The Mineral and other Resources of the Argentine Republic

Abstract

MAJOR RICKARD has executed in a very creditable manner the task which the National Government deputed him to perform, and his volume will give its readers considerable insight into the vast material resources of the Argentine Republic. Hitherto La Plata, in spite of its name, has been regarded rather as a field for agricultural enterprise than as a source of mineral wealth; and the stories which were once current of mountains rich in precious metals have been forgotten in the details given by our countrymen of their successful farming in the pampas of the south. Various causes have combined to divert attention from the mineral riches of the country. The tedious contest with Lopez, only just concluded, and the turbulent character of the gauchos and Indian tribes; have checked the growth of confidence in the minds of emigrants or capitalists; and though the vigorous administration of President Sarmiento has already done much to remove these obstacles, some time must still elapse before investors will be persuaded that “the great Republic of the South” is likely to realise all the favourable vaticinations of which Major Rickard makes it the subject. What, however, has most retarded the progress of mining, and, indeed, of all industrial enterprise, in the Argentine Republic, has been the deficient population and the want of means of intercommunication and transport. Buenos Ayres and the other riverine provinces, where grazing is a pleasant and profitable pursuit, absorb nearly all the working power of the Republic, and at the present time not more than 2,687 persons are engaged upon any form of mining industry. If the reader will cast his eye over a map of the country (the absence of which in Major Rickard's book is a serious defect), he will see what a mere scratching of the soil can be effected by such a handful of men. Hence it is that very trifling results have hitherto been obtained from the few mines yet in operation, and that the processes for reducing the ore have remained defective and costly. The supplies drawn from the Argentine Republic produce no appreciable effect upon the metal markets of the world, and in popular estimation its exports solely consist of tallow, wool, and hides.

The Mineral and other Resources of the Argentine Republic.

Published by special authority of the National Government by Major I. Rickard. (London: Longmans and Co., 1870.)