GOLD The gold output of the world previous to the Spanish discovery and exploitation of the Americas was quite small—of the order of Ioo,000 oz. annually, about one-third of which was produced in Europe and two-thirds in Africa, Asia apparently contributing very little. As a measure of magnitude in comparison with modern outputs, attention might be called to the fact that this was the average daily output in 1938. After the Spanish conquest of South America, production increased, and during the 16th century is estimated to have averaged more than double the preceding out put, though it must be remembered that much of the gold brought back to Europe at this time was from stocks accumulated over a long period by the Indians, and not new mine output. During this century the world production was approximately 35% each from Africa and South America, 21% from Europe, and most of the remainder from Mexico. The development of gold production in the various important producing areas of the world is shown in an accompanying table ; it is to be noted that the dates shown are those when the area in question became a producer of important amounts, and that in many cases minor outputs had been main tained for longer or shorter periods previous to this date. As time passed, gold production has gradually spread to new areas until nearly every country has some output, current production being reported from something like 85 countries or colonial possessions, although more than 7o% of the current output is derived from South Africa, Russia, Canada, and the United States, all of which have appeared in the list of producers within the past century.
Since 1493 the aggregate gold output of the world to the end of 1938, as estimated from various sources, has totalled nearly 1,300,000,000 oz. (equivalent to about 400,00o metric tons), the latter half of which has been produced in the amazingly short pe riod of 3o years, as against 416 years for the first half. As shown by the table, p. 873, the distribution by centuries has been 1.8% in the 16th, 2.2% in the 17th, 4.7% in the 18th, 28.9% in the 19th, and 62.4% since the beginning of the loth century. South Amer ica passed its peak of production in the 18th century, and in the 19th century was far surpassed by the United States, Australia and Russia, while the current century has seen South Africa forge to the front, with the United States second, Australia third, and Russia fourth, and Canada fifth, while the Japanese Empire takes sixth place. These six producers are the only ones with cur
rent annual outputs in excess of i,000,000 oz., and combined ac count for 75% of the total output, with the remaining 25% di vided among some 8o minor producers.
Alluvial mining was formerly the chief source of gold ; from 1848 to 1875 it has been estimated that 88% of the output was alluvial, and only 12% from lode mines; by 1890 alluvial gold had dropped to 45%, lode gold had increased to 47%, and 8% was supplied by the recently discovered banket deposits of the Trans vaal; the latter continued to increase heavily, to a maximum in 1928-29, when it reached 53% of the total, while alluvial gold shrunk to about 6%, and lode gold to about 41%; in 1938 banket ores furnished 33% of the total, and both alluvial and lode per centages had increased, but no data are available on which an esti mate can be based.
The British Empire has for several years been producing about 57% of the world gold output, a decline from the high of 73% in 1929. The chief Empire producers, with their percentages of the 1938 world total are: South Africa (34%) ; Canada (12%) ; Aus tralia (4%) ; Southern Rhodesia (2.3%) ; Gold Coast (i.6%) India (i%) ; New Guinea (o.6%) ; and New Zealand (0.5%).
From 1915 to 1922 there was a decline in world gold production of nearly one-third, partly due to rising costs of operation, and partly to exhaustion of mines; during the later 1920's there was some improvement, but in many quarters the opinion was held that the 1915 high was the zenith of production from the then known areas, and hope for further increase depended on new dis coveries. This view, however, failed to foresee the stimulating effect that was later to result from the wholesale abandonment of a fixed price for gold, which was inaugurated by Great Britain in 1931, and gradually spread throughout the world. With the ad vantage of an increased currency price for their product, gold mines were able not only to meet the rising cost of production, but even to work a much lower grade of ore than had been pos sible before this change, and as a result the world output has grown each year, the total for 1938 having surpassed the former 1915 high by 63.5%, with only a small proportion of the increase coming from newly discovered areas. During the course of this rise, the former standard price of approximately 85s. per ounce in London and $20.67 in the United States increased gradually to 168s. in London and $35 in the United States at the end of 1939.