The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-02-07
WORLDS GOLD MINES
MANY OF THEM YIELD EAbo
LoUs AMOUNTS OF PRE-
!, CIOUS METAL. %
Wealth Extracted for the Owners
From the Homestake OF DAKOTA
Cripple Greek District one
s ~ the Richest on Earth.

London Economist. A..
world is the Homestake. in South Dako-
IA. 1t is one OF the poorest. relatively as
the ore only yields about 10 snilllngs
ton. hut as against this the costs are
orIy "a shillings a ton. At present the
quantity of ore treated a year is over
/ 400 900 tons; that is, with 900 stamps, but
900 more are going to be added. The
output from Homestake now Is over 20, 600
ounces fine gold month, but in year
or two 1t should be good deal more.
About three miles from Homestake is
mine called Golden Reward, which also
is entirely owned by Americans. This
mine is now producing not much more
than 10000 pounds month, but in year
or two 1 expect this will be greatly in
creased. If the figures shown me at this
mine were correct 1t has the potentiali-
ties Of another Homestake.
There are a number of mines which
earn, better profits than Homestake, but
none which approaches 1t in size. The
next largest is Alaska Treadwell, on
Douglas island. This mine has $40
stamps, but all Of these can only run for
part of the year. owing to scarcity or
water. We may place the average yearly
output at 100000 tons. This ore yields
barely shillings a ton. which shows
Alaska Treadwell to be the lowest grade
exceptional facilities the total working
costs are only shillings a ton. AS an
actual producer Of gold the TreadweH
stands far down the list, but the mine is
today In probably a sounder condition
than ever before. 1t has paid 1OOo,OOJ
pounds in dividends.
Before leaving. the States we may note
the other big gold producers there. At
Cripple Creek there is the Portland mine.
turning out about $1,000 a month, but ]
imagine the lower workings are not look
ing well, and this, yield will not be, con-
tinued Indefinitely. Adjoining this Is
STATIONS Independence, also big pro-
ducer. but as this mine is practically
worked out need not take note of It, The
other big Colorado gold mine is Camp
Bird. turning out about $4,000 pounds
month. This mine has good ore re-
serves. In Mexico there Is no mine pro-
ducing regularly 50 much as this, but
next year the FL Orc, with 200 stamps
running. should reach an output of nearly
5000 pounds monthly.
In West Australia there are six mines
with yields which bring them into the
first rank of gold producers. These are
Boulder. Perseverance,, Golden Horseshoe,
Great Fingall, Great Boulder, Ivanhoe
and Oroya- Brownhill. and in each there
are ore reserves which assure the present
yield, or perhaps even bigger one, for
years to come.
The two big Indian mines, Champion
Reef and Mysore, are now in the front
rank of gold producers. The smaller
mines adjoining them. Ooregum and
Nundydoog, are not likely to rival them
but two such great mines are a good
average for one country. 1 should
Imagine that each mine has now reached
its maximum production or thereabout:
neither has got that amount of ore re-
serve. proportionate to its market value,
which l consider mine ought to have
Dut as against this the development in
depth continues to be good.
Deposits in the Transvaal.
In the Transvaal you have the curious
feature of dozens of great gold minee
working at half their capacity for want
OF labor. This is a temporary affair.
which does not affect the real capacity
of these mines, so l have assumed that
they are producing on the basis of the
year 1S99-when they had sufficient la
Dor supply. On this estimate there are
seventeen TranSvaal mines among the
thirty biggest gold producers of the
world and the balance is made up by six
mines in West Australia, three in the
United States, two in India, one in
Queensland and one in New Zealand. all
these, let IL be noted. are in the terrific
ries of and are controlled by English
speaking people OF the seventeen Trans
Vaal mines ten are out crops, six are first
row deeps and one is a second row deep
In the world of gold-mining exact
knowledge is just as important and is
just as difficult to acquire as in anything
else. 1t is astonishing even how few min
ing people know that the Homestake is
the biggest gold producer in the world
for 1 suppose 1 have seen the newspa-
perS of at least a dozen countries or min
ing camps assign that place to their own
local big mine. The greatest gold mine,
too. is claimed for probably twenty To-
calities, although l think, taking its past
present and future into consideration,
that Mount Morgan still holds that title
But when someone who ought to know
what he is talking about claims that
some new mine which is little known and
probably lies by itself in a strange and
inaccessible country, is really the finest
gold mine in the world it is then that my
interest is aroused. 1 am always hearing
about this-Shall 1 call it fabulous? -sort
of mine. which at present makes no fig
ure among the big mines, but which
looks as If, when developed, it might
take a place with the very greatest.
Mines of the Future.
And there really are such mines-per-
haps six or eight at present -.nown over
the whole wide area of the world. There
are three of these about which know,
and their undoubted great possibilities
have fired my imagination. These are the
Dos Estrellas in Mexico, the Santo Do
mingo, belonging to the Inca ComparR
in Paris and the Redjang Lebong in SUI
matra. The elements of greatness belong,
too. although on a more modest basis, to
the Tasmania mine in the island of that
name and to the Oriental mine in Corea.
These names are hardly known to the
vulgar throng and the mines do not rank
with the great producers. but the Dos
Estrellas is valued by it's Mexican owners
at millions of pounds. The Santo Do
mingo was last year producing 500
ounces a month with five stamps; the
Redjang has an ore chute 1000 feet long,
twelve feet thick, worth 6 pounds a ton;
the Tasmania, now wrestling with an inn
mense flow of water. has at 1900 feet,
a lode of almost similar value and size,
and the Oriental has 200 stamps at work
in the Corean forests and over a million