ounces
in Peru, and 6,331,000 ounces in Australasia. The total increase in
the world's production was about 42,256,000 ounces. There will probably
be a considerable increase in the world's production of silver in 1923,
owing to greatly increased activity at copper mines in the United
States, Peru, and Chile and at lead and zinc mines in Burma, Mexico,
Australia, and Spain. As the silver from domestic mines was, until
June, 1923, purchased by the United States Mint, all the silver
consumed in the arts and industries to that date was obtained from
foreign sources. After June, 1923, producers of domestic silver had to
sell in the open market at a price which was 36 to 38 cents an ounce
lower than that paid under the Pittman Act. The open-market price has
been fairly stable and as high as was expected under existing
conditions, although the lower price has resulted in closing a number
of mines in the United States from which siliceous ores containing a
little silver were being mined. The value of the silver produced in the
world in 1922, at $0.67934 a fine ounce, was about $145,067,000, and
the total value from 1860 to 1922, inclusive, was $6,230,326,000.
Most
of the world's output of silver is produced or refined in the United
States, but a large part of it is consumed in Great Britain, India, and
China, and the price of silver has been dominated by the London market.
"Silver, its romance and history," by Benjamin White, contains
information relating to the buying and selling of silver and the fixing
of market quotations, which was quoted in the chapter on gold and
silver in Mineral Resources for 1918. A study of the effects of the
World War on the movement and markets for silver is given by Andre
Pailhas.2
World's production of silver, 1917-1922, in fine ounces.
