£ 



1869-1881 .... 621,000 

 1881-1882 .... 798,000 



528 KEPORT — 1887. 



estimates of Sir Hector Hay and Dr. Soetbeer are chiefly due to different 

 figures for these districts, Sir Hector Hay's being much the lower as 

 regards silver, and slightly lower as regards gold. 



There is some convenience in classing Mexico with South America, 

 because together they contain the older goldfields of the western hemi- 

 sphere, the chief source of the pi'ecious metals from the discoveiy of 

 America to the development of the Russian and Siberian goldfields. 



The annual yield of gold in the United States of Columbia is thus 

 approximately given by Dr. Soetbeer :- 



£ 

 1851-1860 .... 483,000 

 1860-1863 .... 395,000 

 1863-1869 .... 496,000 



It therefore ranks between New South "Wales and New Zealand. 

 Gold occurs here in lodes cutting through rocks of all ages from pre- 

 Cambrian to Cretaceous, and under many varieties of condition and 

 purity. 



The rapid development of gold mines in Venezuela is shown in the 

 following table : — 



£ 



1866 to end of 1879 3,080,100 



1880 467,100 



1881 476,100 



1882 554,000 



1883 716,600 



1884 937,700 



1885 . . . . . . . 688,100 



1886 .^ 796,800 



7,715,500 

 Of this amount El Callao alone has pi'oduced 4,175,000Z. Of the gold 

 raised in 188G, 83 per cent, came from this mine. All accounts agree as 

 to the gold resources of Venezuela, but, with the notable exception just 

 mentioned, few of the mines have as yet been successful. 



The yield of French Guiana averages about 240,000Z. yearly; this is 

 all alluvial gold. Butch Guiana produced about 70,0001. in gold in 1879 ; 

 gold mining commenced here only in 1875. 



Gold is known to occur in British Guiana, but very little has been 

 done to work it. Something may be done here when the political 

 questions are in a more settled state. 



Brazil yielded a great deal of gold in the last century, when the rich 

 placers were discovered. As these were worked out the yield fell, and 

 the produce now is very largely from quartz-mining. The period of 

 maximum productiveness was from about 1730 to 1750. In some of these 

 years it is supposed that about 5,000,000Z. of gold were raised ; but the 

 avei'ao-e production must have been much below this. It fell to an 

 average of 50,000Z. from 1800 to 1840 ; rose to 250,000?. or 300,000Z. 

 between 1840 and 1860, and then rapidly fell ; in 1870 and for a short 

 time after it is believed to have fallen to 5,000L' 



With the development of vein-mines the gold production of Brazil 

 rapidly rose, largely in consequence of the St. John del Rey mines. But 

 of late years it has declined in consequence of a series of misfortunes at 

 these mines. In 1879 the production of the Minas Geraes district was 



' These figures are from Del Mar, Hist, of the Precious Metals, 1880, p. 123. 



