treated
at concentration mills yielded concentrates containing $894,481, or 44
cents a ton, and crude ore shipped to smelters contained $828,329 in
gold, or an average of $1.73 a ton.
Silver.—Montana
mines produced 16,797,479 fine ounces of silver in 1918, a production
nearly 28 per cent more than in 1917. The copper ores yielded
10,521,219 ounces (an average of 1.64 ounces per ton), of which Silver
Bow County (Butte) supplied 10,480,556 ounces. The lead-zinc ores
produced 4,532,034 ounces, of which Silver Bow County supplied
4,261,041 ounces. The dry or siliceous ores produced 1,028,443 ounces,
of which Granite County supplied 465,631 ounces and Silver Bow County
269,673 ounces.
NEVADA.
Gold.—The
mine production of gold in Nevada in 1918 was $6,619,937, against
$6,959,468 in 1917. The production in 1918 from mines in Esmeralda
County was $1,361,321—a decrease of nearly $625,000. The Goldfield
district yielded $1,212,572 in gold in 1918, against $1,900,082 in
1917. Nye County produced $1,991,845, of which Tonopah yielded
$1,287,745—a decrease in Tonopah of more than $250,000. The counties
having a substantial increase in gold were Elko, Storey, and Lyon.
Sixty-six per cent of the decrease in output of gold was due to smaller
yield from Goldfield and Tonopah.
Silver.—There
was a decrease in the mine production of silver in Nevada in 1918, the
total being 10,000,599 fine ounces, against 11,269,969 ounces in 1917.
Nye County (almost wholly from the Tonopah district) again led in
output with 6,104,711 ounces, which was about 1,068,000 ounces less
than in 1917. Humboldt County, with 869,662 ounces, Churchill County,
with 625,152 ounces, and Lincoln County, with 421,310 ounces, were the
other counties which had an output exceeding 400,000 ounces. Dry or
siliceous ores yielded all but 848,223 ounces of the output of silver,
and 88 per cent of this yield was recovered by cyanidation.
NEW MEXICO.
Gold.—The
mine production of gold in New Mexico in 1918 was $682,791, against
$1,064,158 in 1917, $1,382,480 in 1916, and $1,461,105 in 1915. Mills
in the Mogollon district, Socorro County, produced only $119,710,
against $258,620 in 1917; Grant County, $270,052; and Colfax and
Lincoln counties, $274,273.
Copper
ores, chiefly from Grant County, contained $241,830, and dry and
siliceous ores yielded $426,275. The output from other kinds of ore was
very small and the placer output was only $3,118.
Silver.—The
mine production of silver in New Mexico decreased from 1,394,365 fine
ounces in 1917 to 782,421 ounces in 1918. Socorro County produced
352,878 fine ounces, or about 45 per cent, chiefly from siliceous ores
from the Mogollon district, the remainder from mixed ores of the
Magdalena district. The output of silver from Grant County decreased
from 487,558 fine ounces in 1917 to 338,833 ounces in 1918, and most of
this yield came from the Lords-burg and Central districts. Dry and
siliceous gold and silver ores, chiefly from Grant and Socorro
counties, yielded 48 per cent of the total; copper ores, chiefly from
Grant, Socorro, and Santa Fe coun-
