La Luz Silver Project, Real de Catorce, Ogarrio Tunnel and the First Majestic Silver Corp

I am not sure what section best suits this article, but we are talking about a mining company, so I figured Mines and Tunnels would do. This is a totally unplanned article, but I bumped into a picture I could not ignore. This is the picture.

What kind of mining is that?
San Luís Potosí State.jpg

As far as I understand these dudes work for the Canadian mining company called First Majestic Silver Corp. The above picture pertains to the below described La Luz Silver Project:
  • The La Luz Silver Project is located in the northern portion of San Luís Potosí State, Mexico. The property is approximately 25 km west of the town of Matehuala and 170 km due north of the city of San Luís Potosí, the state capital.
  • The La Luz Silver Project is 100% owned by First Majestic Silver Corp. The property was acquired in 2009 as a result of the acquisition of Normabec Mining Resources. The site consists of mining concessions that cover 6,327 hectares and is located within Real de Catorce, a historically significant mining district with an estimated historic production of 230 million ounces of recovered silver between 1773 and 1990.
  • La Luz Silver Project - image source
From the above link we get the following map of the La Luz Silver Project area.
  • Tunnel: 2,852 meters.
la luz project.jpg

​
This is the general area here: Google Maps Link

Real de Catorce.jpg

​
On the above map you can see this Tunel Ogarrio. Here is some generic wiki info on this Ogarrio Tunnel:
  • The main road to Real de Catorce leaves Highway 62 between Matehuala and San Tiburcio. This is roughly to the east of Real, near the town of Cedral. From the main highway there is a 17-mile (27 km) cobblestone road which rises into the sierra, then the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) long Ogarrio Tunnel which only accepts vehicles one way (with travelers in and out having to wait their turn). ​
  • KD: I am not sure, but it sounds like we have two different tunnels in the area with one being 2,852 meters long and the Ogarrio one 2,400. I guess it couldbe the same one as well, but the lengths do not match.​
Wiki has nothing interesting to offer on this Ogarrio Tunnel. Elsewhere we get this (google translated):
  • Its construction was carried out between July 1897 and 1901, in what functioned as a sinkhole called Dolores-Trumpet, the footprint of this was reflected in the large number of tunnels and shots that are observed when walking through it.
B&W images source: The Tramways of Real De Catorce

  • Its history began at the end of the 19th century, when the Casa Maza (owners of the Santa Ana mines), had San Francisco, California built, pumps to be installed in its mines. For the inauguration of these mining machines, the then President of the Republic, Porfirio Díaz, was invited, who accepted the invitation, attending in June 1895.​
  • Díaz traveled by rail from Mexico City to the station that was in Potrero and from there he moved to Santa Ana where he spent the night, moving the next day on horseback to Real de Catorce, crossed the top of the hills until he reached the mining city , where the inhabitants waited for him with celebrations.​
  • According to the greats of the town, from this fact would arise the idea of Díaz to make the tunnel.​
  • The drilling initiative was from the Maza family, originating from Ogarrio, a town located in northern Spain, from where Vicente Irizar would take its name. The construction is attributed to him.​
  • Paradoxically, this relevant work was carried out shortly before the end of the golden age of Real de Catorce, which considerably shortened the distance between Catorce and the eastern side of the mountains, where numerous mine-holes are located, such as that of Santa Ana; The oral tradition tells that it was carried out with two work teams, one for each side of the hill meeting in the center.​
  • The inauguration was held on April 2, 1901, reaching a distance of almost 2,300 meters, facilitating the transportation of minerals to the beneficiary farms of Potrero, Cedral and Matehuala, located on the eastern plain. ​
The above text is Google Translated from Spanish. To me it almost sounds like the workers simply cleared some pre-existing tunnels in the area, but that's just me. One way or the other, here is what this tunnel looks like these days.

ogarrio-3.jpg

Ogarrio_Tunnel-0.jpg

Tunel-de-Ogarrio.jpg


Video
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Interesting that this the same First Majestic Silver Corp mining company I mentioned in my Marata article. As a matter of fact this is how I found this mining picture:

San Luís Potosí State.jpg

​
Anyways, what kind of mining do you think this is, and more specifically...
  • What do you think these "miners" are marching through? Do we have any info on this structure?​
This is our Real de Catorce in 1893, by the way. Anything interesting you see in there?

Real de Catorce16.jpg

Source​
 
Click to expand...
I don't know when or where but this place has come onto my radar previously, i think it was because of the church on a previous hunt for star forts, but that pic of the mine entrance I have on my old HDD.
These are the two places I was interested in but could not find much about them at the time, must have been a late night because it is in the middle of nowhere, but may have got to the location from an interest in this film.
Screenshot 2021-02-07 at 01.22.31.jpg
 
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On a certain occasion, I watched some videos to relax...

The man from this channel is well known in Mexico and he decides to make a video of his visit to Real de Catorce with his family. According the video progressed, it became more interesting. The guide who He was accompanying, he knew a lot about the place, he was not limited to the history official but he put many other interesting things that I will summarize.
  • I hope you understand Spanish well, it would be great for you to see the video
​


- Minute 4:02 speaks of an old courier by means of pigeons and that it was very efficient.
- 4:23 Socabon of the purest conception, there are Masonic symbols. Is the entrance of the mine, at first it was not to extract ore but to drain another mine that was on the other side of the hill. The sign upon entering says: Minera Real Bonanza, photo from 1916.
  • 1820-1850 begin to build this place and finish it 1850.
- The owners belonged to the Masonic sect, he shows them an obelisk. Later it shows them the Illuminati eye on a local building. Explains how
Masonic owners used the Catholic religion to control the the Indians, for this they used a virgin.

- 8:55 tells them that the construction has neither rod nor cement, it is pure stone well-off. The stone was stuck with lime, in the corners of the buildings they used huge stones as cement chains like today.

- Door since 1850, of pure Mezquite (a typical tree) then he shows you how they were the hinges of the doors back then. Rods that stick
Red Hot. The door was not nailed with nails, they were studs. About 170 years of life and counting.

- A secret that only the boss knew, they were those ducts at the top and going down to the ground, is connected to a mud from highest to lowest to the boss's office. With that tube he learned what was being said in the different rooms of the house.

- Mine with 15 kilometers, the wind that pulls indicates that there is a way out. The women were forbidden to stand at the door of a mine, because they believed that the mine would be salted and would not give production.

-There were no bathrooms inside offices or inside homes. According to the comment, Spaniards always lived in the upper part of the houses from where the urine was thrown out and the word "waters" was celebrated, as if say "take off." If it showed some bathrooms but on the outskirts of the building and just to urinate.

- 12:32 He shows them a Mason symbol: LABOR OMNIA VINCIT "Work conquers all" contains the Mason compass. People wonder why this symbol is not at the entrance? He replies that in every Hacienda that belonged to Freemasonry, placed this symbol in the East, where the first rays of the sun and in that way they were charged with energy throughout the area. Nevertheless no one knew the name of the owner of the place.

REAL DE MINAS DE LOS ALAMOS DE LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION DE GUADALUPE DE CATORCE
1680 DATA THE TOWN
REAL DE FOURTEEN IS FROM 1772 CARTORCE​

It's for 14 bandits who hid in the abandoned place 100 years before 1772. They were those who inhibited those lands before the construction of the hacienda.

-They enter the Church and he points out the herbal painting and snail mucus and other techniques since 1896.
 
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