160:, the oldest in the new world. The open pit mine was operated from 1544 to 1998. The Spanish used slave labour and free coloured labour to work the mine. After it had been abandoned, in the 19th century a British company acquired the mine and reopened it, again using slaves and free coloured labourers, but also using skilled Cornish miners and steam engines from Cornwall to operate pumps. The mine was abandoned again, then reopened by an American company at the start of the 20th century. After the Cuban Revolution it was taken over by the state. After being finally abandoned the pit is now filled with a mineral-rich lake.
319:
202:
local indigenous people to work the mine, and imported slaves from Africa. During the first decades of the 17th century copper from the mine, worked by slaves of
African origin, was a major source of export revenue. However, the Spanish crown confiscated the mines in 1670 after the private contractor had failed to comply with the terms of his contract and had neglected them for years. 270 private slaves became the property of the king, and the town of El Cobre became a pueblo of king's slaves and free coloured people, a unique type of settlement in Cuba.
290:, and wanted to hold services and meetings according to their traditions, but anything other than the Catholic faith was illegal in Cuba. The bibles the company had given to each miner were viewed with suspicion, and the Cornish had to worship in secret. A Protestant burial ground was opened since the Cornish, considered heretics, could not be buried in the Catholic cemetery. After news reached Cornwall about the deaths from fever and higher wages at other mines the number of Cornish recruits dropped. The mine owners brought in hardier workers from the
55:
27:
348:(1914–18) the copper was mostly extracted by labourers from Spain and shipped to the United States. Companies active in the mines were La San José Copper Mines and Ferrocarril del Cobre, The Copper Mines, Copper Company and the Cuba Leasing Company. After the war, operations were greatly reduced. From 1920 to 1940 operations revived slightly. In the 1940s a processing plant was built. Investors included Roberto Gómez Cabrera, owner of Rogoca Minera. S. A., which continued extracting ore until the end of the
48:
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sailed from
Cornwall in June 1837, nine had died within six months and others, discharged for sickness, died on the return journey. The range to the south included the 970 feet (300 m) high Hardy's Top, named after John Hardy junior, the British Consul and a director of the Cobre Mining Company. Hardy had a large house built on the top of the mountain that the company later used as a sanatorium.
368:(200 ft) deep. A large number of galleries and tunnels of considerable lengths and depths remain. A draft plan for environmental rehabilitation was issued on 6 July 2002. It covered stabilisation of the quarry, studies of water quality, covering industrial waste with topsoil, planting grasses and reforestation, for a total cost of US$ 243,000. Today the town is mainly known for the
355:
After the revolution the mines were nationalised. A school was established to train mining technicians, more mechanisation was introduced in the extraction process, a geological survey was undertaken and a new processing plant installed. The copper was mainly sold to socialist countries. In the 1980s
301:
moved with his family to El Cobre in 1855, where he was Mines
Engineer and Resident Agent of Mines for 30 years. It appears that the family became Catholic in Cuba. Mining operations were suspended in 1869 when the quality of the ore began to decline, a river dried up that was an essential source of
238:
Cuba, and the Cobre Mine in particular, was an attractive destination. The pay was good and the handbills circulated in
Cornwall hinted that Cuba was a land of opportunity. Between August 1836 and April 1838 Alfred Jenkin, their agent in Cornwall, recruited 136 Cornish miners and mechanics, and also
201:
Metal-bearing ores were discovered by the
Spanish colonists in Cuba, who thought at first that they had found gold. El Cobre was the first copper mine to be opened by the Spanish colonists, starting operations in 1544. This was the first open pit copper mine in the Americas. The Spanish forced the
225:
descendants of slaves. 2% were the private slaves of the free coloured people. The men were mostly engaged in subsistence agriculture, while mining was mainly undertaken by the women. For much of this period the Cobre mine was the only source of copper on the island, supplying Cuba and sometimes
282:
and other diseases were common. The
Cornish workers lived in one-storey adobe wattle houses on the edge of the town near the mines. Insects could enter the houses freely, bringing tropical diseases to which the Cornish had no immunity, particularly yellow fever. Out of one batch of 24 miners who
239:
arranged for mining machinery, safety fuses and other material to be shipped from
Cornwall to Cuba. He shipped clothes for the West African slaves working in the Cuban mines. Jenkin offered ÂŁ100 per year plus free lodging, to young, fit, sober and single men, mostly from the mining areas around
234:
The mines had been abandoned by 1830. Early in the 1830s a
British visitor to the region assayed some of the mine's waste and found it rich in copper. The British El CompañĂa Consolidada de Minas del Cobre (Cobre Mining Company) acquired the mine and reopened it in the early 1830s. An adjacent
367:
The mine was formally closed in 2001, laying off 325 workers. The quarry filled with water, which is high in minerals, particularly sulphur. The lake has over 4,000,000 cubic metres (5,200,000 cu yd) water, and is about 1,000 by 800 metres (3,300 by 2,600 ft) and 60 metres
337:. Profits were initially robust enough that Chanler was able to loan $ 35 million to the Cuban government. The company used some Cornish labour, and managed to drain much of the pit. However, the water-saturated land around the pit was not secured and the mine collapsed. The church of
356:
the mine employed over 200 people and produced 1,500 tons annually. The peak production was 1,513 tons in 1986. Depletion of the ore forced deeper and more expensive extraction, and this combined with falling copper prices led to the decision to close the mine in 2001.
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323:
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volcanic arc along the southeastern coast of Cuba, and are one of the few such deposits in Cuba to have been mined successfully. Almost all the mined ore comes from a central system of cross-cutting veins of
235:
concession was acquired and opened by the
British El Real de Santiago (Royal Santiago Mining Company). Both companies turned to Cornwall for skilled labour and for steam engines to pump out the mines.
