RED GOLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 3 February 1930, Page 8

RED GOLD

WHAT THE WORLD HAS PRODUCED £4,000,000,000 SINCE COLUMBUS SMALL PBOPORTION IN COIN A total of 1,003/300,000 ounces of goia, worth about £4,000,000,000, have beep produced throughout the world since the. discovery of America, If cast in a cube, this muss would make a block 38.5 feet oh each edge. 1 Only 407,000,000 ounce sof the metal exist in monetary stocks, valued lit £187,000.0110, the rest having been lost or absorbed in other than monetary uses. These are some of the facts dealt with in an economic review of world gold production between 1493 and 1027 just completed by Robert A. Bingo'way and his staff of the common metals division of (lie British Columbia Bureau of Mines. Sco'tl Turner, the director, said that scattered production of gold not included in the report would not add more than 1 per cent, to the total estimated production. More than half the grand total of production reported, or 51(5,273,000 ounces, was produced iir\ the first twenty-seven years of the 20th century. United States production hi (he period covered by. the survey has 1 amounted to £900,000,000. AIDED CIVILISATION "]( might, well be questioned whether this gold, considered merely as a metal characterised by certain properties, could-he worth'the toil and sacrifice required for* its production," said Mr Turner, "but as a basis of exchange greatly facilitating the development of commerce among the peoples of the earth, its value to / civilisation exceeds all reckoning. . ... ~ .. "in spite of a. superficial claim often made that gold does, not pay its cost of production, it can hardly, be doubted that United States gold production must have been an important factor in assisting the development of other sources of national wealth. , .

"The British Empire production from the Transvaal, from 1901 to 1927, of more than 198,000,000 ounces; from Australasia, of more than 168,000,000; from Canada, of nearly, 32,000,000 ounces; from India and Rhodesia to-1 gether, 32,000,000 ounces; and from other parts of the British Empire, of 12,000,000 ounces, amounting in all, since 1801, to 442,994,308 ounces, or about £1,800,000,000, should be reckoned an important factor in the prosperity of the Empire." . LED THE CONTINENTS . Iti the world production of gold fronV 1493 to 1927, North America wag the largest producing continent, contributing 281,050,039 ounces, or 28 per cent, with Africa a close second, contributing 270,127,140 ounces, or 27 per cent, of the world total. . »' Australasia produced nearly 169,000,000 ounces, or 17 per cent.; South America nearly 125,000,000 ounces, or. 12 per cent,; Asia 112,000,000 ounces,, or 11 per cent.; and Europe nearly 44.000,000 ounces, or 4 per cent. Until the gold rush in California in 1850, when the world production of gold began to mount rapidly, South America was the most important world source of gold, 80 per cent, of the supply coining from that source in the 18th century. But with the last half duction began to come from North of the 19th century, the hulk of pjoAmerica and Australasia, the former producing 36 per cent, and the latter. 31 per cent, of the total. During the present century, however, Africa has assumed the lead in production, furnishing 42 per cent, of the gold supply. North America was second, with "20 per cent., and Australasia third, with 13 per cent., Asia, South America and Europe follow in that order. CANADA CATCHING UP In total production since 1498, the Transvaal also leads, having contributed 219,000,000 ounces, or 22 per cent. The United States is second with 214.000,000 ounces, or 21 ppr cent; Australia and New Zealand, 17 per cent; Russia 9. Colombia 5, Brazil 4 and Canada and Mexico 3 per cent. each. . Gold production, the report showed, was insignificant in the. United States until 1848, the total production.to that time being only 1,800,000 ounces. With the discovery of gold in California, the United States had assumed.the lead in gold production. by 1849, production in the next six years being multiplied 73 times. ~ The report said that the United States had been the second largest gold producer since 1905, when the Transvaal fields opened in 1888, took the lead, but it was predicted that with the present trends continuing, Canada may soon outstrip the United States. Its production in. 1927 was.Bs per cent, of that of the. United Slates.