Map of Part of the Province of Huelva, Spain; Showing, Position of the Rio Tinto Company’s Property, and the Port of Huelva. / Sketch Shewing the Proposed Workings for Developing the Rio Tinto Mines

Very rare foundation map for the Rio Tinto Company  issued in the original prospectus for the sale of shares to the public on 8th July 1873.

We have been unable to locate another example in any institutional collection or that has appeared on the secondary market.

Since antiquity, a site along the Rio Tinto (River) in Huelva, Spain, had been mined for copper, silver, gold and other minerals. Around 3000 BC, Iberians and Tartessians began mining the site, followed by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths and Moors. After a period of abandonment, the mines were rediscovered in 1556 and the Spanish government began operating them once again in 1724. However the mining operations were inefficient, and after a series of financial losses, the Spanish government decided to sell the mines at an auction held on 14 February 1873. The availability of the mines was brought to the attention of Matheson & Company, the London-based agent for the Far Eastern merchants Jardine Matheson, by Heinrich Doetsch of Sundheim & Doetsch, a general merchant of Huelva. The buyers of the mine were led by Hugh Mathesons of Matheson and Company, which formed a syndicate consisting of Deutsche Bank 56% ownership, Matheson 24%, and the civil engineering firm Clark, Punchard and Company 20%. The conditions of the auction also specified that Spain would permanently relinquish any right to claim royalties on the mines production. The mines sold for ESP 92.800.000 £3.680.000. The syndicate launched the Rio Tinto Company, registering it on 29 March 1873 and a prospectus for the Rio Tinto Company Limited, was issued 8 July 1873. The new company was floated on the London Stock Exchange with an issued share capital of £2 million and debentures valued of £600,000. Hugh Matheson was appointed as first chairman of the RTC with Heinrich Doetsch as his deputy.

Following the purchase of the Rio Tinto Mine, the syndicate constructed a number of new processing facilities, innovated new mining techniques, and expanded mining activities. From 1877 to 1891, the Rio Tinto Mine was the world’s leading producer of copper.

Prior to the acquisition of the mines Hugh Matheson commission David Forbes, a mining engineer of considerable repute, to report on the potential of the Mines. Forbes spent a little over a week at Rio Tinto towards the end of March 18 7 3.40 His report of 25 April formed the basis for the financial projections published by the new enterprise in its prospectus of 8 July 1873.41 In assessing the Mines and drawing up plans for their future working Forbes relied heavily on the data and recommendations provided by the Government Commissioners, who in turn were largely informed in their judgements by the report of the Commission of 1867. His scheme, which can be seen on the lower map, departed from those models in a number of important respects.

1. He determined that the proposed south-lode open-cast should initially be 400 metres in length rather than the 780 metres suggested by the government engineers in order to reduce overburden removal costs.
2. He abandoned the idea that the mineral might be removed from the open-cast by widening an existing passage, urging instead that a new tunnel, linking the open-cast with the main line railway, should penetrate the lode at a depth of 85 metres.
3. He proposed a number of improvements in the calcination-leaching process.
4. He was of the opinion that the proposed railway to Huelva should follow the course of the River Tinto and not the course of the River Odiel in order to take advantage of the lesser gradients thereby encountered.Under the Forbes plan some 11 ‘/2 million long tons of ore would be made available for extraction at a maximum rate of about 700,000 long tons per annum. This compared with an average extraction of 55,522 long tons for the years 1868-72.43 Correspondingly, the average direct cost of the ore mined was calculated to fall from £0.295 to only £0.10 per long ton. Of the total quantity of ore mined annually 500,000 long tons were designated for export. This quantity would cost a further £0.10 per long ton to transport by rail to Huelva and load on board ship, to which should be added £0.15 per long ton for overhead expenses and £1.00 for shipping, insurance and distribution costs, giving a total operating cost of production of £1.35 per long ton; for which the Company would receive about £3.15 per long ton on the basis of a sale price of £0.0333 per unit of sulphur contained in the ore (one per cent of the ore by volume), giving an operating profit of about £1.80 per long ton. In other words, Forbes predicted an annual operating profit on pyrites sales alone of £900,000. At the same time, the total cost of ore treated by the calcination-leaching process was anticipated to fall from £0.94 to £0.30 per long ton, suggesting a profit of £30.00 per long ton of fine copper produced. An estimated 2,000 long tons of fine copper might be recovered from the 200,000 long tons of ore treated in this manner, thus yielding an additional operating profit of £60,000 per annum. The Rio Tinto Company could look forward confidently, therefore, to securing an annual total operating profit of £960,000. Forbes’ calculations were accepted by the Matheson syndicate as the basis for the financial projections to be presented in the Rio Tinto Company prospectus in all but one detail: the sale price of the sulphur content of the ore was estimated at £0.0313 per unit rather than £0.0333. Put simply, this meant that the estimated annual operating profit from the sale of cupreous pyrites would fall to £775,000, and hence the total operating profit would be reduced to £835,000. Before attaining such results, however, the Company would need to invest a good deal of capital. For the three years required to bring the Mines into full production, £200,000 would be needed to develop the open¬ cast and other local works, £774,000 to build the main-line railway and pier and £80,000 to meet current expenses.