Magic Mountain

The cinnamon-red height of Caue rises 4,000 feet sheer from the lush green hills of Minas Geraes. It is a landmark that on a clear day can be seen by an airplane pilot 50 miles away. It is also one of the world's most precious topographical oddities. Caue is Brazil's Iron Mountain, a fabulous lode of some of the world's best ore, pure enough (up to 68%) to compete with Sweden's finest, vast enough to challenge Minnesota's great Mesabi.

Itabira is the name popularly given to Caue, and for two centuries its wealth has been a legend. Early colonists melted its ore into blunderbusses, horseshoes and crude plowshares. International bankers gambled with the concession during the early 1900s. But it was World War II that set shovels biting into Itabira's crown.

Working the Mine. At Allied urging, Dictator Getulio Vargas nationalized both the mountain and the rickety, narrow-gauge railway that leads to the port of Vitoria, 375 twisting, malarial miles away. When the Rio Doce Valley Co. was formed to administer the entire property the government and private investors subscribed to its $15 million capitalization and the U.S. Export-Import Bank chipped in $19 million more.

Soon machines were shipped in, roads were snaked around Itabira's core, and test drillings were sunk into the solid heart. The peak's top 300 feet proved out as "compact hematite," red as rust and heavy to the hand--and the best ore there is. Below were huge deposits of "Canga" (54-62% iron) and soft "Itabarite" "(45-52%). After the tests, the work went ahead faster than ever. Though mechanization was by no means complete, Rio Doce was showing results. Last year, 700-odd Brazilian miners, with the help of two U.S. superintendents, dug out 177,000 metric tons of ore, sold it to Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp. at a profit.

Getting to Market. Development of Itabira has been handicapped by bad management, waste, nepotism and political featherbedding. Moreover, once the ore is dug, it is not easy to get to market. The railroad's locomotives are woodburning, its cars antiquated. Vitoria's port facilities are so poor that it takes 30 hours to load an ore ship; modern machinery could do it in 30 minutes.

The government recently subscribed $19 million for Itabira. Last week, after a year of heated negotiations, the finishing touches were being put to a new $7,500,000 Export-Import Bank loan. That meant electric shovels, compressed-air drills and crushing plants for the Iron Mountain. It also meant further improvements on the railroad, new facilities at the port. With all that done, say in two years, Itabira hoped to reach its immediate target: a yearly output of 1,500,000 tons.

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