Not only is the Department of La Libertad rich in agricultural products of every zone, but the mines of its sierras abound in precious metals. For the past few years, especial interest has been taken in the mineral wealth of this region, small lots of gold, silver, and copper ores being exported with most satisfactory returns. Quiruvilca, sixty-six miles beyond the terminus of the railway which connects Trujillo with Menocucho, is a mining district covering about a hundred square miles rich in copper and silver. Veins having an average width of fourteen inches contain from fifty to sixty per cent copper, and silver veins of sixteen inches in width produce as much as a thousand ounces of silver. The Quiruvilca mine is two days’ ride on muleback from the end of the railway, which is twenty-seven miles from the port of Salaverry, where all the steamers of the west coast call for cargo. Although the property has not been developed on the large scale necessary to make it a famous copper mine, it is worked successfully and yields good returns for the small capital employed. Two hundred tons can now be exported daily, the high and low grade ores together averaging forty-five per cent copper. It is the purpose of the present owners, who are also the chief proprietors of Casa Grande, to place this enterprise on a gigantic basis, by constructing a railway, not only to Quiruvilca, but to another mine, Araqueda, also enormously rich in copper and silver, and by establishing smelting works and other improvements for which large capital must be employed. The easy accessibility to a good port and the mildness of the climate of this mining region, as compared with the severity of the _puna_ where many of the most valuable mines of Peru are located, are strong points in favor of its rapid development.