The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-11-10
BUSINESS OF GOLD MINING

That mining is "coming to its own"
is evidenced by the tone of the larger
dailies of the east and middle west,
says the Mining World. "Modern
SCIENCE according to one, "is effac-
ing the romantic, adventurous and
speculative features from the bust
ness of gold mining. Formerly gold
hunters went forth equipped with tools
to dig their fortunes from the earth
with their own hands. The individual
miner and his pick and cradle are be-
ing rapidly displaced by costly labor
saving machinery. Gold mining was
formerly a lottery. 1t was probable
that the argonaut would make no
strike at all, but he was lured on by
the chance that he might make a rich
one. At present gold mining in many
places returns more certain profits
than a mandatory. The two scientific
methods which are Transforming the
industry of gold mining are the cyan
ide process, which is employed in the
working of gold bearing quartz, and
the application of the dredge to the
development of placer mines. The lat
ter possesses the greater possibilities
and is therefore the more interesting.
Because of the large amount of labor
required it has always been impractical
BILE to work any but the richer portions
of a placer by hand, but it has been
found profitable to exploit by means of
the dredge placers containing less than
10 cents worth of gold to cubic yard
of gravel. Placers containing this
much or more gold abound in many
parts of the world. Numbers of them
have been partially worked by hand
and abandoned when they ceased to
"pan OUT well. They are especially
numerous in the United States, Central
and South America, Australia and ST.
IBERIA. The present gold output of the
earth is about 100000 per day. 1t
is predicted that in consequence of the
introduction of the method of dredging
clean" placers the output will within
the next ten years be at least doubled.
The effect which so enormous an in
crease in the gold production will have
upon the industry and finance of the
world is a subject for interesting and
by no means wholly academic specula-
ton. The increase in the production
of gold and silver which followed the
discovery of the rich mines of America
caused during the sixteenth century a
decline in the value of those metals
in Europe which Adam Smith estimat-
ed at &c 2-3 per cent. They never rose
or declined with anything like equal
rapidity before or since, but of course
every considerable alteration in their
rate or cost of production is bound,
other things equal, to nave a proper
~tionate effect upon their value. But
gold is now the basis of the financial
system of every civilized country, and
every reduction in its value must tend
to raise prices and scale down debts
all over the world. Fortunately the
value of gold depends not only upon
the rapidity and cost of it's production,
but also upon the demand for it, and
as the wealth of the world as a whole
is augmenting at an unprecedented
rate the demand for gold both as n
luxury and in the form of money is
bound rapidly to increase. While,
therefore, increasing supply is tending
to pull the value down, Increasing de-
mand will tend to pull it up, and it
will be subject to no fluctuations 90
violent as seriously to affect existing
conditions"