San Cristobal Mine & Carbon Dioxide

Lake near San Cristobal Mine in Bolivia

The screen saver showed a portion of this lake. At least I think it's a lake. We might be looking at ice, we are up around 12,000 feet elevation. It was odd enough to get my attention. Looking at Google Maps I find it is near the San Cristobal Mine. Reading about the mine I come across this odd bit of information.

Silver was discovered at the Hedionda mine over three centuries ago. Repeated attempts to mine the silver ended in failure because of the presence of carbon dioxide gas which caused the death of many miners. The gas continues to issue from the wallrocks of the mine at the present time.

The Hedionda mine was rediscovered in 1896 by the Polish engineer J. Jackowski, who operated the mine from 1896 to 1901 and from 1927 to 1936, after having found a remedy for the carbon dioxide problem. This remedy was simply the excavation of a canal in the floor of the mine workings which allowed the gas to flow out of the mine like water. In addition, mining was confined to work above the adits.

Excerpted from page 3 of a USGS PDF.

 

Cerro Rico

Potosi: The Silver Mine that Changed the World
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered
The Silver Mountain was mentioned in another video I posted last week, Why Is Latin America still Poor, and it got me curious, so this morning I did a little digging. This video covers it pretty well. 

He doesn't mention the elevation of this place. The town of Potosi, Bolivia, is at 13,400 feet and the top of the mountain Cerro Rico is 15,689 feet, though it is steadily falling due to internal collapses of old mining galleries. As far as I am concerned air stops at 10,000 feet, so anyone living in this town must be a real life spaceman, a person who can survive where there isn't any air.

South America

The Altitude Land. BOLIVIA by Alexander Koval

Countries in South America seem to suffer once crisis after another. If it isn't an economic collapse, it's a revolution, so it was encouraging to read this story by Hernan Luis Torres Nunez comparing Venezuela and Bolivia.

Bolivia Versus USA

The view from South America can be ... interesting?

Bolivia: President Morales Expels US Agency

by Brandon Foster, 02 May 2013.

Bolivian President Evo Morales demanded the expulsion of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on Wednesday.

Warms the cockles of my heart.