Mining

#ForASustainableDevelopment for Cuba

History

Mining is a determining activity in the development of human society, since among the resources used to satisfy its needs, minerals make up a high percentage.

Among the various types of activity carried out by man, those related to the supply and processing of mineral resources have a meaning of the first order, especially at this time when the cosmos, the depths of the oceans and the earth are being conquered, New types of energy are being used and new information and communication technologies are penetrating all spheres of society.

Mining, which would later become Mining, is a basic economic activity of society and that is why it is not by chance that it is reflected in the periodization of ancient history in the stone, bronze and iron ages. In the history of humanity, economic times are differentiated not by what is produced but by how it is produced, with what means of work, for which the periodization of the early stages of the development of society is based on the type of material with which the work tools were preferably made in one period or another.

The history of mining in Cuba begins with colonization. In the diary of Admiral Christopher Columbus, dated November 25, 1492, the findings of iron-colored (reddish) stones are collected. By that date the three caravels were sailing through the port of Santa Catalina, currently the port of Moa, in the province of Holguín. At the beginning of this, the Spanish do it by attending first to the investigation of their mining possibilities, especially to the discovery and exploitation of gold, whose visible reserves were limited and quickly depleted. In the period from colonization to 1534, mining was reduced to the use of building materials and bituminous asphalt to caulk ships. In 1534, the El Cobre copper deposit was discovered, in Santiago de Cuba, which was exploited intermittently for more than a century until it was stopped. In the period up to 1830, mining, in general, did not have an important significance in the island's economy. When the wealth of the El Cobre deposit was revealed in 1830, the English became interested in it, they formed the Anglo company. Spanish company called Empresa Consolidada. The resurgence of the exploitation of the El Cobre deposit aroused great interest in mining throughout the island. This period of mining boom, mainly around the exploitation of copper and which constitutes the time of greatest mining activity in colonial Cuba, was abruptly interrupted after 1868 with the outbreak of the Ten Years' War and the beginning of our fight for independence. The period between 1868 and the end of Spanish domination in Cuba is characterized by the scant and intermittent exploitation of the deposits and the consolidation of the penetration of North American capital in Cuban mining.

During the North American interventor government, which succeeded the Spanish domination in Cuba and snatched the Cuban people from conquered independence by shedding his blood for 30 years, the Military Governor issued the orders and provisions that would allow our main mineral deposits, such as laterites from the coast. Northeast, they became reserves of North American companies.

Before 1959 there was no systematic geological study of the country, and valuable work in this regard was carried out by North American companies that must preserve the information and that the main mining wealth of the country is in foreign hands.

When the Revolution recovers the country's mining resources through its nationalization, a systematic geological study of the Island begins with the fraternal help of the sister countries of the socialist camp, the extraction of our mineral resources is rationalized, in accordance with the interests of the Country. .

Efforts to implement studies related to the development of Mining date from the time when signs of national consciousness are already appearing and a change is taking place in the exploitation of the country's mineral resources since 1830. The need is evident. of studies to train men capable of managing and organizing it. Thus, in 1839, Juan Bautista Sagarra, Secretary of the Patriotic Society of Santiago de Cuba, in a conference given in this Society and later before the authorities said:

"If the progress of industry is one of the objectives of our institute, may I be allowed tonight to occupy the attention of royal society, dealing with one of the branches of most vital interest to this province, and I will do so succinctly, already not to bother paying attention to you, but because there are so many truths that you only have to hint at them to be perceived. Such is, gentlemen, the branch of the mines. "..." While you, more enlightened than me, excogitate means to advance a branch Of such well-known advantages, I would like to propose one of those that can contribute the most to this beneficial object, as it would illuminate the path that opens before us. We are talking, gentlemen, of the establishment of a Mining Chair in this city endowed by the royal treasury and under its auspices ”.

