From its inception in 1938 to 1973, the mine’s cost of labor and essential supplies rose an average 1.9% compounded annually. From 1974 to 1982, t he inflation years in North America, the annual average percentage increase was 15.15%.
(This information comes courtesy of The History of Kerr Addison Mines Ltd., compiled and written by William S. Row in 1984. Row was a former Kerr mine manager and, later, president of the company.) WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUCH * * *
When the Soviet construction outfit Zagranstromontazh was commissioned by the Bolivian state mining firm Comibol to build a tin concentrate works well up in the Andes, it knew the project posed a challenge. The site was 4 km above sea level. Supplies, equipment and machinery were to be trucked in across miles of rugged mountains. And workers, not only lacking in experience at such altitudes, but also oxygen, faced considerable hardship.
Nevertheless, the 5,500 tons of equipment, metalwork, and pipelines were installed almost entirely on schedule.
Then, catastrophe * * *
“On the mountainside, which towered above the plant, a huge massif of mountain rock estimated at 700,000 to 800,000 cu m started to slide forward in the direction of the enterprise at a speed of 6 m an hour. The avalanche buried a 60-m high titanium chimney stack, part of the load-hoisting equipment, wet cleaning filters, and some other structures and facilities,” reports a recent issue of Machinoexport.
“After this disaster, it took (the construction company) nearly six months just to clear the section of the plant buried under the debris.” The plant was finally erected and at last report was a moneymaker, but Zagranstromontazh learned its lesson. “(T)he entire mountainside has been converted into a huge terrace.”
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