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    Lepanto A Brief History

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    Guinevere Raymundo
    The document provides a history of mining in Lepanto, Philippines from the 15th century to present day. It describes how Spanish colonizers in the 16th century named the region Lepanto after encountering stiff resistance from local tribes similar to battles with the Ottoman Turks. Mining boomed in the 19th century under Spanish and American companies extracting copper and gold. The Japanese occupied the mines during World War 2 before the area was bombed and mining ceased. Reconstruction in the 1940s restarted large-scale mining operations under the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, which continues mining copper and gold to the present with optimism for continued operations.

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    Lepanto A Brief History

    Uploaded by

    Guinevere Raymundo
    94 views3 pages
    The document provides a history of mining in Lepanto, Philippines from the 15th century to present day. It describes how Spanish colonizers in the 16th century named the region Lepanto after encountering stiff resistance from local tribes similar to battles with the Ottoman Turks. Mining boomed in the 19th century under Spanish and American companies extracting copper and gold. The Japanese occupied the mines during World War 2 before the area was bombed and mining ceased. Reconstruction in the 1940s restarted large-scale mining operations under the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, which continues mining copper and gold to the present with optimism for continued operations.

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    Lepanto a Brief History

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    The document provides a history of mining in Lepanto, Philippines from the 15th century to present day. It describes how Spanish colonizers in the 16th century named the region Lepanto after encountering stiff resistance from local tribes similar to battles with the Ottoman Turks. Mining boomed in the 19th century under Spanish and American companies extracting copper and gold. The Japanese occupied the mines during World War 2 before the area was bombed and mining ceased. Reconstruction in the 1940s restarted large-scale mining operations under the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, which continues mining copper and gold to the present with optimism for continued operations.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    94 views3 pages

    Lepanto A Brief History

    Uploaded by

    Guinevere Raymundo
    The document provides a history of mining in Lepanto, Philippines from the 15th century to present day. It describes how Spanish colonizers in the 16th century named the region Lepanto after encountering stiff resistance from local tribes similar to battles with the Ottoman Turks. Mining boomed in the 19th century under Spanish and American companies extracting copper and gold. The Japanese occupied the mines during World War 2 before the area was bombed and mining ceased. Reconstruction in the 1940s restarted large-scale mining operations under the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, which continues mining copper and gold to the present with optimism for continued operations.

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    LEPANTO, A BRIEF HISTORY

    In the earlier part of the 14th century, legend has it that two hunters pursued a deer into
    this area, then very thickly forested, a hunters paradise with wild games galore. The deer,
    harassed by the hunters dog, fell into a deep ravine, which is the present site of the Mine and
    Geology offices and location of the old Spanish mine tunnel. The hunters, after a long search,
    found the dog with the dead deer. Tired and weary, they decided to camp for the night. The
    hunters got two stones to build a firestand where they could roast the deer but after sometime the
    stones melted and the hunters were surprised to find that the rocks were malleable. They brought
    the samples home and this led to their discovery of copper. The place where the copper was
    found was later named Magambang, from the native name of copper gambang.
    From this brownish-orange metal the natives fashioned hunting weapons, household
    utensils and ornaments which they later bartered with lowlanders. The news of the existence of
    copper in the area spread to other parts of the land and by the latter part of the century there were
    already Chinese settlers in this copper-rich region. Succeeding waves of settlers from the IndoChinese and Malay mainland then followed. By the 16 th century, the Spaniards came to colonize
    the island. Attempts to colonize the mountain tribes however met with stiff opposition such as
    that encountered from the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto in Greece on October 7,
    1571. It was from this experience that the Spaniards named the region, LEPANTO.
    In 1850, persistent reports on the presence of copper in the Mankayan area prompted the
    Inspector General of the Philippine Mines to send an Engineer by the name of Antonio
    Hernandez. His reports on the copper mines thereafter elicited enthusiasm among the Spanish
    settlers in Manila such that in 1856, a certain Senior T. Balbas y Castro organized a mining
    company which was named Sociedad Minero Metalurgica Cantabro-Filipina. This Company
    produced a total of 5,500,000 pounds of copper in its best year. However, in 1875 the operations
    of the Cantabro came to an end. The natives and Chinese settlers, however, continued
    independent work on individual mines.
    At the turn of the century, a party of eight (8) Americans, all veterans of the Fil-American
    war and all awed by tales of the legendary pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, trekked to
    Lepanto. They saw the rich copper ores of the old mines and promptly staked out mining claims.
    The word spread out once more and before long Lepanto had again turned into a full blown
    mining district just like past times when prospectors were affected by the mining fever.
    Of the American prospectors who arrived in later waves, some remained to develop the
    claims while others left when their luck panned out. Among those who sought their fortune in
    copper at Lepanto was Victor E. Lednicky, who later founded the Lepanto Consolidated Mining
    Company.
    Then came 1933, a year to be remembered in Philippine Mining. It marked the beginning
    of a big boom generated by the increase in the world price of gold. The roads had already been
    opened and access to the Lepanto areas was made easier. The plan was therefore devised
    whereby the various prospectors and claim-owners united and pooled their resources and
    holdings and formed an organization and, on September 21, 1936, the Lepanto Consolidated

