The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-09
GOLD IN SIBERIA.
Deposits of Great Value Worked by
wastcfuI Methods.


report from Thomas Smith. United
States Consul at Moscow. He says thai
in the past three years several American
mining engineers have traversed various
parts of Siberia and Central Asia. Their
testimony is corroborated by that OF other
foreign engineers who have visited the
country-that the lack of exploitation OF
such evident mineral wealth as is found
here is unparalleled in other parts of the
civilized world. OF these resources, gold
is by far the most important. as it is.
curiously enough, the least developed.
Taking the product of the Russian empire
approximately at s25 900, 900 in gold per
year, 1t seems comparatively insignificant.
1t places Russia fifth among the gold pro-
ducers and is but little more than the
present annual gold output of the State
of Colorado. The product Of Siberia in
gold, though small as compared with that
of the United States or the Transvaal. is
yet great enough to make it an important
factor in the worlds economy.
Yet it is almost entirely placer gold.
and the quartz veins and original deposits
of gold. though exposed to view in many
places. both in the Ural Mountains and
Siberia, have been hitherto unworked in
any but the most inefficient manner.
Furthermore antiquated and expensive
methods are in use by even the largest
companies FOR working the placer deposits;
these methods have undergone no improve
ment during the last fifty years. AT nu-
merous mines in Siberia 1000 men and 500
horses are used on a single property to
produce gold not exceeding s2.000.0O0 per
annum. In some cases, as in the platinum
mines OF the Ural, the aforementioned
quota of men and horses is employed for
an output not exceeding sS00,G00 This on
the ground. too, where the employment of
dredges and mechanical excavators is in
all ways feasible, and where oftentimes the
aurifercus gravel could be advantageously
conveyed to the washing machines by wire
rope gravity trans. According to conserv-
alive calculations, If mechanical conveyors
and improved types of sluices were in
stalled in mines in Siberia at present
worked by the old methods, the gold out
put of the Russian Empire would be in
creased at least three times over its pres
ent amount.
For dredging river beds, the method of
placer mining now pursued with such sue
cess in California. Montana, and New Zea-
land. could well be employed in the Sibe-
riah gold fields. 1t may be said that the
miles of auriferous river beds capable of
being so worked numbers tens of thousands
This statement will seem the less improb-
able when II is considered that Siberia is a
country inside of which the whole of the
United States could be placed with plenty
Of room to spare, and that vast portions re-
main UNEMPLOYED, as yet, even by the Rus
sians
OF the quartz deposits in Siberia. ii may
be said that they are entirely undeveloped.
There are probably today not over a dozen
stamp mills operating in the whole coun-
try. and it is doubtful IL over $50 stamps
are dropping. OF the old type of roller
type gold mills, there are also few 1t is
1 significant comment en- the quartz lodges
Of the country to say that even with the
makechift contrivsnces in use the opera
lions frequently pay large profits. Deep
mining is unknown; it is doubtful IL there
IS a single shaft in the limits of the Rus
sian Empire which has penetrated pre-
,ious-metal deposit TO greater depth than
700 feet. So far as known. only one oper-
,tor, Mr.. dc Zelienkoff. mining in Kochtar
md southern Ural. has installed thorough
y up-to-date milling, concentrating. and
.hlorjnation plants.
In the districts along the Yenisei River.
quartz veins with visible free gold and
for lengths varying from a few
TO many thousands of feet may be seen
IN the old placers and penetrating the sur
hills. In the Onon River district,
in the region of the Trans Baikal. quartz
mining of immense masses of ore has been
carried on in desultory and inefficient
manner for several years. In the Ural
Mountains along the river Serebrana is an
immense low-grade lead of auriferous
slate of over 800 feet in width. which, on
being sampled, gave results in gold equal
10 those of the celebrated Treadwell de-
post in Alaska, on Douglas Island. II
cannot be doubted that numbers of such
deposits exist throughout Siberia, afford
ng opportunities for the installation of
arge stamp mills. with accompanying
and reduction plants.
The difficulties OF transporting machinery
o such deposits are much less than gen.
rally supposed. OF high mountains. such
Is the Rockies and Sierra Nevada. Siberia
las practically none. In the Caucasus alone
ire precipitous peaks and high passes As
S we'll known the interior of Siberia is
generated by network Of vast waterways.
'endering inland transportation easy and
heap. Heavy freight can be laid down in
central Siberia. at the majority of the
mines about the Yenisei River. at prices |
lot exceeding $40 ton from New York.
II water transportation is made use OF
ais price may be reduced nearly ore-half |
t is perhaps not generally known that
reight loaded at Hull England is trans
ported via the Arctic Ocean to the mouth |
II the Yenisei River. where being reloaded
o steamers of lighter draft, ii is shipped |
lirect to krasnoyarsk. the crossing point |
II the Trans Siberian Railway. and even !
is far south as Mnus;nsk close 70 the |
'longolian frontier. From San Francisco |
o the gold mines of the Omgoon River. in |
astern Siberia. it is a matter of water
entirely. the route via the !
Amur and Omgoon Rivers being navigabIe /!
o steamers the whole distance TO the |
mines.
The same is true Of many of the rich !
,lacers along the Zeya and Selimga |
iivers, farther up the River Amur Regu- |
ar steamer lines, furnishing excellent ac- |
for passengers. ply during |
he open season from Nicolaieysk. tie |
mouth of the Amur. to Stretensk the |
present terminus of the railway. a dis |
ance of nearly 1000 miles. railway |
which shall almost connect Asia ard |
imerica at the Boring Straits may be |
as of the future. There is, en- |
,ineers say. no obstacle in the way ex |
ept the terrific cold of winter and the !
immense fields of tundra through which |
patch must be cut. A railway lire |
through such a country as northeastern |
siberia will not be so difficult to con-
nd Yukon route.
HoBSoN TALKING AGAIN.