124 125 cerro de pasco The greatest investment of the XXth century Aware of this need and opportunity, the National Government issued a decree creating the Practical School of Mining, which would be located in Cerro de Pasco, and the Practical School of Metallurgy based in La Oroya, both with their respective budgets. This initiative was the brain-child of engineer Luis Pflucker and managed by the provincial congressman, (and also engineer) Manuel Belisario Llosa. It addressed not only a need of the mining corridor but also at a national level. At that time, there were not enough professionals in the sector but, crucially, there was a link in the production chain that was not working and that was the use of trained technicians, the nexus between the engineers and the workers inside the mine. The El Minero newspaper, in its edition of September 17, 1941, stated in one of its commentaries: “The Practical School of Mining, as well as that of Metallurgy in La Oroya, and others that will be gradually implemented, have as their main purpose to provide training in the previously mentioned activities, that is, experts, technicians, or, in a word, efficient professionals who due to their preparation and capacity, are useful and perform better in the work they do, thus earning better salaries. It is time to banish the self-taught approach and routine that stand in the way of progress in our country”. Teachers from the School of Engineers were hired for the theoretical instruction, who used the classrooms of the schools in each area, and the practices were developed in those same sites or in the corresponding departments of the mining companies that were legally required to participate in the training of students and workers, providing them the best facilities for their improved training. Although this was not a school that would benefit only the Corporation but all mining companies that required it nationwide, its location in Cerro de Pasco and La Oroya, the two bastions of the company, accounted for the significant demand that there was at that time for technically skilled human resources to drive the new technological and innovative leap that was about to take place, both in mining and in metallurgical refining. During the first 27 years, until 1929, the La Oroya complex produced only metallic copper containing some gold and silver but, since then, the refinery was expanded and transformed into a plant with sophisticated metallurgical operations, achieving the highest production of lead in South America and of bismuth in the world. The complexity in the geological nature of this volcanic area of the central highlands and, therefore, of the minerals that were exploited, forced the change of the smelting furnaces to those of reverberating processes for a better decantation of the final product. Lead smelting was later introduced, followed in 1934 by electrolytic refinement of lead, using the modified Betts process patented by E. Harper and G. Reinberg. A branch of this lead refinery was developing a process to treat the slime in order to recover residual bismuth, gold, silver, and antimony. In 1940, for example, the first electrolytic zinc was produced, and waste product coke ovens came into operation in 1944, while a calcium arsenatebased insecticide was launched on the market in late 1947. One of the great additions to the La Oroya plant would be the new copper refinery that began work in 1948. By then, the project was planning to move the lead refinery to a larger location in the new copper refinery building and a much larger plant for the production of refined zinc. Promoting the national market At the end of the 1940s, a local market had also been established based on the sale of lead, copper, silver, zinc and some derivatives produced in La Oroya, such as sulphuric acid, calcium arsenate, copper sulphate and zinc sulphate. All these inputs were used in the production of copper wire, utensils, coins, lead THERE WAS A LINK IN THE PRODUCTION CHAIN THAT WAS NOT WORKING, AND THAT WAS THE LINK OF THE QUALIFIED TECHNICIANS TO ACT AS GO-BETWEENS THE ENGINEERS AND THE WORKERS INSIDE THE MINE.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0Mzk2