COPPER. 
THE  COPPER  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
By  Walter  Harvey  Weed. 
GENERAL  CONDITIONS. 
The  United  States  supplies  about  GO  per  cent  of  the  entire  copper 
production  of  the  world.  According  to  estimates  recently  made  ° 
he  production  for  1904  exceeds  that  for  1903  by  about  8.6  per  cent, 
iggregating  approximately  783,000,000  pounds.  The  value  of  this 
product  is  $95,000,000,  exceeding  that  of  the  gold  production,  and 
>eing  surpassed  only  by  that  of  coal  and  iron.  Of  this  enormous 
production  about  two-thirds  was  exported  in  1904. 
Our  imports  are  practically  all  from  Mexico  and  Canada.  They 
;onsist  of  ores  shipped  into  the  United  States  for  treatment,  Cana- 
lian  imports  being  practically  all  shipped  for  treatment  at  the 
imelters  at  Northport  and  Everett,  Wash.  Those  from  Mexico 
onsist  of  concentrates  from  Sonora,  matte  from  Cananea,  which  is 
>ractically  an  American  mine,  and  of  matte  from  Boleo,  Lower  Cali- 
ornia.     At  New  York  some  ore  is  imported  from  Spain  and  from 
I Newfoundland.  Strange  to  say,  copper  from  Chile  and  from  other 
oreign  ports  has  been  reshipped  from  Liverpool  to  Baltimore  for 
efining,  a  rather  remarkable  instance  of  American  competition, 
^he  Spanish  mines  still  supply  the  greater  part  of  the  pyrite  used 
a  the  United  States,  and  as  this  pyrite  carries  from  one-half  per  cent 
o  3  per  cent  copper,  the  cinder  from  the  sulphuric-acid  works  is  con- 
futed into  copper  by  the  Pennsylvania  Salt  Company  and  other 
rorks. 
The  profit  of  copper  mining  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  seventeen 
opper  companies  declared  dividends  during  1904,  aggregating 
|26, 161,000,  a  very  favorable  showing  when  compared  with  the  77 
old,  silver,  and  lead  companies,  including  the  smelting  trust,  whose 
rial  dividends  amounted  to  $19,106,000. 
■  Eng..  and  Min.  Jour.,  Jan.  5,  1004,  p.  G. 
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