GOLD 



265 



Gold has no entirely suitable substitute for any of 

 its major uses. Platinum is a substitute in jewelry 

 but is more costly and lacks the color and appeal of 

 gold ; silver is not sufficiently tarnish resistant. Vari- 

 ous stainless alloys are usable in dentistry but are 

 more difficult to fabricate. Silver can be substituted 

 in many electronics applications but is much less cor- 

 rosion resistant and somew^hat less ductile. Never- 

 theless, gold can be replaced or its use deferred in 

 all its main areas of utilization, and in this sense it 

 is not as vital an industrial commodity as, for in- 

 stance, copper. 



EXPLOITATION 



World gold production is dominated by a single 

 country, the Republic of South Africa (fig. 29). 



1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 



Figure 29. — World gold production, 1890-1970. Data for 

 U.S.S.R. are from U.S. sources; production since 1936 is 

 estimated. Estimates from European and South African 

 sources for annual production of U.S.S.R. since about 1945 

 are higher than those shown and range from 7 to 10 mil- 

 lion ounces or more. 



South Africa has produced about 37 percent of the 

 estimated 2.5 billion ounces of gold mined since the 

 discovery of America, and in the last decade it has 

 annually produced about two-thirds of the world 

 total output. Current production from that country 

 is about 31 million ounces of gold annually. By con- 

 trast, only three other countries produced more than 

 a million ounces in 1970: the U.S.S.R., 6.5 million 

 ounces (estimated) ; Canada, 2.3 million ounces; and 

 the United States, 1.8 million ounces. Other coun- 

 tries that produce more than 100,000 ounces of gold 

 annually are, in approximate decreasing order of 



output, Australia, Ghana, Philippines, Rhodesia, 

 Japan, Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico, Zaire, 

 Peru, India, and Fiji Islands. 



Gold production of the Communist nations can 

 only be estimated because figures are not released 

 by them; Russian production, for instance, has not 

 been officially reported since 1936. The U.S.S.R. is 

 known to be a major gold producer, and for much of 

 the 19th century it led the world in gold output. 

 From the discovery of America until 1970, produc- 

 tion from the U.S.S.R. is estimated between 290 and 

 350 million ounces, approximately the same as that 

 of the United States (315 million oz) (Emmons, 

 1937, p. 329; U.S. Bur. Mines, 1932-71; Busschau, 

 1967, p. 21). North Korea is estimated to produce 

 160,000 ounces annually, and mainland China, 

 50,000-60,000 ounces annually. Bulgaria, Czechoslo- 

 vakia, Hungary, and Rumania are minor producers. 



U.S. estimates of annual U.S.S.R. gold production 

 made from 1940 to 1963 showed a gradual increase 

 from about 4 million ounces in the early 1940's to a 

 high of 12.5 million ounces in 1963. In 1964 these 

 estimates were drastically revised downward to a 

 low of 3.2 million ounces in 1943 and a high of only 

 4.4 million ounces in 1963 (U.S. Bur. Mines, 1965, 

 p. 530-531 ; Green, 1968, p. 75-76). Production from 

 the U.S.S.R. during 1967-72 has been estimated by 

 the U.S. Bureau of Mines at 5-7 million ounces 

 annually, and some other estimates have been as 

 much as 50 percent higher. Russian sales of gold 

 ranged from 2 to 16 million ounces annually during 

 1950-65, and in the period 1963-65 they averaged 

 more than 14 million ounces per year (Busschau, 

 1967, p. 21). From 1966 to 1970, very little gold 

 was sold by Russia, but gold sales were resumed in 

 1971. 



U.S. gold production for the last 25 years has gen- 

 erally been 1.5-2 million ounces annually (fig. 30). 



1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 



Figure 30. — U.S. gold production, 1930-70 — from lode, placer, 

 and byproduct sources — and U.S. gold consumption, 1951-70. 



