Aguas Calientes, State of Aguas Calientes. Owned by American capital.
The refractory nature of these copper ores, all of which are sulphide, required the expenditure of large sums for the erection of blast furnaces and accessories, and the skill and knowledge possessed by American engineers. In the course of developing these mines, a great number of unsuccessful enterprises were undertaken and a vast amount of American effort and money expended without the return of any profits.
In conclusion, it should be noted that cheap coal and coke, the use of cheap hydroelectric power, together with effective railway transportation, all of which were supplied by foreign capital, have played a most important part in the development during the last thirty years of Mexico's great mining industry.
None of the mines owned or operated by foreigners was ever acquired as a concession or grant through the favouritism of Diaz, or any other head of the Mexican Government. They were, in nearly all instances, either purchased or leased from Mexican owners and were all acquired under the general laws governing the acquisition of mineral properties. Very much the larger number of them represented a character of mining which the Mexicans would not, and could not, have pursued because they had not the initiative, the
