Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources

by Unknown

NORTH AMERICA

UNITED STATES

Production.

—The maximum output of copper from mines within the borders of the United States was in 1916, and amounted to 1,927,850,548 pounds. In 1917 the output was less, because of labor troubles, but six leading states showed an increase, and if Montana had equaled the output of 1916, the 1917 output would have been 1,962,034,512 pounds. Without good markets and favorable labor conditions, the United States production cannot reach anything like 2,000,000,000 pounds a year.

Commercial Control

Control Through Ownership of Mines.

—All the productive bodies of copper in the United States are owned by Americans, except a small number controlled by English capital. Before the war, there was evidence of German affiliation and potential control in the copper industry, but this centered in refining and selling the metal. Accordingly, the German grip on the industry was highly centralized, and direct and effective measures were used in breaking it.

Five leading groups are in control of copper production in the United States. Certain of these have additional important ownerships in South America and Mexico, which will be discussed under those countries.

Table 38.—Leading Financial Groups in Control of Copper Production in United States

	Pounds
Group 1. Hayden-Jackling “porphyries” (closely affiliated with group 2) Utah Copper, Ray Consolidated (Ariz.), Nevada Consolidated, (Nev.) Chino (N. Mex.) and Butte & Superior (Mont.); 1917 output (custom ore not included)	448,887,253
Group 2. Morgan-Guggenheim (American Smelting & Refining Co). Kennecott (Alaska) and a large number of smaller mines owned by Americans which have their ore treated at plants controlled by this group. The 1917 output of Kennecott and eleven of the chief customers of American Smelting & Refining plants (smaller custom shipments to smelters must be added) was	156,954,722
Group 3. Rockefeller-Ryan: Anaconda, Inspiration, North Butte, Utah Consolidated, Mountain Copper (Cal.), Balaklala (Cal.), Walker mine (Cal.), and Arizona Copper Co., 1917 output (custom ore not included)	357,308,558
Group 4. Phelps-Dodge and affiliations: Arizona and New Mexico only. Copper Queen, Detroit, Burro Mountain, Commercial Mining Co. (Phelps-Dodge); 1917 output	123,000,000
Calumet & Arizona—New Cornelia (Briggs-Congdon); 1917 output	79,360,000
United Verde Extension (affiliated with each of above); total 1917 output	63,242,784
To which must be added custom business which is important, e.g., Arizona Commercial mine, etc.; 1917 business (other custom ore not included) about	10,000,000
Total for group 4	275,603,113
Group 5. Calumet & Hecla: 1917 output, Calumet & Hecla mine and subsidiaries	168,765,033
Total 1917 output of these five leading groups[111]	1,407,518,679

[111] Exclusive of the small mines (shippers of custom ore) partly controlled through smelting and refining contracts by same interests.

Important smaller groups may be listed as follows:

Group 6. W. A. Clark: United Verde, Elm Orlu (Mont.) and Ophir Hill (Utah); 1917 output	88,390,038
Group 7. Adolph Lewisohn: Miami and, by sale of output, Shattuck-Arizona; 1917 output	57,058,666
Group 8. U. S. Smelting, Refining & Mining Co. Custom ore and Mammoth mine, Cal., Utah Apex, and Tintic (Utah) mines; 1917 output	22,600,000
Group 9. Lake mines (other than Calumet & Hecla): Copper Range Co., Mohawk, Quincy, etc.[112]; 1917 output	99,700,000

[112] Ten different interests.

There is also a group, discussed later, of uncertain or unclassifiable affiliations, owned by Americans, but in many instances worked under smelting and refining contracts that merit special mention:

	1917 output, pounds
Old Dominion (Ariz.), (perhaps group 4)	25,758,381
East Butte (and custom ore), (perhaps group 9)	18,000,000
Shannon Copper Co., (Ariz.), (independent)	6,138,219
Penn. Mining Co. (Cal.) (independent)	3,400,000
Cons. Arizona Smelting Co. (independent)	5,000,000
Ducktown Sulphur, Copper & Iron Co., Ltd. (Tenn.), (English)	5,523,573
Total unclassifiable and uncertain	63,820,173
Total of groups 1 to 5	1,407,518,679
Total of groups 6 to 9	267,748,704
Total of all interests	1,739,087,556
Total 1917 United States copper production (from domestic mines only)	1,873,546,171
Balance (custom ore from small shippers)[113]	134,458,614

[113] This balance includes copper produced as by-product in mining of other metals in Colorado and the East, estimated at 50,000,000 pounds, and custom shipments from 1,000 small operations, chiefly to smelters controlled by groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, estimated at 84,458,614 pounds.

Certain mines in the above groups are owned in England, but are classed with that interest which refines and sells the production. In group 2, for example, is listed the Tennessee Copper Co., whose copper is refined and sold at the American Smelting & Refining plant in Baltimore. In ownership, however, this property should be placed in group 7, (output 10,547,704 pounds).

