San Antonio Mine - Landmark On The Path Of The Conquistadores

THIS is a story of a mine discovered in the days of the Conquistadores but that remained unimportant until the second decade of this century. Without the usual legendary history of romance and fabulous riches it has become famous for the development of unexpected metals and unusual problems. These developments and experiences, exciting and interesting as any legend, are the substance of the San Antonio mine of the Santa Eulalia district in northern Mexico. Originally opened for its silver-lead content, it developed a tin deposit of singular economic importance and unique geologic interest, a vanadium orebody that for a few years placed it among the leading vanadium producers of the world, and now lead and zinc sulphide ores. It has been the seem of a disastrous flood that brought deep-sea divers into Mexico's desert mountains and raised important problems regarding ground water, demanding unusual measures. Geology and operating questions relating to the above matters will be discussed and much of it is recent history which has become a part of Mexican mining lore. History Dates Back to 1325 Santa Eulalia is the oldest of American cities, founded in 1325 by the Aztecs under the name of Tenochtitlan and devastated in 1521 by Cortes and his rapacious band of iron-willed adventurers. Their lust for gold burned through the Aztec empire and onward into most of North America. Santa Eulalia was in the path of conquest. In 1591 the district's first ore discovery was made near what is now the San Antonio mine. The ores carried no gold and the silver-lead content was unattractive to the early pioneers. Not until 1700 was real mining activity undertaken.