This idea, as is logical, did not bear fruit in that colonialist society or until much later in the pseudo-republic with the mineral resources in the hands of North American companies. Despite this situation, there were always the voices of the few Cuban engineers in the field, graduated abroad, who dedicated great efforts to the defense of our mineral resources and the implementation of the corresponding studies in our University, among which were José Isaac highlights. del Corral and Antonio Calvache Dorado. The latter presented, at the First National Mining Convention held in Santiago de Cuba in 1938, the proposal for the creation of the School of Mining Engineering, in which argument he stated:

“… The fact of seeing how the mining industry develops in Cuba is enough to appreciate the inescapable duty and the undeniable right that we Cubans have to intervene in this industrial development, instead of being left with puzzled eyes and cowardly spirits by the ineptitude, while the profits left by the exploitation of these riches leave the country, because they are not from the country, nor from the workers, nor from the technicians, nor from the capital that exploits them ”.

Calvache does not stop in his proposal in the Mining Convention and thus we find him with the same approach in his lectures at the School of Commercial Sciences of the University of Havana, in 1944 and in the second National Engineering Congress, also held in Santiago de Cuba, until this idea is taken up by the Universidad de Oriente and on August 12, 1955 the School of Mining Engineering is created, which does not go beyond being a fair idea and a good wish, since it lacked the human and material resources essential for its actual operation.

In Cuba, the Mining Law, No. 76 (in force since 1995), identifies as a mining activity from geological reconnaissance to mineral processing. Our Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz has been the ultimate visionary of the future of Mining in Cuba.

Bibliography:
1. Calvache Dorado, Antonio. ¨History and development of Mining in Cuba¨, year 1944.
2. Ruiz, Quintana Juan. "Mining in Cuba. An approximation", 2016.

Mission and Vision

Direct, coordinate, execute and control compliance with the policy approved by the State and the Government for the sustainable development of the activities of the mining sector in the country and the attention to the corresponding business system.

Vision

To be recognized as a leading direction of the Mining sector, which encourages the proper use of the country's mineral resources. We form a trained multidisciplinary work team that complies with Mining legislation and policy, promoting sustainable and sustainable development.

Function

  1. Comply with and demand the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic, the laws, the decree laws, the decrees and other provisions of the National Assembly of People's Power, the Council of State and the Council of Ministers, and in the legal provisions dictated by the heads of the agencies of the Central State Administration;
  2. Demand and, where appropriate, ensure the protection, care and conservation of the state patrimony, under its responsibility;
  3. Advise, in matters of its competence, the subordinate organizational units; submit to the Minister the pertinent proposals for the elaboration of the policy that concerns him direct;
  4. Direct and control the application of the approved policies in the activities in charge of him, in accordance with the requirements of the integral development of the economy and society; coordinate, in accordance with his attributions, with other organizations and collaborate in the preparation of proposals for joint solutions;
  5. Support activities for the defense of the Homeland and the principles of the Socialist Revolution;
  6. Promote, in their competence, the development of productions and services that increase or create exportable funds or that substitute imports; promote the development of commercial exchange, with foreign countries and other associated economic activities, within the scope of its competence and as established;
  7. Demand the control and efficient use of resources in its area and evaluate the economic-financial results in the administration and management of subordinate entities in accordance with the approved development policies and the objectives that have been defined at each stage;
  8. Exercising management in their area, and over the attached and subordinate entities belonging to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, as well as the superior management organizations attended by it, in the sphere of their competence, being obliged to respect their rights, according to current legislation, contributing to the development of their autonomy and economic initiative;
  9. contribute to the continuous improvement of the structures and organizational forms of management of the body and promote the correct combination of the various economic methods and mechanisms, in the subordinate entities;
  10. Participate according to the established procedure, in the creation, merger, extinction or transfer of the entities attached and subordinate to the Ministry of Energy and Mines and their sphere of attention;
  11. Instruct and advise the administrative directorates and entities of the Local Bodies of People's Power, in compliance, application and control of the provisions of the body, which require national regulation, in matters of the competence attributed to it in the main functions of state character;
  12. Deliver according to the established procedure, the statistical, accounting, financial and other information that is required by the competent bodies and institutions and other organizational units that make up the Central Body of the Ministry;
  13. Make the disclosure of all those aspects that require public and generalized knowledge, related to its sphere of activity;
  14. Organize in your area the development of objectives and the planning of activities, as well as the execution of actions to control their compliance in the short, medium and long term;
  15. Prepare and propose the policy and projections of its activity, including those in which the Ministry is the national rector; and once approved, implement its application, issuing the instructions, standards, procedures and methodologies that ensure its execution; monitor and control its compliance;
  16. Organize, guide and instruct the implementation of the regulations issued by the governing bodies in the Ministry's system and control their application;
  17. Establish close relations with the national governing bodies and facilitate the coordination of unions and business groups and other dependencies, with said bodies;
  18. Participate in the development of the control system that govern the activities of the Ministry, as well as guide the preparation and approve the governing documents of the attached and subordinate entities, which are within its competence;
  19. Analyze the tasks entrusted to them, assess their results, recommend solutions, and, where appropriate, propose them to the national governing body.

