MINERÍA la mejor puerta de acceso al sector minero MINERÍA / SEPTIEMBRE 2022 / EDICIÓN 540 176 En la extracción del mineral en vetas, que se encontraban en terrenos compactos, se utilizarían instrumentos punzantes confeccionados de bronce estannífero y, en terrenos no consolidados, utilizarían además cuernos de ciervos o tarugas. La profundidad de las aberturas que seguían a las vetas auríferas dependía, entre otros factores, de la consistencia del terreno, de la ventilación y de la iluminación. En las minas de poca consistencia, donde la perforación y el avance no ofrecía una gran resistencia, se llegaba hasta unos sesenta metros hacía en interior de la tierra. El tamaño de las aberturas no debió ser de gran tamaño, lo necesario para el buen desempeño del minero en la operación, si se requería colocaban sostenimiento de madera o de piedras para que la labor o socavón ofrezca la seguridad de no derrumbe. La topografía del terreno donde afloraban las vetas auríferas no siempre era igual, podría tener diferentes inclinaciones, el minero inca entonces tenía que adecuar los socavones en la dirección más conveniente para la extracción del mineral. A diferencia de las partículas de oro que se obtenían de las arenas auríferas de los ríos que se encontraban casi puras, el oro de las vetas estaba acompañado con el mineral de cuarzo, por lo que eran necesario triturar lo obtenido de los socavones. Quijo llamaban al cuarzo que contenía al oro en las vetas y poseía una gran dureza. El mineral –cuarzo más oro– que se lograba obtener del avance de la veta excavada, era introducido en who had it as a particular occupation..." (Garcilaso de la Vega, p. 190). The tucuyricuq also had to supervise underground mining operations, both in compact soils as well as in soils of poor consistency or crumbly soils. The pre-Hispanic Inca miner worked in primary deposits, that is to say, in veins, where he would only extract the gold-bearing mineral from the outcrop on the surface; deepening would take place depending on the richness of the vein and if the terrain allowed it, to avoid accidents due to rock falls. Mining the ore in veins, whichwere found in compact soils, would require the use of sharp instruments made of tin bronze, and in unconsolidated soils they would also use deer or taruga antlers. The depth of the openings that followed the gold veins depended, among other factors, on soil consistency, ventilation and illumination; in soils of poor consistency, where drilling and heading did not offer great resistance, they could reach up to sixty meters into the ground. The openings should not have been of large size, just what was necessary for the miner's proper performance in the operation. If necessary, wooden or stone supports were placed so that the working or mineshaft would not collapse. Gold-bearing veins were not always the same due to the topography of the land where they outcropped; these veins could have different inclinations, so the Inca miner had to adapt the mineshafts in the most convenient direction to extract the mineral. Unlike the gold particles that were obtained from the gold bearing sands of the rivers and were almost pure, the gold obtained from the veins was accompanied by quartz ore, so crushing the gold obtained from the mineshafts was necessary. Quijo was the name given to the gold bearing quartz found in the veins, which had a great hardness. The mineral (quartz plus gold) that was obtained from the excavated vein was placed in a kind of leather sack, which had been made from the skins of llamas or other animals, and brought to the Explotación minera en vetas auríferas.
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