359:
From the time mining began in 1544 to the end of operations in 1998 over 3 million tonnes of ore were extracted, with grades of 2% to 20% copper. Nickel and cobalt were also extracted from El Cobre.
221:
In 1780 an attempt was made to return the mine to private hands and increase production. By that time El Cobre had 1,320 inhabitants, including 64% royal slaves and 34% free coloured people, mostly
193:
is on the west slope of the ridge. The town grew up around the mine. The mine was reached by mule train from Punta de Sol until the early 1860s, when a small railway was opened.
287:
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There was friction with the local authorities. With little to do in their free time, some of the miners turned to drink. Most of the
Cornish were
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At its peak in the first half of the 19th century the mine produced 67,000 tons of copper. John Harvey of
189:. A range of mountains lies to the south, rising to the 1,940 feet (590 m) Monte Real. The town of
728:
Breaking Up with Cuba: The Dissolution of Friendly Relations Between Washington and Havana, 1956–1961
636:
DĂaz, MarĂa Elena (2006), "Mining Women, Royal Slaves: Copper Mining in Colonial Cuba, 1670–1780",
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water for the steam engines and for dressing the ore, and rebels damaged the railway during the
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in Wales, from where they took ship to Cuba. They found a hot and humid climate where
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181:. The Cobre Mine is about 12 miles (19 km) north west of Santiago Bay in the
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Mining Women: Gender in the Development of a Global Industry, 1670 to 2005
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BasĂlica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre
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BasĂlica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre
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The Cornish Overseas: A History of Cornwall's 'great Emigration'
663:"El Cobre mine might become Santiago de Cuba tourist attraction"
607:, vol. 15, Salt Lake City, Utah: Cuban Genealogical Society
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185:. It is on a ridge at the top of a valley that runs down to
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between 1868 and 1878. The mine was closed during the
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705:Russell, Norman; Moreira, Jesús; Sánchez, Roberto,
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Town and Mine of El Cobre – Slavery and Remembrance
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100:
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72:
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752:
714:, Inst. de geologĂa y paleontologĂa, Havana, Cuba
487:El Cobre mine might become ... tourist attraction
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708:Volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits of cuba.
596:Castillo, Guillermo Perez del (January 2006),
16:Mine in El Cobre, Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
8:
168:The El Cobre sulphide deposits occur in the
19:
372:, the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity.
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640:, Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 21–39,
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579:
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262:The Cornish miners were sent by sea to
780:, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
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419:
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451:Cobre – The Cornish in Latin America
217:Monumento al Cimarron above the mine
755:The Astor Orphans: A Pride of Lions
329:In 1902, the mine was purchased by
54:
14:
725:Solomon, Daniel F. (2011-02-08),
341:was destroyed in the landslide.
53:
46:
598:"The Harvey Family in El Cobre"
344:In the period up to the end of
226:other places in the Caribbean.
405:Russell, Moreira & Sánchez
388:Russell, Moreira & Sánchez
1:
258:Santuario de El Cobre in 1953
623:The Cornish in Latin America
807:History of Santiago de Cuba
774:"Town and Mine of El Cobre"
646:10.1007/978-1-349-73399-6_2
823:
308:Cuban War of Independence
209:Mining lake of Cobre mine
41:
24:
778:Slavery and Remembrance
751:Thomas, Lately (1971),
679:Payton, Philip (2005),
122:20.045694°N 75.943750°W
625:, University of Exeter
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156:was a copper mine in
127:20.045694; -75.943750
802:Copper mines in Cuba
339:Señora de la Caridad
335:Spanish–American War
288:Wesleyan Methodists
118: /
21:
331:William A. Chanler
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260:
230:British operations
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197:Spanish operations
738:978-0-7864-8013-5
692:978-1-904880-04-2
655:978-1-349-73399-6
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314:Later operations
187:Santiago de Cuba
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87:Santiago de Cuba
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667:Havana Journal
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304:Ten Years' War
292:Canary Islands
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183:Sierra Maestra
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77:El Cobre, Cuba
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544:Castillo 2006
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310:(1895–1898).
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272:typhoid fever
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627:, retrieved
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580:Solomon 2011
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363:Recent years
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268:yellow fever
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179:chalcopyrite
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153:
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113:75°56′37.5″W
685:, Dundurn,
568:Thomas 1971
532:Payton 2005
517:Payton 2005
420:Payton 2005
352:(1953–59).
346:World War I
322:The modern
125: /
110:20°2′44.5″N
101:Coordinates
796:Categories
784:2016-08-15
744:2016-08-16
718:2016-08-16
698:2016-08-15
672:2016-08-15
629:2016-08-16
611:2016-08-16
223:manumitted
154:Cobre mine
138:Production
61:Cobre Mine
20:Cobre Mine
502:DĂaz 2006
170:Paleogene
276:smallpox
241:Camborne
191:El Cobre
164:Location
143:Products
83:Province
73:Location
37:Location
619:"Cobre"
605:Revista
589:Sources
299:Redruth
280:malaria
264:Swansea
249:Redruth
245:Illogan
93:Country
763:
735:
689:
652:
175:pyrite
146:Copper
712:(PDF)
601:(PDF)
376:Notes
761:ISBN
733:ISBN
687:ISBN
650:ISBN
247:and
177:and
158:Cuba
152:The
96:Cuba
642:doi
798::
776:,
665:,
648:,
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603:,
524:^
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458:^
427:^
412:^
395:^
294:.
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251:.
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570:.
489:.
470:.
453:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