Strategic objectives

  1. Direct the implementation once approved of the Mining Policy. (L. 135, 136 y 153).
  2. Control compliance with the production plans of the CUBANIQUEL and GEOMINSAL business groups. (L. 135 y 136).
  3. Controlling compliance with the main planned maintenance, taking into account the recovery of their cycles, in the companies of the CUBANIQUEL and GEOMINSAL business groups. (L.133).
  4. Control the investments approved in all their stages, of the CUBANIQUEL and GEOMINSAL business groups. (L. 67, 68 y 69).
  5. Control compliance with the action schedules for AEI projects with approved negotiation directives, maintain attention to AEI sponsored by the CUBANIQUEL and GEOMINSAL business groups. (L. 63).

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of PNDES 2030

Goal 9.2: Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly increase industry's contribution to employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double that contribution in least developed countries.

Goal 9.4: By 2030, modernize infrastructure and reconvert industries to be sustainable, using resources more effectively and promoting the adoption of technologies and processes
clean and environmentally sound industrial facilities, and ensuring that all countries take measures in accordance with their respective capacities.

Objective 17.11: Significantly increase the exports of developing countries, in particular with a view to doubling the share of least developed countries in exports.

Directory

GENERAL DIRECTOR: Juan Ruíz Quintana
EMAIL: jruiz@minem.gob.cu
PHONE: (+537) 8775053
Twitter: @ JuanRuizQuinta1

SPECIALIST:
E-MAIL:
PHONE: (+537) 8735843

MINING PLANNING, EVALUATION AND CONTROL DIRECTORATE
Mission

Evaluate development programs, investments, projection of international economic associations and the strategic projection of production

DIRECTOR: Sara Teruel
E-MAIL: sara@minem.gob.cu
PHONE: (+537) 8790289

MINING BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT DIRECTORATE
Mission

Evaluate development programs, investments, projection of international economic associations and the strategic projection of the production of non-metallic and metallic minerals in the country, except for nickel, cobalt and other metallic minerals associated with them.

DIRECTOR: Juan Miguel Martínez
E-MAIL:
TELEPHONE:

Mining Policy

Approved by agreement of the Council of Ministers in 2008, and it is being updated with the Permanent Commission for the Implementation of the Guidelines. Download Mining Policy. Some of the Guidelines related to this Policy are numbers 186, 187, 189 and 191.

Tips on Mining

FOUR (4) TIPS OR SHORT - QUICK ON MINING.

I. Where does the Mining come from ?:

It is one of the oldest activities of mankind. Since the Stone Age itself, going back to prehistoric man who more than 2.5 million years ago, collected rocks rich in silica for the manufacture of his weapons, such as spears and arrows.

II. One of the definitions of Mining can be:

The selective obtaining of minerals and other economically viable materials from the earth's crust, which makes it possible for us to have everything we can see around us except wood, food and some clothing.

III. There are four (4) basic types of Mining:

1. Surface or open pit mining. This group includes the vast majority of mines around the world.

2. Underground mining, through which mineral resources are accessed through galleries or tunnels.

3. Mining of hydrocarbons, to obtain fuels through drilling wells.

4. Underwater mining or dredging.

IV. What are the specialties that Mining requires ?:

It includes geologists, geophysicists, surveyors, drillers, mining engineers, mills, metallurgists, chemicals, mechanical, electrical, economic, automatic and other specialties that together with auxiliary personnel make it possible for us to have a prosperous and sustainable development.