SOVIET GOLD

Evening Star, Issue 21994, 2 April 1935, Page 7

SOVIET GOLD

EXPANSION IN INDUSTRY SECOND TO THE TRANSVAAL. Over tlic past five or six years the Government of Soviet Russia has taken great pains to develop the gold industry within its territories (states a London ‘ Times ’ correspondent). Complete figures of production have not been published since 1927, but it is estimated that the output for 1933 was about 120,000 kilograms (about 4,000,000 ounces). This is double the prewar output and 42.4 per cent, larger titan in 1932. The expansion has taken place during a period when the output of the other principal gold-producing countries has tended to decline, and it is claimed that the 1933 production places Russia next in importance to the Transvaal in world production. The methods by which this marked expansion has been brought about are intensive prospecting, favourable legislative policy, and improved technical equipment. The extent to_ which prospecting has been intensified is illustrated by the fact that there are now about 2,509 prospecting expeditions at work, whereas in the years immediately before the War the number was about 100. A number of new goldbearing areas have been discovered. A survey ot the. regions now claimed to be gold-bearing suggests that the metal is present in the greater part of the entire territory of Soviet Russia, the richest areas being in Northern Turkestan, the southern part of Western Siberia, and in Eastern Siberia. . The expansion of the gold-producing industry is important not only from the economic point of view, but also because of its effect on the general policy of the Soviet Union. The Government has been able to pay off several of its short-term credits by gold exports, while there is little doubt that a gold reserve fund is being built up as a provision for times of national emergency.-