8. MINERAL INDUSTRY IN LATIN AMERICA. The known mineral riches of Latin America exceed those of any other part of the globe so far explored. The entire sup ply of the world's bismuth comes from Bolivia; by far the largest supply of thorium is fur nished by the monazite sands of Brazil; the unparalleled nitrate deposits of Chile supply practically all of the world's consumption of nitric acid, and quite all of its consumption of iodine; Colombia is the only considerable source of platinum outside of Russia; the tin production of Bolivia stands second on the world's tally sheets; Colombia supplies the world's demand for -fine emeralds; Brazil is second only to South Africa in the production of diamonds, and for many years was first; the asphalt lakes of Trinidad and Bermudez supply the world.
In striking contrast to the prodigious wealth awaiting development in Latin America is the notably disproportionate enterprise with which it has been attacked. The most serious hin drance is the lack of transportation, and, com parable with this, the scarcity of water and dearth of fuel. The preliminaries of new un dertakings in the mineral country require the investment of very substantial sums, and ex plains why the active mines in the whole region are those which have been in operation for centuries, and why the vast mineral treasure of the less accessible places is left to the exploita tion of the individual native miner.
The mineral belt of Latin America is cen tred upon the great continental backbone which in the United States and Canada bears the general name of 'The Rockies." In Mexico it is a broad zone traversing the entire country from northwest to southeast. Through Cen tral America it is lower in altitude and with apparently fewer treasure spots. In South America it appears again as the Andes, follow ing along the entire western coast. Other smaller areas add their tribute, notably the coastal uplift of southeastern Brazil, known as the great Brazilian plateau. Glaciers and other erosive agencies have scattered far and wide their grindings from the mother lodes, so that the territory available for profitable ex ploration and development is, broadly speaking, boundless; and somewhere within the region may be found every mineral having commercial value.
The disturbed conditions in Mexico and the influences of the European War upon the min eral output of South America from 1914 to 1918 make it impossible to present an accurate survey of Latin America's potential production of any of the metals. The most that can be
done is to show what the actual production was under these great disadvantages.
Gold.— In Mexico and Central America almost all the mining of gold is from the lode. In South America much the greater output is from the placers which for centuries have been accumulaling fragments from lodes of un rivaled richness high up on the slopes of the Andes, and as yet undiscovered. The stores of gold and golden objects carried away from the Inca and Aztec chiefs by Pizarro and Cortes were doubtless the accumulations of many years, and in all probability were the prod uct of the placers. Under the viceroys a very large amount of gold and silver was obtained under a system of forced labor at no expense to the taskmasters. In Bolivia alone the great placer deposits have been worked since the middle of the 16th century and are estimated to have produced $2,500,000,000. About the middle of the 18th century the leading gold producing country of the world was the south eastern highland of Brazil in the present state of Minas Geraes. The workings were mainly placer, but there were some lode mines. Some of the more remarkable yields of mining under modern methods are: Butters(Salvador), $4,138,050, on a capitalization $729,000; Dos Estrellas (Mexico), 10,335,000, on a capitaliza tion of $150,000; Mexico Mines of El Oro, $4,458,745, on a capitalization of $875,000; 1°enoles (Mexico), $6,361,687, on a capitaliza tion of $180,000; San Rafael (Mexico), $1,442, 380, on a capitalization of $60,000; Sorpresa, $3,979,240, on a capitalization of Figures which give a fair comparison of the relative annual gold production of the countries of Latin America follow: Argaltine $107,300 Bolivia 175.000 Brazil 57,000 British Guiana Chile 731,000 Colombia 2971,700 Costa Rica 021,629 Cuba 28,000 Dutch Guiana 571,100 Ecuador 406,500 Fench Guiana 3,050,000 Honduras 1,000,000 Mexico 20.500,000 Nicaragua 1,100,000 Peru 492,000 Salvador 1,245.000 Uruguay 111000 Venezuela Upon the breaking out of the European War in 1914, the demand for metals other than silver and gold lessened considerably, so that large numbers of men found their way to the fields yielding the precious metals. The effect was most marked in the yields of Colombia and British Guiana, the former increasing to $4,678,000 (nearly 60 per cent), and the latter increasing to $1,126,515 (28 per cent).