Cia. Nacional de Asbestos deposit, near Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas

Near Ciudad Victoria, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, lay a chrysotile deposit that the U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1969, drawing on London's Mining Magazine, described as "a deposit of an estimated 1.2 million tons of recoverable chrysotile asbestos fiber" newly discovered there.² The same yearbook said that a new national asbestos company "has been established to develop the orebody," that "the Federal government was to have a 51-percent share in the company," and that "a 300-ton-per-day plant was scheduled to begin operation in early 1971."² Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reported in December 1969 that the Mexican government had formed the company "to mine and process Chrysotile asbestos in the Novillo Arroyo area."¹ The yearbook for 1971 described "the Ciudad Victoria deposit soon to be brought into production by the government-owned Compañía Nacional de Asbestos, S.A.," with "an outlined ore body of 6 million tons with 10 percent recoverable fibers."³ None of these reports says that the plant was built or that the deposit came into production.^2,3

In December 1975 Asbestos reported that the deposit, a "cross-fiber, Chrysotile property at Canon del Novillo," had "recently been released and the mining rights returned to the original owner," Jose Antonio Roque of Ciudad Victoria.⁴ A year later the journal, spelling the name "Rogue," said that he "again holds the mining rights."⁵ In December 1978 it reported that the deposit at El Canon del Novillo was on an "abandoned status-quo."⁶

The documents describe this as a deposit or prospect: they report exploration or describe the deposit, not mining for sale.²

Location

Year by year

Every statement about this mine in the documents, in each document's own words, by the year it is about.

1969

• Ownership: “The Mexican Government formed a new company ... to mine and process Chrysotile asbestos in the Novillo Arroyo area” (Compania Nacional de Asbestos), p. 24¹
• Mill: “A 300-ton-per-day plant was scheduled to begin operation in early 1971” (Cia. Nacional de Asbestos), as reported by Mining Magazine (London), p. 8²
• Reserves: “an estimated 1.2 million tons of recoverable chrysotile asbestos fiber”, as reported by Mining Magazine (London), p. 8²
• Ownership: “A new company to be known as Cia. Nacional de Asbestos has been established to develop the orebody” (Cia. Nacional de Asbestos), as reported by Mining Magazine (London), p. 8²
• Ownership: “The Federal government was to have a 51-percent share in the company” (Cia. Nacional de Asbestos), as reported by Mining Magazine (London), p. 8²

1971

• Reserves: “an outlined ore body of 6 million tons with 10 percent recoverable fibers” (Compañía Nacional de Asbestos, S.A.), p. 9³
• Ownership: “the government-owned Compañía Nacional de Asbestos, S.A.” (Compañía Nacional de Asbestos, S.A.), p. 9³

1975

• Ownership: “The deposit has recently been released and the mining rights returned to the original owner—Sr. Jose Antonio Roque” (Jose Antonio Roque), p. 50⁴

1976

• Ownership: “Sr. J. A. Rogue again holds the mining rights to the cross fiber, Chrysotile property at Canon del Novillo” (J. A. Rogue), p. 46⁵

1978

• Idle: “the deposit at El Canon del Novillo, near Ciudad Victoria ... is on an "abandoned status-quo"”, p. 55⁶

Other names

Documents call this mine “deposit near Ciudad Victoria”, “Ciudad Victoria deposit”, “Novillo Arroyo area”.

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1969, December 1969 (December 1, 1969), p. 24.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1969 (January 1, 1970), p. 8.
3. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1971 (January 1, 1972), p. 9.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1975, December 1975 (December 1, 1975), p. 50.
5. Asbestos Magazine, 1976, December 1976 (December 1, 1976), p. 46.
6. Asbestos Magazine, 1978, December 1978 (December 1, 1978), p. 55.