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Page:Bolivia (1893; Bureau of the American Republics).djvu/98

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74
BOLIVIA.

Amount of copper barrilla exported from Corocoro, department of La Pas, Bolivia, for the year 1891.

TIN.

The tin mines of Bolivia will share equally with the copper mines in the benefits of the improved transportation facilities described. The completion of the Antofagasta Railway has already resulted in increased activity throughout the great tin-mining district of Oruro, where the richest deposits of this metal, so far discovered, are located. The present output The present output is from 5,000 to 6,000 tons per annum, which is certain to be largely increased in the near future. The importance of Bolivia as a tin-producing country is fully presented in the following article, written for this publication by Mr. John B. Minchen, of Oruro, a well-known English engineer, and a recognized authority upon this subject:

Tin ore is met with at frequent intervals along the eastern border of the Bolivian table-land from the neighborhood of Lake Titicaca to near the southern boundary of the Republic. The richest and most important portion of this zone is, however, undoubtedly comprised between latitude 17° and 19°. The general formation is slate or shale, usually highly inclined and distorted by eruptions of trachytic porphyry or other igneous rocks, the tin ore occurring in these latter. The conditions under which it is met with are, however, by no means uniform