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Show GOLD OUTPUT INCREASING Impioved Treatment of Ores Mainly Responsible for Greater Supply. Not all of this great Increase in the gold production of Ihe world has Itoen due to d'pcoverles of new gold deposits A Very considerable portion of it Is the result of Improved methods of treating ores The cyanide process alone hax furnished an appreciable part of the gain and other methods of working and treatment of oT'-s have done their share No um:ill portion of the output of lfhVl came from gold mines which had been abandoned at an earlier date as not payable, but the operation of which has been renewed under improved methods. This Is the case not onlv In the I'nlted States, where the advance in metallurgy hns been very great, hut sImj in other countries, in western Australia wlnu e mi. i essful treatment of the ores In some of the largest mines now in operation presented problems which were at IlrM tegarded as difficult of solution These Improvements in mining and benr-Mentlon oj ores Will doubtless continue to have (heir effect for years to come and will aid In k'oplng up the gold production even should no extensive new deposits ie discovered. dis-covered. There Is every reason to look for a maintenance of the present rati of output for several years at lewst: nf any rate, no great decrease Is probable. Where the next great development. ,u.. lo come from la of course, uncertain but the most probable direction seems t. be In the mines of South America, which have heretofore h e i worker on m verj small scale and which for a number of vr-ars paM have actually prodm-id lessor less-or a( least not more than thej did In the early days c.f Spanish settlement and . ploitatlon. Eastern -Vsia also holds out he promise of Increased yields. Undoubtedly this large increase in the production of the precious metal hai been one and a I- adlug one among the manv complex causes which have brought about the present great activity In trade and manufacture all over the w..i!d That such an advance has been made. In spite of the waste ind devastation i.'iusid by the Boer war In South Africa anrl by the recent war In the Kast. Is In great part due to the extraordinary supplies of gold which have bee), available for trade A similar expansion of trade activity was witnessed after the Ca llfornlan and Australian discoveries. At the present time it Is much greater than it was then owing largely to the extraordinary Improvement Im-provement In methods of communication and manufacture all ov er the world This subject is an extremely attractive and suggestive one for discussion, hut Its proper consideration would require far more space than we are ahle to devote to It Engineering and Mining Journal. |