In group 3 are two English-owned mines: Arizona Copper Co. (Scotch) and Mountain Copper Co., (English). Ducktown Sulphur, Copper & Iron in the last group (uncertain and unclassifiable) is also English-owned. The combined output of these three English-owned properties is 48,000,000 pounds. This comprises all properties not owned by American capital. Ducktown Sulphur, Copper & Iron Co., Ltd. is English-owned, but all its production (copper matte) is sold to the American Metal Co. The others in the group designated above as uncertain, or unclassifiable, are entirely American owned, although their production has been marketed by the American Metal Co. or L. Vogelstein, as discussed later.

None of these groups actually own the mines outright, the mines being owned by hosts of stockholders scattered all over the country. Of many companies the president and directors own a very small percentage of the stock. As regards group 6 and to a less extent group 4, however, the actual ownership is in very few hands; but this is exceptional. The copper mines of the United States, like the railroads and the largest industrial enterprises, such as the United States Steel Corporation, etc., are, in the last analysis, controlled by their stockholders.

Summarized on the basis of the 1917 output, one finds that the ownership of American copper mines is as follows: American 97¹⁄₂ per cent., English and Scotch, 2¹⁄₂ per cent.

Control Through Ownership of Smelters and Refineries.

—Ownership of smelters that treat domestic ore is substantially identical to the mine ownership given above. Interests owning active smelters are less numerous than interests owning mines, because efficient smelting requires large-scale operations.

The electrolytic refineries are all American owned. Large-scale units, representing heavy capital investments, are essential in electrolytic refining. A small refinery cannot compete successfully with large ones. The average important copper mine produces enough ore to make about 25,000,000 pounds a year, whereas the average smelter produces three or four times as much blister or casting copper, and the average electrolytic refinery can produce over 250,000,000 pounds annually. Consequently, there are only six groups (Hayden-Jackling, Morgan-Guggenheim, Rockefeller-Ryan, Phelps-Dodge, Calumet & Hecla, and U. S. Smelting, Refining & Mining Co.) interested in refinery ownership. No small producer has the capital or the size to be able to enter this field. [Table 39] shows electrolytic copper refineries of the United States and their ownerships:

Table 39.—Ownership and Capacity of American Copper Refineries

Works	Ownership, group—	1917 capacity (pounds)
Baltimore Copper Smelting & Rolling Co.	1 and 2	720,000,000
Nichols Copper Co. Independent and in part	4	500,000,000
Raritan Copper Works	3	460,000,000
American Smelting & Refining Co.	1 and 2	288,000,000
United States Metals Refining Co.	8	250,000,000
Tacoma Smelting Co.	1 and 2	204,000,000
Anaconda Copper Mining Co. (new plant)	3	180,000,000
Calumet & Hecla Mining Co.	5	65,000,000
Anaconda Copper Mining Co. (old plant)	3	65,000,000
Balbach Smelting & Refining Co.[114] (former German affiliations)	...	48,000,000
Total capacity		2,780,000,000
		1917 production (pounds)
Electrolytic copper	...	1,452,744,593
Secondary electrolytic copper	...	66,337,771
Imported copper made into electrolytic	...	555,000,000
Total 1917 refinery production	...	2,074,082,364

[114] This company treats copper scrap and imported copper ores and matte.

The refineries control the situation to a very considerable extent. A copper producer must obtain electrolytic refining in order to market his product. Lake copper and casting copper do not require electrolytic refining, although producers of casting are often at a disadvantage when there is a big premium on electrolytic copper and casting can only be sold at a large discount.

The smelters do not control the situation in the same way. In the United States are a large number of custom smelters—32—that actively compete for ores; some have many branches. Moreover, a mine of any size will have its own smelter, as the capital investment is far less than that required for an electrolytic refinery. As the table shows, there are only seven groups (the six above enumerated and the Balbach Smelting & Refining Co.) interested in electrolytic refining, and one of these (the smallest) is to a considerable degree interested in the treatment of secondary or scrap copper.

The electrolytic refinery control of the copper production of the United States is shown by the 1917 figures. In that year the production of electrolytic copper was 1,452,744,593 pounds; of Lake copper, 238, 508,091 pounds; and of casting copper, 152,293,487 pounds. Electrolytic copper thus constituted 77¹⁄₂ per cent. of the total.

Control Through Selling and Distribution of Copper in Finished Form.

—Groups owning mines, smelters, and refineries invariably also control or own the selling agencies that distribute the product to the consumer. In these cases, control through selling is the same as control through mine ownership, but is increased by the copper in ores received at custom smelters.

Control through selling, then, is identical to the control shown in [Table 38], so far as groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 are concerned, if certain additions at the expense of the other groups are made. But every producer of Lake copper controls the sale of its product, because Lake copper needs no electrolytic refining. Hence in groups 5 and 9 mine ownership and control through selling are identical. This is a fact of considerable interest and confirms the fact of control through refinery ownership. Groups 6 and 7 ([Table 38]) are large producers, and although they do not own refineries they are able to control the sales of their product. The refineries are willing to refine their copper on toll and return the marketable copper to the mine owners, who make sale to the trade. Groups 2, 3, and 7 now control copper even further, as they own brass mills, wire and rod mills, etc. They manufacture a part of their production and sell it as copper wire, finished brass, etc., instead of making sales to the brass and wire mills of ingots, bars, cakes, etc., which is and has been always the general practice.

