72 73 The addition of Casapalca As we saw before, the First World War initially generated some confusion among buyers in the United States, but the market was quickly reactivated by the demand for mineral and Cerro de Pasco experienced some glory years. Although the price of copper fell dramatically again once the conflict ended, another fact favoured the company in a significant way. In order to lower costs and processes, the United States Government prohibited importing copper concentrates with low metal content, thus making the Peru-based U.S. company the only one capable of producing copper bars with high grades. The Copper corporation was brimming with vitality and ready to take an important next step. One just had to wait for the right moment. Then a new drop in the price of copper and the death a few years before of the engineer John Howard Johnston, the head of mining for the Backus & Johnston company, encouraged the U.S. company to negotiate the acquisition of Casapalca. Backus & Johnston had been, since the establishment of the U.S. syndicate, the only company with mining interests in Peru that seemed capable of competing with it in the central highlands. Minera Casapalca had been established in 1889, located in the same department of Lima, in the Huarochiri mountain range and at 4,200 metres above sea level. Like many other mining companies in the area, it had been dedicated since its foundation to the exploration and exploitation of copper, zinc, silver and lead and, at the insistence of engineer Johnston, over time they had set up a chemical laboratory and a concentrator plant in that area. Before the arrival of Cerro, this company held the prestige of being the most modern in the country. However, the slump in the price of copper at the end of the first decade of the new century hit it as much as the absence of engineer Johnston, who had left for Europe attracted by its glamour and With the acquisition of Casapalca, the extension of the mining corridor of the central highlands was completed. Lake Junin Caption Port Cities Railways Mining properties Roads THE MINING CORRIDOR The railway between Callao and Cerro de Pasco determined the development of the U.S. company. cerro de pasco The greatest investment of the XXth century
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