smelting
and refining establishments; the distribution by States is, moreover,
checked and verified by the data collected by the Geological Survey
directly from the producing mines. The table is derived from three
items: (1) The unrefined domestic gold and silver deposited in the
United States mints and assay offices; (2) the domestic gold and silver
in fine bars reported by the private refineries; (3) the unrefined
domestic gold and silver contained in ores, copper matte, etc.,
exported for reduction. The last is an item of small relative
importance.
In
addition, gold and silver were produced in the smelters and refineries
of the United States from foreign ore, matte, and unrefined bullion as
follows: Gold, 892,138 fine ounces, or $18,442,100; silver, 65,107,220
fine ounces, or $34,506,800.
The
Mint Bureau does not further subdivide these figures. The foreign gold
and silver were derived from Mexico, Canada, nearly all South American
and Central American countries, Korea, and Japan; minor amounts were
received from other sources. Of the gold, probably about $9,000,000 was
derived from Mexico, and about $8,000,000 from Canada. Of the silver,
about 45,000,000 fine, ounces came from Mexico and about 16,000,000
ounces were derived from Canada.
The
gains and losses in the production of the various States and
Territories, compared with the production of 1907, are shown in the
following table:
Increase (+) or decrease (—) in production of precious metals in the United States in 1908, by States and Territories, in fine ounces.
