Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-04-06
WORLDS BIC GOLD MINES.
South Dakota Has the Biggest, Then
Come Australia, India, Trans
wall and Mexico.

The biggest gold producing mine in
the world is the Homestake, in South
Dakota, says the London Economist. 1t
Is II of the poorest, relatively, as the
ore only yields about lbs a ton; but as
against this the costs are only los a ton.
At present the quantity Of ore treated a
year is over 1,400 900 tons; that is, with
900 stamps, but 200 more are going to De
added. The output from Homestake now
is over 10000 ounces fine gold a month,
but in a year or two it should be a good
deal more. About three miles from
Homestake is a mine called Golden Re-
ward, which also is entirely owned by
Americans. This mine is now p%orducing
not much more than EGO, 600 a month,
but in a year or two | expect this will
be greatly increased. If the figures
| shown me at this mine were correct, it
has the potsntialities of another Home
stake.
In west Australia there are six mines
with yields which bring them into the
first rank of geld producers. These are
Boulder, Perseverance, Golden Horse
shoe, Great Fingall, Great Boulder, Ivan
hoe and Oroyan-Brownhill; and in each
there are ore reserves which assure the
present yield, or perhaps even a 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
~Nundydroog, are not likely to rival
them; but two such great mines are a
good average for one country. l 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 a mine ought to have,
but as against this the developments in
depth continue to be good.
In the Trapsvaal you nave the curious
feature of dozens of great gold mines
working at half their capacity for want
of labor. That is a temporary affair,
which does not affect the real capacity of
these mines, so / have assumed that they
are producing on the basis of the year
1899-when they had a sufficient labor
supply. On this estimate there are II
Transvaal mines among the 80 biggest
gold producers of the world, and the bal
ance 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 it be noted,
are in the territories of and are con-
trolled by English speaking people. OF
| the II Transvaal 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
mining people know thatthe Homestake
is the biggest gold producer in the world,
for l suppose l have seen the newspapers
of at least a dozen countries or mining
camps assign that place to their own
local big mine. The greatest" gold
mine, too, is claimed for probably 20
localities, although, l think, taking its
past, present and future into considera-
ton, that Mount Morgan still holds that
title. But when some one 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. l
am always hearing about this-shall :
call it fabulous ?"-sort of mine, which
at present makes no figure among the
/ I~;r xo;no1 hut nhinh lDOGc DC ~ Wbon
developed, it might take a place with the
very greatest.
And there really are such mines
perhaps six or eight at present known
over the whole wide area of the world.
There are three of these about which |
know, and their undoubted great posi-
bilities have fired my imagination. These
are the Dos Estrellas in Mexico, the San
to Domingo, belonging to the Inca COM
pany in Peru, and the Redjang Lebong
in Sumatra. 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 yet rank with the great
producers; but the Dos Estrellas is
valued by its Mexican owner at millions
of pounds. The Santo Domingo was last
year producing 5000 ounces a month,
with five stamps; the Redjang Lebong
has an ore chute 1000 feet long, II feet
thick, worth e6 a ton; the Tasmania.
now wrestling with an immense flow of
-
water, has at 1000 feet a lode of almost
similar value and size, and the Oriental
has 200 stamps at work in the Corean
forests, and over a millions tons of ore
blocked out!