Aucanquilcha's Aerial Ropeway and the World's Highest Mining Camp

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CONTENTS
INTERVIEW
• FAREWELL INTERVIEW WITH JAMES
DOUET - Joeri Januarius
TICCIH NEWS
• COLLABORATIVE MAP OF INDUSTRIAL
HERITAGE IN LATIN AMERICA - Marion Steiner
• INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE, SOCIAL ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES - María Esperanza Rock Núñez
OPINION
• HERITAGE AT RISK: SAFEGUARDING THE
KORTRIJK RAILWAY STATION (BELGIUM) -
Adriaan Linters
• BERINGEN: TEST CASE TO HOLLOW OUT
PROTECTED MONUMENTS? – open letter
WORLDWIDE
• THE RESEARCH FARM GHOST TOWN –
Noel Murphy and Monika Schott
• AUCANQUILCHA’S AERIAL ROPEWAY
AND THE WORLD’S HIGHEST MINING
CAMP - Francisco Rivera
• WENZHOU ALUM MINE FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF
TECHNOLOGY - Shujing Feng
• THE THIRD LONGEST CLOCK IN THE
WORLD IS NO LONG WORKING - Mostafa
Abo Shamia
• SHREWSBURY FLAXMILL MALTING –
Rebecca Reeves
• EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE
AWARDS – Joeri Januarius
• HISTORICAL FISH CANNING FACTORIES
IN THE CANARY ISLANDS (SPAIN): THE
EXAMPLE OF LA GOMERA – Amara Florido
• LAND-IN-PRO, A RESEARCH PROJECT
ON (POST)INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES -
Federica Pompejano
• PANAMA TITAN CRANE. KEY MOMENT
FOR ITS SAFEGUARDING - Carlos Mateo
Caballos
• OIL HERITAGE IN THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE.
SPINDLETOP-GLADYS CITY BOOMTOWN -
Zachary S. Casey and Asma Mehan
BOOK REVIEW
• RIO GRANDE STEAM FINALE – Betsy Fahlman
Remnants of the aereal ropeway at the Aucanquilcha volcano mining camp in the
Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. Considered the world’s highest-altitude mine be-
tween 1913 and 1993, it is the subject of the interdisciplinar y Alto Cielo Archaeological
Project (see page 16; photo Rodrigo Lorca)
BULLETIN
NUMBER 101 · 3rd Quarter 2023
INSPIRATIONAL INDUSTRIAL
HERITAGE – IN PRAISE OF POLAND
Miles Oglethorpe, TICCIH President
—
Welcome to issue number 101 of the TICCIH Bulletin and to the latest
message from your President! As I write, my brain is still pulsating with mem-
ories and images of an astonishing visit to Poland a few weeks ago. I was
very honoured and fortunate to be invited to participate in an extraordinary
event – an industrial heritage congress which, for three of its four days, was
held hundreds of meters underground in re-purposed mineworkings. Apart
from being a highly professional, hugely enjoyable event, it proved to be a
brilliant networking opportunity during which I learned about amazing min-
ing-related heritage and education projects across the world and made some
incredibly useful new contacts.
The first half of the event occurred in the Wieliczka Salt Mine near
Krakow. It wasn’t my first visit to the mine, but this time I saw far more
of it than before, met many of the amazing staff (including our hosts Jan
Godłowski and Monika Dziobek-Motyka), and also took the opportuni-
ty to reflect on Wieliczka’s flagship role in putting industrial heritage on
the world stage. There is no better example of what mining heritage can
deliver, and the fact that it was the first industrial site to be inscribed
MESSAGE FROM YOUR PRESIDENT

TICCIH Bulletin No. 101, 3rd Quarter 2023 16
WORLDWIDE
belonging and social cohesion that exists within such communities.
Learnings about the social and economic development of the past
and the challenges and evolution these communities faced are vital
for future sustainable urban development. The study provides im-
measurable insight into how such communities thrive alongside in-
dustries they served, often isolated or segregated from mainstream
populations.
We now have a repository of resources about the Farm’s heritage
for research, education and other uses, elevating the Farm’s prole
and its hub of heritage listed “H” buildings in the public arena. Enor-
mous potential exists for the preservation and development of this
central site as a creative, community, historical and tourism space.
What we have is one of the great unsung stories of a remarkable
but modest Australian community that really changed the world.
Our hope is as Dr Graeme Mein says in the lm, Out on the Farm,
that this historic site becomes a vibrant centre for science, edu-
cation and community once more – a tting way to celebrate the
Farm’s living heritage.
El Angulo, Aucanquilcha volcano,
Chile (photo Rodrigo Lorca)
AUCANQUILCHA’S AERIAL ROPEWAY
AND THE WORLD’S HIGHEST MINING
CAMP
Francisco Rivera, Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Mu-
seo (IIAM), Universidad Católica del Norte, San Pedro de Atacama,
Chile. The Archaeology Centre, University of Toronto, Canada
—
Located in Ollagüe, a municipality of the Antofagasta Region in northern
Chile, the Aucanquilcha volcano (6176 meters) was considered the high-
est mine in the world between 1913 and 1993. Situated at 5950 meters,
CHILE
the remains of the camp and extraction areas of sulfur, now abandoned
and scattered throughout the landscape, bear witness to the local min-
ing activity. Since its beginnings, Quechua and other indigenous workers
from the Andean highlands mainly carried out this industry.
The interdisciplinary Alto Cielo Archaeological Project studies the
industrial-extractive history of sulfur mining at the Aucanquilcha
volcano in Ollagüe. The research project began in 2015. Since 2022,
it has been funded by the Chilean National Agency for Research and
Development (Fondecyt 11220113). It focuses on two types of so-
cial spaces: traditional agropastoral and sulfur mining sites. The proj-
ect’s general objective is to describe, characterise and analyse the
transformations in Ollagüe throughout the twentieth century and
highlight their interrelationships, temporalities, and materialities.

