SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 836 



We do know of possibilities in Alaska 

 that will add some contributions. We 

 know of new or recently opened ore bodies 

 in Peru, Bolivia and Chile that promise 

 well. We hear of very large deposits in 

 the southeastern corner of the Congo 

 State, once worked by the ancients, now 

 revived by the moderns and possessing 

 large reserves of 15 per cent, copper ore. 

 The Cape to Cairo railway wiU give them 

 great impetus. For the immediate future 

 there is no lack, but if we look fifty years 

 or a century ahead we can speak with less 

 confidence. In a general way we may say 

 that probably new discoveries will, for a 

 time at least, more than keep pace with de- 

 mands. But when we look fifty years into 

 the future we are not so certain. It be- 

 hooves the producers to use no treatment 

 of an ore except a careful and economical 

 one. If tailings and waste from our mills 

 now contain one third the copper in the 

 original ore, they should be impounded 

 and kept from being washed away by 

 floods, against the possible call of the fu- 

 ture. We dare not say that they will never 

 be within the ranges of profitable treat- 

 ment even though their low percentage 

 places the copper beyond reach to-day. 

 The copper situation is not one to excite 

 anxiety, yet it is also one not to encourage 

 extravagance. 



Following copper we may take up lead 

 and zinc, which are the next metals in 

 amount of production. Of the three, zinc 

 is the least in total tons and in total value. 

 We may gain some idea of the relations 

 from the small table given below in which 

 zinc is taken as unity and the figures re- 

 late to 1908. 



Price per 

 Amount Value Pound 



Zine 1.0 1.0 1.0 



Lead 1.6 1.45 0.9 



Copper 2.46 7.0 2.8 



Thus we see that the lead production is 

 one and three fifths that of zinc, and the 

 copper is two and one half times ; that the 

 lead is about one and one half times the 

 value of the zinc, and the copper is seven 

 times; and that zinc is worth more per 

 pound than lead and only about one third 

 as much as copper. The red metal is not 

 only produced in greater amount, but is 

 worth more per pound and in the aggre- 

 gate than both the others taken together. 



Among the nations of the world the 

 United States has become the chief con- 

 tributor of lead and yields year by year 

 proportions varying from 27 to 33 per cent, 

 of the total. The next country is Spain 

 with about two thirds as much, and Ger- 

 many follows with three fifths. 



In this country the state of Missouri is 

 the heaviest contributor and is responsible 

 for practically 40 per cent, of the total. 

 Idaho is next with about 32 per cent, and 

 Utah follows with 13 to 14. The western 

 lead all carries silver. The precious metal 

 is an important factor in the value of the 

 product. When we come to forecast the 

 future it is not possible to see more than a 

 few years in advance or to speak in more 

 than a general way. The miners would be 

 glad to be assured of reserves of ore for a 

 goodly period of years, but it is seldom 

 possible or practicable to demonstrate their 

 presence. Operations necessarily continue 

 with a few years' supply blocked out in 

 advance of the actual mining and the hope 

 is maintained that more will be found. 

 Very often the expectations prove justified. 

 We may therefore in a measure forecast 

 future experience somewhat by the past. 

 In the Missouri lead region mines have 

 been operated for forty or fifty years, not 

 on so large a scale at the outset as now, 

 but continuously. For some years at least 

 no change may be anticipated. In Idaho 

 the lead ores are now known to continue to 



