bay, and about 100 feet above
the sea level. The ore body appears to extend about 50 feet along the
face of a gently sloping hill. It is not of a uniform quality, being
largely a spotted ore; that is chromite mixed with serpentine ganue.
About six feet of better ore, however, is exposed in a cut some 25 feet
in length. This contains 39.4% chromic oxide. Water for concentration is
available near by in the Navas River, and a road could easily be built
to the bay, but this is not deep enough for steamers, so it would have
to be lightered four miles north to Taco Bay, or ten miles southeast to
Baracoa. Another body containing about 10,000 tons of chrome ore of
low-grade lies in the mountain eight miles south of Navas Bay.
The reserves of marketable chrome ore that have been prospected in Cuba
up to the summer of 1918, range from 92,500 long tons to 170,000. The
largest known deposits of chrome ore, or at least the largest of those
visited by the engineers Burch and Burchard in the spring of 1918, are
those of the Caledonia, and the Cayojuan and the Potosi claims, near the
northeast coast of Oriente Province, in a region of rather difficult
access. According to indications, they will probably yield 130,000 tons
of ore, most of which can be brought to the present commercial grade by
simple concentration.
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