The production from the seven oficinas in operation during the year amounted to 3,134,881 quintals.

The Compañía Salitrera Lastenia (Lastenia Nitrate Co.), a local company capitalized at £500,000, earned a profit during the calendar year 1916 of £127,086, to which was added £11,187 dividend fund brought forward. From this there was paid during the year in dividends the sum of £123,469, equal to slightly less than 25 per cent on the stock. A total of 1,850,000 quintals was produced during the year, and 1,960,747 quintals were exported.

Iodine, the important by-product of the nitrate belt, was exported during 1915 to the amount of 1,562,764 pounds. Great Britain took 886,300 pounds; the United States, 555,380 pounds; France, 99,296 pounds, and Italy the remainder, 21,788 pounds.

COAL MINING.

Much has been written in the past concerning the coal-mining industry of Chile. While the production of the mineral falls far short of the nation's demands, it is nevertheless an important source of wealth. The difficulty of obtaining coal from foreign lands has caused an increase in the demand during 1916 for the local coal, particularly by railroads and steamship companies and by the mines in the north of Chile. Results in steamship boilers are said to have been better than anticipated, assuring, probably, a steady demand from that source for the product. As previously stated, there were, at the close of the year 1915, 129 coal mines in existence, mostly located within a comparatively short distance of the ports of Talcahuano and Coronel. These mines (such as are working) are operated by 10 mining companies, the production of which will be indicated in a subsequent table. Owing to the limited facilities and the necessity of enlarging many of the mining plants, the demand for the coal has exceeded the supply. The production of coal in Chile and its value and the amount imported during the period 1910 to 1915, inclusive, have been as follows:

Coal production during 1917 totaled 1,418,000 tons, valued at 38,289,000 gold pesos.

The amount of coal imported during 1913, under normal conditions, was 1,587,084 tons (coal and coke); during the same year 402,349 tons of petroleum were imported. In 1915, under war conditions, only 461,468 tons of coal and coke and 339,065 tons of petroleum were brought into the country. The coal came mostly from Great Britain, Australia, and the United States. The latter country and Peru and Mexico furnished the petroleum.

The 10 coal-mining companies and their production during 1915

were as follows:

The

The majority of the above companies are local concerns financed in Chile, their shares being listed on the local stock exchanges. One important concern, the Arauco Co. (see also "Railways," p. 241), is under British control, its securities being listed on the London Stock Exchange. The capitalization of this company consists of £478,000 shares ordinary) and approximately £556,000 debentures. shares sell at a premium, and dividends are usually 8 per cent and upward. The value of the shares of the important coal companies in the above list will be found in the following table. With the exception of the Arauco Co., these shares are listed on the Santiago and Valparaiso Stock Exchanges, and the quotations are taken from the lists thereof.

a Chilean paper pesos.

£65.

Compañía Carbonifera y Fundición de Schwager; shares of company valued in sterling at approximately

IRON MINING.

The production of iron ore for the year 1915 amounted to 147,100 metric tons of 70 per cent ore, valued at 2,942,000 Chilean gold pesos. The principal deposit of the ore is found in the Coquimbo district, where practically 1,000,000,000 tons are said to exist. The principal deposits in this district have been acquired in the interests of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, of the United States. A large fleet of 17,000-ton steamers is to be put in service to handle this mineral, which, it is claimed, can be mined and shipped at a very low cost. The property formerly belonged to a French company known as the Société des Hauts Fourneaux, Forges, et Acieries du Chile, which owns extensive iron deposits at Corral in south-central Chile.

The ore from the Bethlehem Steel Co.'s mines at Cruz Grande is excavated from the side of a hill and sent by means of short aerial ropeways to an overhanging cantilever discharger, by means of which it is discharged into the holds of the steamers, thus avoiding lighterage. The production of iron from these mines will be greatly increased in the future. The property is of considerable value.

In addition to the Cruz Grande mines there are numerous other iron deposits of present and future value. These are mostly situated in the mountain desert lands of northern-central Chile. are as important as the Cruz Grande mines.

COPPER MINING.

None

Chile is a nation rich in developed and undeveloped copper ore. This field has attracted large amounts of outside capital, principally from North America. The two principal American companies engaged in the field are the Chile Copper Co., operating the mines at Chuquicamata, near Calama, on the Antofagasta & Bolivia Railway, and the Braden Copper Mines Co., operating the groups of mines known as the "Teniente," "Fortuna," and "Centinela," these being located in the neighborhood of Sewell, Province of O'Higgins. Other important mines are those of the Naltagua Copper Co. (controlled by a French company), which showed a profit of approximately 2,000,000 francs, mostly paid as a 5 per cent dividend on the company's shares.

The production of copper and copper ore during the year 1916 showed an increase of 19,349 tons of fine copper over the 1915 figures. The increased production at the mines of the Chile Copper Co. at Chuquicamata largely accounts for the greater output. The comparative figures follow:

In 1916 the production at Chuquicamata and El Teniente was 1,396,600 tons, as compared with 1,061,280 tons in 1915.

At the close of the year 1915 there were in force 12,049 copper mining claims, scattered throughout almost every Province in the Republic. The value of the product mined during 1915 was 44,287,340 gold pesos of 18d. The 1916 figures, not yet made public, may be said to be far in excess of the 1915 total. Of the total production for 1915, 31,045,067 pesos represented bar_copper (99.14 per cent pure copper), 6,156.840 pesos copper ejes (47.54 per cent), 6,924,431 pesos copper ore (15.27 per cent), 96,646 pesos copper and gold ores, and the remainder mixed gold, copper, silver, and lead ores. The mines producing the bar copper (34,394,516 kilos)

were as follows: