the mild local beers produced all over Germany are coming more and more into favor, not on account of the quality, but because the price is such that these grades of beer are always within reach of the masses. The following will show the difference in price between local and imported beer as it is sold in Eibenstock per quart: Ordinary local, 3 cents; local lager, 7 cents; local white, 10 cents; Munich, II cents; Kulmbach, 12 cents; Pilsen, 14 cents. EIBENSTOCK, GERMANY, July 28, 1903. ERNEST L. HARRIS, RECOVERY OF GOLD IN COMBINATION WITH AND SELENIUM. TELLURIUM (From United States Consul-General Mason, Berlin, Germany.) In compliance with a personal letter dated June 29 from the chief of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, asking for a special report in regard to the most effective process known and practiced in Germany for recovering gold from ores containing also tellurium and selenium, I have to report as follows: Tellurium, which has been known as a primitive element for more than a century, and selenium, which is of more recent discovery, are distinguished in metallurgy as metals which combine chemically with gold. The extraction of gold from telluride and selenic ores is therefore one of the most difficult problems in practical metallurgy. The discovery in recent times of extensive deposits of telluride-gold ores in Western Australia and the United States-notably at Cripple Creek, Colo. has given special importance to this subject, and it has been found on investigation that, so far as can be ascertained, the most improved and effective method known in this country is one perfected and practiced by the London and Hamburg Gold Recovery Company, which has extensive reduction works at Hamburg, with offices at No. 20 Frauenthal in that city. This company works the telluride-selenic ores from Western Australia. Of the process itself it has only been possible to ascertain that it is partially patented and partially held as a secret which the specifications of the patent do not disclose. What is known is that by this process telluride and selenic ores containing gold are pulverized and digested in a solution of cyanide of potash and cyanide of bromium, in proportions of 75 per cent of the former to 25 per cent of the latter The method by which the gold is precipitated from the solution is part of the carefully guarded secret concerning which no information can be obtained, but it is certain that the process recovers 95 to 96 per cent of the gold contained in the ores, and this proportion is often as high as 97 or even 98 per cent. The company, while naturally refusing to disclose further details. of its perfected method, will be willing at any time to make tests of American ores and give exact reports of results. Samples of ore for this purpose should contain not less than 200 pounds. FRANK H. MASON, BERLIN, GERMANY, August 4, 1903. Consul-General. MINERAL OUTPUT OF RUSSIA. (From United States Consul-General Holloway, St. Petersburg, Russia.) The scientific mining committee has just issued a pamphlet containing full statistics on the mining industry in Russia for the year 1900. Iron.—The richest yield was obtained from the iron mines. The total amount of iron ore mined was 6,730,000 tons, out of which 3,233,000 tons of pig iron were smelted. The southern part of European Russia yielded 3,792,000 tons of iron ore; the Ural Mountains, 1,828,500 tons; Poland and the northwest Provinces, 533,000 tons; the Moscow region, 426,000 tons; Finland, 98,300 tons; the northern Provinces, 37,760 tons; Siberia, 10,440 tons; and the Caucasus, 3,900 tons. The total number of men employed in the works was 57,752. Pig iron was smelted at 182 works with 302 high furnaces. Iron was worked at 137 works and steel at 82. The total amount of steel obtained was 2,441,930 tons. Gold. The next ore mined, approaching iron in value, was gold. The total amount of gold sand and dirt washed in Siberia, the Urals, and Finland was 24,615,117 tons, which yielded 2,367.2 poods (85,704 pounds) of gold, valued at 43,797,687 rubles ($22,555,809). The greatest quantity of gold was extracted in eastern Siberia, viz, 1,645.2 poods (59,411 pounds); in the Urals, 539.24 poods (19,472) pounds); and in western Siberia, 152.35 poods (5,500 pounds). The workmen employed in all the gold mines numbered 90,988. Platinum.-The platinum extracted amounted to 310.27 poods (12,204 pounds), valued at 4, 159,625 rubles ($2,142,207). The platinum was extracted exclusively in the Perm Province and chiefly in the Goroblagodatski district. Silver. Of silver 126 poods (4,550 pounds) were mined, and 220.39 poods (7,958 pounds) extracted from gold-smelting labora tories, the total being valued at 86,080 rubles ($44,331). - Copper. Copper ore was mined as follows: Eighty-nine thousand. four hundred and forty tons in the Ural Mountains, 89,000 tons in the Caucasus, 11,695 tons in the Kirghiz Steppes, and 6,517 tons in Finland. It was worked at 21 works, of which there were 10 in the Caucasus, 5 in the Urals, 3 in the Kirghiz Steppes, 2 in the Altai Mountains, and 1 in Finland. Lead.—Of lead 243 tons, valued at 33,700 rubles ($17,355), were smelted at 3 works and 1 mine. The Altai and Nerchinsk districts and the Kirghiz works handled each about one-third of the whole. Zinc. The smelting of zinc took place, as heretofore, exclusively in the Bendin district of the Petrokov Province (Poland), wherein 6,571 tons of zinc, valued at 1,274,000 rubles ($656,110), were produced. Mercury.-Mercury was extracted in the Bakhmut district of the Ekaterinoslav Province, where there are layers of cinnabar, from which 98,790 tons of ore were obtained, and 336 tons of mercury smelted in the works established near the layer. Cinnabar was also extracted in the Daghestan district and in the Caucasus. The total amount of mercury obtained was valued at 830,000 rubles ($427,450). Manganese. In 1900 Russia produced 884,200 tons of manganese, which, it is claimed, is the largest amount produced by any country in the world. The output was valued at 1,960,000 rubles ($1,009,400). The mineral was obtained from 372 mines, viz, 728,700 tons from the mines in the Kutais Province and 155,300 tons from those in the Ekaterinoslav Province. Tin.-The only tin smelted in Russia was at Wiborg, in Finland, where the output amounted to 9,389 pounds. Naphtha. The total yield of naphtha amounted to 11,439,245 tons, valued at 99,470,000 rubles ($51,227,050). As heretofore, it was chiefly obtained in the Province of Baku (Apsheron Island), yielding 95.2 per cent of the whole production, the Transcaspian and the Fergan regions yielding the remainder. Coal. The output of coal amounted to 15,908,500 tons, valued at 82,193,000 rubles ($42,329,395), of which pit coal amounted to. 14,642,340 tons; anthracite, to 1,139,494 tons; and brown coal, to 126,666 tons. The percentages of carbon in these grades is given as 94 in the anthracite, 84 in the pit, and 60 in the brown. The coal was mined in the following districts: Donetzk region...... Poland..... Ural Moscow region Eastern Siberia Tomsk ..... Caucasus... Kirghiz Steppes. All other...... Total........ Tons. 10, 833, 093 4,061, 700 359, 200 284,055 138,382 74, 610 63,304 61, 156 33,000 15, 908, 500 In addition to the foregoing, the Donetzk region produced 2, 198,920 tons of coke, the Ural 10,723 tons, and Siberia 173 tons. Salt.-Salt was mined at the Iletzk mines in the Province of Orenburg, and in the Ekaterinoslav, Erivan, Taurida, Astrakhan, Kherson, Perm, Tomsk, and Bessarabian Provinces, as well as in the Karsk, Transcaspian, and Semipalatinsk region. The total amount of salt mined was 2,168,700 tons, valued at 7,810,000 rubles ($4,022,150). Asphalt.-Asphalt was worked, as heretofore, chiefly in the neighborhood of the town of Syzran, Province of Simbirsk, on the right bank of the Volga, partly in the Caucasus, the Transcaspian, and the Fergan regions. The total amount of raw asphalt and neftdegil produced was 27,649 tons, and 2,370 tons of mineral tar. Sulphur.-Six layers of sulphur-five in the Caucasus and one in Poland-produced 1,750 tons. Asbestos. -Asbestos was taken from the Ural Mountains, in the Province of Perm, to the amount of 4,944 tons. Phosphorites.—Phosphorites to the amount of 28,280 tons were produced in the Provinces of Bessarabia, Podolia, Kostroma, and Smolensk. Glauber's salt.-Glauber's salt was produced in the Provinces of Tiflis and Tomsk and in the Transbaikal region to the amount of 5,550 tons. Kaolin. Kaolin was produced in the Provinces of Ekaterinoslav, Chernigov, Volhynia, Kief, and Kherson to the amount of 36,170 tons. INCREASE IN MINERAL OUTPUT. Comparing the figures of the mining industry of 1900 with those of recent years, it is evident that the mining of coal, salt, manganese, asbestos, sulphur, phosphorites, kaolin, and the naphtha by-products, as well as the smelting of pig iron, copper, and steel, show an increase, while the platinum, iron, silver, lead, zinc, and mercury industries show a decreased output. The working of gold was without change. The mining industry in Russia is gradually progressing. The following figures of the last ten years show the number of men employed in mining works of the Empire: MINERAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. But the home needs of the Empire are not satisfied by the home products. The reports of the customs department show that the import continues on all products of mining, except platinum, mercury, manganese, and naphtha. The imports of mineral products during 1900 are reported to have amounted to 86,475,783 rubles ($44,535,140) and the exports to 56,142,656 rubles ($28,913,645). The proportion between the imports and exports of the different products of the mining industries during 1900 is as follows: (From United States Commercial Agent Beutelspacher, Moncton, Canada.) Mr. E. D. Ingall, head of the miners' bureau of the Canadian geological survey, says: The total production of pig iron in Canada in 1902 from Canadian and foreign ores amounted to 357,903 tons, valued at $4,243,545, of which it is estimated 71,665 tons, valued at $1,043,011, should be attributed to Canadian ore and 286,238 tons, valued at $3,200,534, to the ore imported. The respective columns give quantity and value of product marketed. The ton used is that of 2,000 pounds; the copper contents of ore, matte, etc., at 11.626 cents per pound; the lead shows contents of ores, etc., at 4.069 cents per pound; the nickel shows nickel contents of ore, matte, etc., at 47 cents per pound; the silver contents of ore are valued at 52.16 cents per The coke is oven coke, all the production of Nova Scotia and British ounce. |