Before the Rio Tinto company entered the picture, the London-registered Mason & Barry Ltd (São Domingos mine) and the Tharsis Sulphur & Copper company dominated the European pyrites market. Rio Tinto disrupted that market. In a period that has been called the Long Depression (1873- 1879) it was decided that cooperation was a better strategy than competition (contrary to liberal dogma) by dividing the market up, creating an effective monopoly: Rio Tinto got all of continental Europe, including Germany plus 40% of the British market, Tharsis got 33.33% of the British market, and Mason & Barry got the remaining 26.66%. This agreement was formalised in 1878. Although it lapsed in 1885, it offered a precedent which continued in a modified form until the Second World War. Reading the widely available sources of the company histories does not give a reality-near picture of the situation. In an age in which we have been induced to accept that one extreme form of capitalism is natural, desirable and even inevitable, that competition is king, a look back to the activities of the real antecedents of the present day can be seen in the interaction of the companies exploiting the Iberian Pyrites Belt with the relevant governments and among themselves. The Rio Tinto company, for example, not only ‘negotiated’ a mining concession: in addition to the mineral rights it also took over ownership of the land and the airspace above, which can be considered as Spain relinquishing sovereignty — little or no control of activity on company land. Rio Tinto maintained its own police force (that coordinated with the Guardia Civil when needed), ran grocery shops for the miners, and controlled the health facilities provided but deducted contributions from miners’ pay. Company health facilities were a two-edged sword: on one hand it provided immediate medical attention in the event of accidents and dealt with common miners’ ailments caused by contact and inhalation of sulphur and heavy metal dust. On the other it controlled the flow of information about the prevalence and causes of the diseases created by mining the pyrites and the frequency of accidents. Rio Tinto exercised political influence at national level, it appointed local mayor and counsellors in the immediate vicinity and had its chosen men in the provincial government – power seen in its repressive treatment of the miners striking for healthier conditions and better pay. As Miguel Ángel Collado Aguilar suggests, the company was run on ‘a fully- fledged colonial model’. 1 An 1888 miner’s strike resulted in at least forty-five dead and many injured when the army opened fire on strikers. Just how far the company was involved has never been definitively clarified, however I use the Rio Tinto
Pyrite, the name derived from pyr (fire), now the term for all sulphide minerals and ore, generally FeS 2
The abandoned Tharsis Mine and its railway ore wagons.
company as an example, as there is little difference between it and the other companies mentioned above who dealt with organised miner demands in similar, if not quite as drastic, ways. Although we may seem to have drifted off topic, the review of the mining companies indicates a way of thinking that is economically determined, single-minded and only minimally concerned with consequences. The bottom line: in 1872 Tharsis paid a dividend of 40 per cent. This degree of profit- seeking is diametrically opposed to the implications of the watery edges that are sensitive to tides, floods, ebbs, salinity, acidity, colour and all the other characteristics water can have. Bearing that in mind, let’s look at the water.
all images Tim Sharp
The Tharsis pits affect Rio Odiel, Rio Tinto’s Cerro Colorado mine (above) and the Rio Tinto itself, as well as the tributaries.
1 https://conversacionsobrehistoria. info/2020/03/23/ecohistoria-ii-el-ano-de-los- tiros-rio-tinto-1888/
22 on site review 49 :: shorelines
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