    Mining Company came into being. A logo was appropriately adopted with the letter L for
    Lepanto, vertically crossed with the ancient sign for copper.
    With the birth of the LCMC, the first modern plant with a daily rated capacity for
    treatment of 400 tons of ore was first installed in the area. Grinding at this new plant began in
    October 1937 and the production record for the initial 1937 operations was 23,416 tons with a
    gross value of P105,552.
    The first year of operations in 1938 brought returns approximating half a million US
    dollars (US$0.500). By the end of 1939, in addition to making up for the initial deficit, Lepanto
    rewarded its investors with payment of its first dividend of centavo per share. Dividends
    totalling 2-3/4 cents per share were paid during 1940-41 period.
    When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1941, Lepanto was forced to cease its
    mining operations, and in February 1942, the Lepanto mill, machinery equipment, and all
    buildings were blown up and destroyed. Knowing the value of the mines, in its war efforts,
    Japanese engineers came to the area and put the property back into operation. In less than a year
    they had the mine, now under the Mitsui Mining Company of Japan, producing at a rate
    estimated at double its prewar capacity.
    A Japanese schedule indicated a capital expenditures of US $4,376,000. Records kept by
    the Japanese, and recovered after liberation, showed that from January 1943 to July 1944, a total
    of 426,627 tons of ore were milled, yielding 10,800 tons of copper and 28,800 ounces of gold.
    The estimated value of copper ore produced was US $3,500,000.
    During the war for liberation of the Philippines, in 1944, the US Air Force bombed again
    the Japanese Lepanto Mine. For the second time, the ravages of war levelled Lepanto to the
    ground.
    In April 1947, reconstruction was started with installation of a new plant, one of the
    modern models with a milling capacity of 500 tons daily. Company management had then
    entered into a contract with the American Smelting and Refining Company of the USA for the
    smelting of Lepanto ore. Under this contract, Lepanto shipped its concentrates to Tacoma,
    Washington, yet allowed the company to have its gold returned to Manila thus enabling the
    company to benefit from the higher price locally obtainable for gold in the free Manila market.
    Lepanto prospered through the years except during the years 1976 and 1984, when
    production was disrupted by low metal prices in the world market and closure of the ASARCO
    smelter.
    At this stage, Lepanto looks ahead into the future with hope and optimism. Being headed
    and managed by responsible and able corporate officers and a highly trained corps of workers
    backed up by bountiful ore reserves, and additionally given proper impetus by a responsive
    government, there should be no reason why Lepanto should not be a major focus of mining
    attention for the many, many years to come, as it had been when it all started 500 years ago
    when two hunters discovered gambang on the site that is Lepanto today.

    (A Reprint from the Baguio Midland Courier)

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