Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1906-08-18
Opportunities in TIN Mining.

| lllete ls III lDe prices OF non metallic
comm odities. With metals as with other
commodities, the prices now ruling are
due in part to the depreciation in the
standard of value
But to some extent with all metals,
and in marked degree with some, high
er prices result from the failure Of pro-
duction to keep pace with demand. Old
forms Of building and construction call
for continually larger support, while
new uses are all the time adding TO the
number of bidders in the metal market
Antimony is selling for three or four
times its price a number Of years ago !;
the same is true of tin the production
of copper is rapidly increasing, but not
so rapidly as the demand.
Opportunities in copper mining have
not escaped the eyes of capital The
demand for the metal and the new role
copper ore is playing in smelling make
copper mines attractive investments.
Opportunities in tin mining have aD-
parently been overlooked. Although
this country is the largest consumer of
the metal, t produces practically none.
Yet with the same economy that is APP
piled in handling low.grade, free mill
ing gold ores, American tin deposits
could be made to yield more than salts.
factory profits at present prices. There
are no metallurgical problems to be
solved. The methods that have been
successful in gold mining are applicable
| also in tin mining.
In 1896 tin was quoted in the English
market at $40 per ton. 1t is now quot.
ed ia the same market at about $3.50 per
ton. Sudden fluctuations have carried
it as high as Sl042 The commercial
problems arising out of the increasing
demands for tin and copper are attract
ing good deal of attention, both in this
country and in Europe. The trade
prices at are said to seriously restrict
many industries which largely use these
metals.
Although part of the advance in the
prices of tin and copper which have
been witnessed of late has been due to
speculative operations, much has been
genuine and has been caused by rapidly
increasing consumption. In 1850 the
worlds production of copper was $4,000
tons. In 1890 it had increased to l70,
600 tons. AT present > is over 100000
tons, so that copper production has more
than quadrupled within twenty-five
years. The United States now supplies
81 per cent of the worlds output and
Mexico is next with IL per cent. In
1880 the world produced $4,000 tons of
tin, and in 1890, $4,000 tons. In 1900 the
production exceeded $4,000 tons, and for
the past five years has averaged more
than 10000 tons. At the present time
so per cent of the worlds output comes
from the federated Malay states, II per
cent from Bolivia Is per cent from the
Dutch East indies, per cent from Aus
tralia, 8 per cent from Wales and 7 per
CtuJ iToin tllltT countries.
Experience has proved that largely
increased quantities of copper and tin
are required. Copper production has
considerably increased within the past
five years but tin production has not in
creased much within the same period.
The fact that gold production through.
Nnt tha unrll Al Al. l..
fifteen yesrs naturally tends to heighten
the prices of metal in general and indi-
Gates that the high prices are not merely
temporary.
The fact that 80 per cent of the pro-
duction now comes from the Malay
states, and that the labor question is be-
coming more difficult there, has some
effect on the prices. Recently the cul-
tivation of coffee has been successfully
established in some parts of the Malay
states which were formerly considered
good tin districts. 1t does not appear
that the Straits production of tin can in
crease in the future as it has done in the
Pt1Sb b"Nbhy Soi ct anu ~ 10 CNth QOuON-
ful whether the present output can be
kept up The production of Bolivia has
increased OF late, and in smaller degree
Australia may likewise yield larger
quantities of tin.
The African tin fields, so systematical.
ly and thoroughly Doomed" during the
past year, are pronounced by the Lon
don Times failure, and no other new
deposits have been reported. Tin min
| ing in Great Britain has dwindled to
very small proportions. The output of
Cornish mines aggregated l0,200 tons of
tin in 1870, which has fallen in 1900 to
200 tons. The London Times says in a
dispatch from Sheffield that the diff.
Guilty in obtaining tin at profitable rates
is shown by the fact that manufacturers
are finding it cheaper to melt down old
stock. Ton of teapots, dish covers and
other articles of patterns for which there
is now little sale, are being melted and
used up again in preference to purcbas-
ing tin at present prices. The Times
also says that nearly the whole of the
tin plate works at Swansea have been
stopped, and the few which are kept CO.
ing will close for week in August
Stocks have been reduced at Swansea on
June 10 to l62,5l5 boxes as compared
with 237 ,026 boxes year ago.
|
| Rev. p. Nj. Smock Of Hot Springs and
| C. ID. Harris, the cashier of one Of the
banks of that place, have purchased the
Times Herald, formerly owned by the
late Ed. s. Ames, who was killed by the
cars there short time ago. Rev.
| Smnck will do The eliinrial work ON the