Ch. 1: Gold and Silver in 1920

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	520	MINERAL RESOURCES, 1920—PART I.

	Of the two plans for ascertaining the gold and silver production of the United States one is* a measure of the mining industry and the other a measure of the metallurgic industry; one reports the mine output and its recoverable content and the other the metal actually recovered in marketable form. The two methods will not produce exactly corresponding results, but the figures for a period of years sufficiently long to compensate for overlap or lag should agree within allowable limits of error due to the complexity of the problem involved. Gold and silver produced in the United States, 1905-1920, according to mint and to mine returns.



	These figures show, according to the reports of the Mint, a total excess of gold for the 16 years of $12,104,904, or a difference of less than 1 per cent, and a total deficit of silver of only 523,654 ounces, or a difference of about 0.05 per cent. The figures for Alaska placers are not considered to be so closely approximate as the total figures for gold, hence the differences for the United States proper are probably even lower. It is thought that those small differences are fully accounted for in the detailed discussions of the subject in previous reports of this series. For any one year an excess of mining over smelting and refining is indicated by larger returns in the mines reports for gold or silver, or both, and an excess of smelting and refining and drawing upon stocks is indicated by larger returns in the report of the Mint. "UNITS OP MEASUREMENT. In the measurement of ores and concentrates the short ton of 2,000 pounds is used throughout. The price of gold is fixed by law at $20.67 + per fine ounce. The annual average prices for silver from 1865 to 1920, are given on page 513. PRODUCTION OP GOLD AND SILVER REPORTED FROM THE MINES. The following table gives the quantity and value of the output of recoverable gold and silver ("mine production") by States reported from the producing mines in 1920 to the United States Geological Survey. The increase or decrease of production shows results by comparison with the corresponding Geological Survey mine figures for 1919.

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