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116
MINERAL RESOURCES.
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the
assay value of the total tonnage; for if this were the case the heavy
losses in concentration would be disregarded, and the results would be
very much larger and wholly misleading. As far as possible the report
aims to give the metals recovered from the tonnage sold or treated
during the year. In items 2 and 3 this is substantially correct, except
for the very small refining losses. In item 4 the amount given is
theoretically larger than the actual recovery of refined metals by the
combined smelting and refining losses, which in the case of gold and
silver are known to be very small. Practically, however, this is
counterbalanced by several factors: (1) Small quantities of gold and
silver are recovered from many ores, but not paid for by the smelting
companies or recorded in the settlements. As a rule, payments are not
made on less than 2 ounces of silver or 0.05 ounce 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 contained. The same
class of producers occasionally also misunderstand the question and
report net instead of gross proceeds. (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 mint
deposits by traders and banks, 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 and amalgam stolen by
"high graders," which takes away a notable fraction of the production
of mines containing rich ore. Through small assay offices or improvised
chlorination plants this gold finds its way to the mints or refining
works. Gold and silver from old metallurgical by-products are also apt
to escape notice. Taken together the three items explained above will
probably compensate for the losses in smelting and refining.
In
general, the response from the mine owners is extremely gratifying and
indicates that they realize that the individual returns are held
strictly confidential, while they profit from an exact knowledge of the
aggregate production and by correct reports of the state of the
industry. Careful investigation has shown that willful misstatements
are very rare, and, as already noted, the replies are more likely to be
too low than too high. The only difficulty experienced in obtaining
returns for 1907 was in California, where a few operators, chiefly in
the Mother Lode region, have refused to reply, basing this refusal on
the erroneous idea that their production of gold is a private matter in
which the Federal Government has no concern.
COMPARISON OF MINT REPORT AND MINES REPORT.
Both
of the plans outlined above (see pages 3 and 7) 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
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