OCR Text |
Show ALASKA GOLD MINING OPERATIONS DECREASE "WASHINGTON". Dec. 4. Twenty-five gold-lode mines were operated in Alaska in 1918. according to the United States geological survey, department of the interior. in-terior. There was also a production from seven prospects abandoned minc3 or small mines that were not in reyu'ar operation. The value of the lode-gold output decreased from $4.5il.4:.3 in li' 1 7 to $3,473,317 in 101 S. owing partly to the disaster at the Treadwell mine in April, 1917, and partly to curtailment of operations, opera-tions, especially in the Juneau district, because of shortage of labor. Southeastern Alaska, especially the Juneau Ju-neau district, is still the only center of large quartz mining operations in the territory. Next in importance is the Willow Wil-low Creek lode district. The production in the Fairbanks district decreased materially, ma-terially, as the lode-mine owners of Fairbanks Fair-banks are still awaiting- the cheapening of operating costs, especially of fuel, which is expected on the completion of the government railroad. In 1918 the average value of the gold and silver contents for all siliceous ores mined was $1.70 a ton; the average for 1917 was $1.37 a ton. These averages reflect re-flect the dominance in the total lode production pro-duction of the large tonnage produced from the low-grade ores of the Juneau district. |