The indicator., 1897-01-30
MINING DEPARTMENT.
THE FUTURE PRODUCT OF GOLD.
A New York Mining Journal Believes it Will
Not Be Greatly Increased Re
view of the Various Fields.

vance of Siberia will he comparatively
SLOW and limited until our American
engineers are called in and American
methods adopted. That period will
surely come. but not for some years
yet.
In other Asiatic countries no great
changes are to he expected. Substan-
tial progress has been made in British
lndla. but the gold fields are of limit
ed extent, and the increase from year
TO year is not of great importance.
lhcre is talk of developing gold mines
IN korea and in portions of China, but
the difficulties in the way are very
great. Gold is known to exist in many
of the great islands of the Indian
ocean, but the strength of the native
races and the disadvantages of eli
mate make any rapid growth there I'm
probable.
In Africa we have seen the extraor-
binary development of the gold fields
of the 1'ransvaal in the past few
years, but at the present time this
seems nearly to have reached its ell
max. The great gold field of the Wit
watcrsrand has been explored with
tolerable thor0ughness. and its posi-
bilitics can be briefly summed up. Of
nearly forty miles in length. some
nine miles are known to yield ores of
sufficiently high grade to be wokcd at
a profit, and on the remainder there
are occasional spots, perhaps mile in
All, where working can also he carried
ON to advantage. on the remaining
thirty miles gold is found hut almost
everywhere in too small quantities to
permit of profitable extraction under
present circumstances. Even in the
older sections of the Witwatersrand
thcrc are now many mines which are
returning no profit to their owners and
as the workings increase in depth and
extent it is very probable that n mum
ber of these will he compelled to give
up the fight when they can no longer
secure additional funds by the sale of
stock. The next few years will surely
witness great deal of consolidation
of mines, and t he whole district may
pass into the hands of comparatively
Few companies, probably with great
advantage in economy of working.
The deep levels from which so much
has been hoped for are not showing as
good results as had been expected
lhe cost of opening n mine to a depth
of ZOO. 5000 or 1000 feet is cnor-
nous, To say nothing of the fact that
two or three years must he absorbed
in the work. during which the capital
is idle and royalties continue. The
probabilities of an adequate return on
the expenditure are now regarded as
comparatively 50 uncertain that very
few additional mines are being
opened
The district. many are beginning to
b"llcNe, mas been over-Supplied with
machinery and appliances. The pro-
duction will continue. and will proba-
bly, not fall below the present level
but TO make it profitable. the costs
must he reduced. and the present high
prices for labor. supplies and other no
ceSsitics must he cut down if mine
owners are to realize any profit. In
der these conditions we believe. con-
trary to our former expectations. that
no considerable increase in production
from the Transvaal is To be counted
on.
outside of the Transvaal the gold
fields of South Africa are making but
little progress, and their value is still
very uncertain. In the Zambesi re-
gion. and in Central Africa there NAV
be some increase. but none of any
great moment is TO be expected for
some years TO come.
The Australian Colonies. like the
Transvaal. seem to have nearly
reached their maximum. There is n
certainty of large supply of gold
from them. but the probability is that
there will he no great or rapil in
crease. Exploration and the opening of
new mines will continue to an extent
sufficient to make up for the older
mines abandoned or exhausted from
time to time. but the changes from
year TO year will in all probability not
be great. The enormous losses and
waste of capital in Western Australia
will probably work to discourage in
vcstment for a time. In New South
Wales. Victoria and Queensland min
ing is now settled business with reg
ular results. and this will continue to
be the case for many years. New Zea-
land and Tasmania also have cstab-
lished industries. and both of them
may he expected to show n considera-
BILE relative increase. but of an amount
small in proportion to the total
Upon the whole therefore. we may
anticipate that the production of gold
for some years will show only mod
crate increase. The gain will come
for the present chiefly from North
America. with the possibility of fu-
turc great addition from Russia. when
that country shall have learned how
best to utilize its resources es.-Engineer
ing and Mining Journal.