2
ounces of silver or 0.05 ounces of gold per ton. (2) Settlements are
made on the basis of 95 per cent of New York price for silver and of
$19 to $20 per ounce of gold. Small producers, who often report in
terms of dollars alone, are very likely to give a correspondingly
smaller value than the ore actually contains. The same class of
producers occasionally also misunderstand the questions and report net
instead of gross proceeds. The gold is sometimes also given in value
only, which is then always smaller than the actual value of the metal
in the ore by from $0.67 to $1.67 per ounce. (3) There is always a
certain small percentage of the product which can not be obtained from
the miners. This includes the output of scattered individual placer
workers, often aliens; some of this is estimated on the basis of the
record of mint deposits, but a little invariably escapes detection.
There are further cases where owners of small mines decline to answer
or where the property is not continuously operated and the owner can
not be found. There is, lastly, the ore abstracted by "high graders" or
ore thieves, which takes away a notable fraction of the production of
mines containing rich ore. Through small assay offices this gold finds
it way to the mints. The practice was carried on to a disgraceful
extent during the year 1906 in the rich mines of Goldfield. The
principal mine officers estimate that ore to the value of $1,250,000
was "appropriated" in that camp during 1906, and state that ore worth
$250,000 was recovered from the thieves. Several suits in the courts
for the recovery of parcels of ore indicated that the statement was
well founded. Much rich ore is probably still secreted and will
gradually reach the mints in 1907. The conditions prevailing at
Goldfield in the last months of 1906 were, however, exceptional. Gold
and silver from old metallurgical by-products, like slag, is also apt
to escape notice. Taken together, the three items explained above will
probably compensate for the losses in smelting and refining.
Returns
are obtained from every mine of importance in the States and
Territories, there being now practically no refusals to report. The
mining companies appreciate that they are fully protected, as the
individual returns are strictly confidential, while they profit from
an exact knowledge of the aggregate production and by correct reports
of the state of the industry. Willful misstatements are very rare, and,
as already noted, the replies are more likely to be too low than too
high. The only trouble experienced in 1906 was in Alaska, where many of
the large placer mining companies failed to report. There are other
ways, however, to obtain the totals for that region, as more fully
explained by Mr. Brooks in his report.
COMPARISON OF MINT REPORT AND MINES REPORT.
Both
of the plans outlined above (see pages 7 and 8) are admittedly open to
some objections, but it may be questioned whether it would be
practicable to make them wholly consistent and logical. The most
important difference between the two reports is that, though covering
the same time interval, they do not quite cover the same period of ore
extraction, the mines report being as much as three or four months in
advance of the mint report. The mill and placer bullion reaches mints
and refineries soon after its production, and
