United
States when used in silver dollars and about $1.38 in subsidiary
silver coins; and it is quite reasonable to expect that any advance
beyond $1.35 an ounce would result in measures to protect the coinage
of many nations.
Many
operators of gold mines produce ore of such grade that the margin of
profit is very small, and that margin depends entirely on the
continuous supply and economical treatment of large quantities of ore.
The difficulty in obtaining supplies and the decreased efficiency of
the miners who could be obtained prevented the usual development in
1917 and 1918. In consequence much of the ore milled in 1917 and in
1918 was that already broken in the mines and kept as a reserve.
Prospecting and development of new mines and opening of new ore bodies
in working properties have been retarded or altogether suspended.
Moreover, some properties have previously successfully mined and
treated quantities of low-grade ore by mixing it with ore of higher
grade. The higher cost of mining has in many places rendered this
course impossible lately, and the higher-grade ore was treated alone.
This may result in leaving large quantities of ore which it will not be
possible to hoist and mill at a profit in the future.
The
gold-mining districts most affected by labor conditions were those
adjacent to districts in which base metals were mined, as the products
of the base-metal mines were sold at prices which enabled higher wages
to be paid than owners of gold mines could afford to pay. Many gold
mines have been closed, and at others the best ore bodies are being
exhausted at little or no profit.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CONDITION OF GOLD
MINING.
The
conditions at present hampering the mining of gold and the remedies for
such conditions were investigated by organizations of mine owners such
as the American Gold Conference, organized at Reno, Nev., in August,
1918, and the International Gold Conference, organized at Spokane,
Wash., in September, 1918. It has been generally realized that it has
not yet proved feasible to increase the price of gold or to change the
quantity of gold in the coinage, but the operators of gold mines
suggest that the gold industry can be aided by less revolutionary
methods, which will not meet the same opposition. Since the armistice
was declared the supply of labor at gold mines has gradually increased
and the labor has been more efficient, but there has been little or no
reduction in cost of production, because the prices paid for supplies
have not materially decreased and costs of transportation have been
increased. A report on the causes of the decrease in the production of
gold and on the remedies suggested was made to the Secretary of the
Interior by a joint committee from the United States Geological Survey
and the Bureau of Mines. A summary of the findings of this committee is
as follows:
The
findings of the committee appointed in July, 1918, by the Secretary of
the Interior to investigate the gold mining situation in the United
States, consisting of Hennen Jennings, chairman; J. H. Mackenzie and
Charles Janin, of the Bureau of Mines; and H. D. McCaskey and F. L.
Ransome, of the United States Geological Survey, are set forth in the
accompanying report.
The
statu3 of the industry and the conclusions and recommendations of the
committee, as presented therein, may be briefly summarized as follows:
Statistics
of production dating from the discovery of America in 1492 show that
the annual average output was small until 1850, when the discovery of
gold in California