TICCIH Bulletin No. 101, 3rd Quarter 2023 17
WORLDWIDE
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Juan Carrasco initiat-
ed mining operations in the Aucanquilcha volcano’s famous sulfur
mines, aiming to sell sulfur to the bustling saltpeter mining industry
in northern Chile, which needed an essential component for its
explosives requirements. In Ollagüe, Carrasco built what is known
as the rst autoclave in Chile, and in 1933, he founded the Socie-
dad Industrial Azufrera Minera (SIAM. Carrasco) with a loan from
the Caja de Crédito Minero to increase the scale of sulfur deposit
exploitation. This state institution promoted the extraction of all
exploitable minerals in the country through loans and the creation
of private initiatives and national companies. SIAM Carrasco and the
sulfur mining industry, in general, produced a range of artefacts that
are still present on sites today. In addition to the camps built for
miners and their families, a series of technological innovations were
quickly integrated into sulfur’s exploitation, transport, and process-
ing. For example, autoclaves and retorts were brought from Japan,
the UK, and Germany.
Aerial ropeways, a fundamental innovation for ore transportation,
helped carry sulfur from extraction sites to processing centres like
Amincha. The SIAM Carrasco installed a Pohlig-type double cable
aerial ropeway covering 13820m and built a transfer station called
El Ángulo at 1940m from the loading terminal. Among the most vis-
ible archaeological remains in Ollagüe’s industrial landscape, these
ropeways have become one of its material symbols. They are one of
the most distinctive artifacts of the local mining history.
With industrialisation, traditional modes of transport, such as mules
and llamas, had proven incapable of carrying large quantities of ore
due to weight and distance. Towards the mid-twentieth century,
the new aerial ropeway technology responded to the worldwide
demands of a rapidly growing mining industry and the transport
requirements that expansion necessitated. In a region like Ollagüe,
full of ravines and natural features, aerial ropeways offered an alter-
native to transportation on constantly eroding roads and costly rail
tracks. The aerial ropeways avoided the obstacles imposed by the
natural environment by going through straight lines. In addition, they
were less affected by the difculties of the region’s high-altitude
climatic conditions, such as snow and summer rains. Aerial rope-
ways are part of the history of technological innovations, large-scale
machinery, and industrial expansion in peripheral industrial regions
such as northern Chile.
The ropeway built by SIAM Carrasco reached the company’s plant
in Amincha, 12 km from Ollagüe. Amincha is one of the most em-
blematic sites of the region, mainly due to its good preservation. The
famous German engineer Ernst Kausel designed its industrial facili-
ties. In 1993, Amincha and Aucanquilcha were Chile’s last active sulfur
mining camps to close their operations. Today, these sites are visited
by mountaineering tourists and are symbolic places in the historical
heritage of the local community. Due to its isolation, high altitude, and
the destruction of road access to the site, El Ángulo and its industrial
facilities are preserved in the silence of the volcano’s heights. Only
natural agents such as snow and wind gradually destroy its last archi-
tectural remains, aerial ropeways, and sulfur loading station.
The history of the Aucanquilcha mining sites, one of the world’s
highest, and the importance of the local sulfur industry are shared
in a small exhibit at the local museum Leandro Bravo Valdebeni-
to, named after the archaeologist who pioneered research on the
cultural history of Ollagüe. The museum, the Ollagüe community,
and archaeological research projects continue to work arduously to
preserve and make visible the signicant industrial heritage of this
Andean area of northern Chile.
WENZHOU ALUM MINE FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY
OF TECHNOLOGY
Shujing Feng, the national academy of innovation strategy, CAST
and Tshinghua University
—
Wenzhou Alum Mine is located in Fanshan Town, Zhejiang Province,
near the east coast of China. The mine has operated for over 600
years since the Ming Dynasty. Production was mainly a secondary
occupation from the 14th century to the early 20th century. During
the rst half of the 20th century, production was carried out by
small-scale private enterprises. After founding the People’s Republic
of China in 1949, the alum industry moved towards nationalization,
gradually changing from traditional to modern modes of produc-
tion. As a versatile material of great industrial value, alum has been
used as a xative for dyeing and medicine, a occulating and clar-
CHINA
ifying agent for purifying water, and so on. With the emergence of
alum substitutes and changes in the national strategic resource lay-
outs in the 21st century, Wenzhou Alum Mine continued its decline
before completely ceasing the operation of the water-immersion
method in December 2017. In recent years, the area is transform-
ing from production to industrial heritage protection due to the
constraints of processing technology, resource conditions, and pro-
duction costs.
Archaeological investigation of the Wenzhou Alum Mine
The alunite comes mainly from ve specic mining areas (Shuiwei
Mountain, Jilong Mountain, Dagang Mountain, Pengpeng Ridge, and
Mabi Mountain in Cangnan County). The Geological Department
has conrmed that the reserves of alunite in Fanshan Town are ap-
proximately 240 million tons, accounting for 80 percent of Chinese
resources and 60 percent of the world’s reserves. The area has been
named World Alum City.
Since May 2017, we have investigated seven mining sites and ten