Mexico is the greatest silver-producing nation the world has known. By the end of the eighteenth century the country had been the world's largest producer of silver for almost three centuries. Mexican silver production had resulted in great wealth flowing into European economies through Spain. Many of the mines were of great wealth as the German engineer and traveller Alexandra Humbolt recorded following his journey through 'New Spain'. He recorded that the Veta Madre at Mina Valenciana had a breadth of 22 feet from surface to a depth of 557 feet where it divided into three branches, the width of the entire mass was from 164 to 196 feet, where all three joined at a depth of 984 feet the vein contained immense riches over 81 feet. He goes on to record that Mina Valenciana had for forty years never yielded less than 2 to 3 million Francs of annual profit.
That Mexican engineers were well accomplished in the art of mining is illustrated by Humbolt's description of the octagonal Tiro General of Mina Valenciana. With a circumference of 87 feet and an intended depth of 1,685 feet this he declared was one of the greatest and boldest undertakings to be found in the history of mines - the mine itself was 1,640 feet (274 fathoms) deep when he visited it in 1799. (the Tiro General is still in use today as a main haulage shaft, the author has had the great honour of descending the shaft and visiting the spectacular Colonial mine workings ) However the mines of the country were affected by the same problem as those of Cornwall, water. Great and expensive efforts had been made to keep mines unwatered but as the mines grew deeper so the problem both of drainage and removal of ore from them increased. New mining methods and a means of removing water were needed.
During the Mexican War of Independence mining was neglected as the struggle for independence grew. The result was that by the end of the war mining had ceased in most of the mining districts. The newly independent country recognised the need, not only to attract capital to rebuild its shattered industry, but also for new technology. By 1826 there were no less than ten foreign mining companies in Mexico, seven British, two United States and one German. The British companies had interests in Real del Monte, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Zacatacas and again in Hidalgo. Before the end of the century British operations had spread to Taxco, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa and Sonora. Whilst Cornish miners were involved in all these operations and others within Mexico they existed in greatest numbers, for the longest continual period and had the greatest influence upon the district of Pachuca and Real del Monte.
By the early nineteenth century English capitalists and financiers were looking overseas to invest their wealth and to export the new technologies which had been developed within the country. Stories of the great wealth of the silver mines of Mexico were legend in Europe. Humbolt's treatise had been published in 1811 containing graphic descriptions of the immense size of the lodes and the wealth that had flowed from them. Using extracts from Humbolt's works John Taylor, a mining engineer of considerable standing, sought to interest London financiers in forming a company to reopen the mines of Real del Monte. Following discussions with representatives of Romero de Terreros, the mine's owner, the British Real del Monte Company was formed in London in 1824 with the purpose of amalgamating and working the mines owned by him. The first group of officers and technicians left England for Real del Monte on 25th March 1824 where they arrived on 11th June.
One of the group described his arrival at the Real or 'where it once existed, and where it will ere long raise its head again .... I say once existed because it now has the air of a village sacked by a horde of Cossacks ..... the roofs are falling in, the walls crumbling down, and, in short the whole village converted into a mass of ruins .... The cause of this decay is obvious enough, the district has no resources when the mines are not worked'.
| The Cornish Mexican Cultural Society |
