Show washington oct SO george E roberts the director of the mint has prepared a statement of the worlds production ot gold and silver for the calendar year 1904 it is as follows the figures being respectively first gold values second silver in commercial value this statement blows bold valued at an aggregate of fine ounces of sll er of a commercial value ot silver to talling the coinage value of which is north america gold silver united states mexico canada africa allasia europe russia austria hung germany norway sweden italy spain greece turkey france great britain south america argentina bolivia chile colombia ecuador brazil venezuela british guiana dutch guinea tk french guinea peru uruguay 2300 central am asia japan china korea siam india B east indies D east indies these figures show an incase of about in gold over the bureaus estimate tor the calendar year 1903 the united states shows a gain of about and south africa of the directors say that both of these countries are still upon a rising scale of production australia on the other hand Is an important producer which shows a tendency to reduce its contribution although the tailing off Is not large and may be temporarily considering developments in well known fields it seems a reasonable forecast to expect the worlds output in to exceed that of 1904 by with another gain probably jn 1906 in view of the current discussion upon the influence of the increasing gold supplies upon commodity prices and wages the bureau has been at some pains to collect data to show the influence of higher costs upon the gold mining industry itself the director says assuming that new ofa gold should come upon tag markets so much faster thau thoy can be absorbed in natural expansion of business thai a new relation is between gold and commodities of course the costs of gold production would rise the mine owner would have to give more of his product in exchange for the labor and supplies required to operate his property tho effect of rising costs upon the production of gold would depend upon the marginal profits of the industry which vary with almost every mind in every mining district producing at small profits mines largely paying expenses and mines operated at a loss but with the hope that they will do belter every increase in coat would su merge the latter more deeply and ail to the list of the unprofitable and close some of them the conclusion reached as chatal th atAl though some items of cosla have increased the tendency on the whole is still downward improvements in mechanical appliances and metallurgical methods have so far more than offset the influences malting for higher costs the report says the most important sold field in the world is that of the transvaal and tor that the data for working coats and profits is quite incomplete the output for 1904 was produced by seventy four companies their working profits after paying the ten per cent tax on profits to the government are reported at the amount actually divided in dividends was only thirty five companies paid dividends imbese producing seventy per cent odthe total the cost of production per ton of rock handled was practically the same aa in west australia produced in 1903 in gold of which egx por cent was by twenty our reporting companies and these companies paid la or 35 per cent of their products in 1904 the total yield of all austral asia was and the dividends by listed companies amounted to those figures for dividends vi be con sider ably increased if the net profits of privately operated properties could be added the tendency oe costs la reported as still downward the gold field of india Is one of small area with a few large producers its yield in 1904 was tour companies producing about ot this paid dividends amounting to about in the united states the conditions vary widely with districts and minea and it Is difficult to give any figures tor coats and profits of general significance ance the homestake Home stake mine in the black hills has produced and paid in dividends the treadwell mine a great producer of extremely low grade ores haa realized about 40 per cent of its product in profits the cripple creek district has been estimated by tho and mining journal and the colorado springs mining stock association to have produced to january 1 1903 these figures include the estimate of the state bureau of mines since they became available in 1897 the mining inventor gives the amount paid in publicly announced i dividends by incorporated companies as approximately and tays this would be materially increased by the profits of individual operators and leaders leasers lea sers in all fields an important percentage of the output has come from properties that have not yielded a profit and large expenditures have been made in prospecting which have never yielded any returns A striking demonstration 0 this willingness to spend money in hunting for the precious metals la shown by the historic lode of twenty eight important companies operated on this lode from 1859 to 1902 ave were successful paying dividends aggregating with assessments aggregating the stockholders of the other twenty three paid in assessment and received in dividends A great joany other companies and a great ganv individual prospectors made expenditures in that vicinity of which record was made the total output in gold and silver of the comstock lo 10 january 1 1902 estimated to hae been and the total dividends such disregard of is doubtless due to the fact that so many apo plo inexperienced in einings are willing to try their luck by buying shares which represent ventures in a district rich deposits have been found in such a locality a alna that will partly pay expenses will pass through many before it is finally abandoned nevertheless it must be assumed that a higher scale of working costs will bring such experiments to an earlier conclusion reduce profits and make mining ventures less attractive |