(2 of 2)
Mass Production. When the speculative gaze of the Guggenheim brothers was arrested by Chilean nitrate, that commodity was, and most of it still is, extracted from the earth by the antiquated, piddling Shanks process. The "caliche," or nitrate-bearing earth, is broken up with explosives, loaded into cars by hand. At the plant it is boiled in small tanks to leach out the nitrate, which is then run off as liquor and dried into commercial form. The Guggenheims were not en- thusiastic about the Shanks process. Undoubtedly they thought of Daniel Cowan Jackling and his mass production methods in copper mining (TIME, April 28). They set a staff of engineers and scientists to work. They applied their process in 1926, had it running at full speed in the Oficina Maria Elena plant by 1928, saw Maria Elena production rise until today it is by far the biggest producing unit in the industry.
The Guggenheim Process starts out with electric shovels, progresses through concrete tanks with 7,500-ton capacity to mechanical refrigeration and centrifugal driers. Like the Jackling copper process, it permits the use of much lower grade ores—as low as 8%, which is less than half the minimum required by the Shanks process. It cuts labor costs 75%, fuel costs 72%. It means that mass produc- tion has come to Chilean nitrate, that the Guggenheims are even more the masters of the show. For the new Chile Nitrate Co. into which the entire industry has been merged will use the Guggenheim. Process. Gradually the many small Shanks process plants will be eliminated. With mass production working on the 400,000,000 metric ton nitrate reserve still left in Chile (enough to supply world consumption for many centuries), Chile nitrate producers last week were more hopeful than they have been in many a year of strenuous competition with synthetic producers.
*In Africa there may well develop a second great nitrate region. Last year a British professor roamed about over 10,000 sq. mi. of southwest Africa, found traces of nitrate throughout his journey, "a strong resemblance to the conditions prevalent in Chile." Should anything come of this, Africa may threaten Chile's nitrates as seriously as it is now threatening Chile's copper. Last year copper and nitrates together formed 88% of total Chilean exports, copper coming to $105,489,000, nitrates to $114,872,000.