There remains to consider the control, through selling, of the six uncertain groups (total production 63,820,173 pounds) and some of the 134,458,614 pounds of copper produced from custom ore. A large part of this, as noted, is lodged in groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8.

For many years three concerns affiliated with the German metal combines (Merton Co. and Metallgesellschaft, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and Aaron Hirsch, of Halberstadt) have been active in the copper business of the United States. Their activity has been confined to selling of copper produced in this country, and to ownership and selling of copper produced in foreign countries but brought to the United States for smelting and refining. One small refinery is or was owned by this group in the United States, and two smelters, treating mainly foreign ores. It also owns smelters in Mexico and South America, and had close connections with two large refineries in New Jersey, so that it sold all the electrolytic copper produced by one plant and an important part of the production of the other plant.

German Control of American Copper.

—The exact German ownership of these concerns was disclosed during the war by the work of the Alien Property Custodian, and was as follows: (1) American Metal Co., with an issued capital of $7,000,000, of which the German holdings amounted to $3,336,000, or close to 50 per cent.; these holdings were taken over by the United States authorities; (2) L. Vogelstein & Co., of which 80 per cent. of the stock was held by Germans (A. Hirsch & Sohn) and 15 per cent. by L. Vogelstein, a naturalized American citizen; (3) Beer, Sondheimer & Co., entirely German owned. The government seized the two last-named concerns.

The American Metal Co. markets the copper of the Old Dominion, East Butte, Shannon, Penn. Mining Co. and Ducktown Sulphur, Coal & Iron companies. Blister copper 99 per cent. pure is purchased on contract from the first-named four companies by the American Metal Co. This copper is refined for the American Metal Co. by the Nichols Copper Co., and the finished product sold to the trade by the American Metal Co. The Ducktown Sulphur, Copper & Iron Co. sells all of its production, as copper matte, to the American Metal Co., which has it treated and sells the finished product. In this manner 58,820,173 pounds was controlled through sale by the American Metal Co. in 1917. In addition, considerable domestic custom ore and a large amount of copper imported from Canada (Granby), South America and Mexico is handled by the American Metal Co. in the same way. Such imported copper totals up to three times as much as the domestic copper so controlled.

So far as domestic copper is concerned this situation will be corrected. The Nichols Copper Co. is free to refine this copper and sell it or turn it back to the producers for sale; it does this latter for Phelps-Dodge and Miami. It can be assumed that control through selling will cease as regards the 58,820,173 pounds cited above and also as regards Granby’s production—about 50,000,000 pounds.

The American Metal Co. may be sold to American interests,[115] thus clearing up the situation in imported copper to some extent. Certain Mexican and Chilean properties owned by the American Metal Co. will perhaps not be sold, and such properties can be considered as likely always to be German owned.

[115] The German holdings in the American Metal Co. are reported sold to an American syndicate in which L. Vogelstein participated.

The American Metal Co. owns the Balbach electrolytic refinery, and from treatment of scrap and imported copper (Chilean and Japanese blister and copper) at that plant obtains and sells about 50,000,000 pounds of refined copper per annum.

The concern of L. Vogelstein & Co. lost its chief hold on American copper production in 1915. Up to that time L. Vogelstein & Co. worked very closely with group 8 (United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Co.). The output of the United States Smelting Refining & Mining Co. mines and smelters was sold by Vogelstein as well as the output of its electrolytic refinery. But since 1915 this American-owned enterprise itself sells all the copper produced by its own mines and smelters.

But Vogelstein still controls the sale of the copper treated at the plant of the United States Metals Refining Co.,[116] over and above what is produced by the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Co. from its own mines and smelters. This remaining copper consists in part of imported copper, and in part of the output of the Consolidated Arizona Smelting Co., which is an American-owned enterprise. The output was large in 1917 (about 20,000,000 pounds) but three-fourths of it was ore from the United Verde Extension mine. The United Verde Extension has since completed its own smelter and no longer turns over a part of its copper output to Vogelstein through the Consolidated Arizona Smelting Co. The output of United Verde (group 6) also was formerly sold by Vogelstein, but now is sold by the owner of the mine.

[116] The United States Metals Refining Co. was a subsidiary of the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Co., sold, 1920, to the American Metal Co.

Therefore, the only copper controlled in 1918 by Vogelstein through selling was about 50,000,000 pounds a year, the output of mines owned by Consolidated Arizona Smelting Co. (about 5,000,000 pounds) and the imported copper, of which about 45,000,000 pounds was treated in 1917. The latter is controlled by Vogelstein not only by selling of the product but in part by smelting contracts and in part probably, as regards South America, by ownership of mines.[117]

[117] L. Vogelstein is reported to have sold his interests to the American Metal Co. and subsequently, early in 1920, to have acquired a fifth interest in that company.

Beer, Sondheimer & Co.

has never been a large factor in the United States copper industry, although much interested in zinc. But the firm does control the sale of some copper and owns a smelter at Norfolk. This smelter treats imported ores for the most part, but also obtains some copper from pyrites (sulphur ores) coming from the United States and Canada. Perhaps as much as 10,000,000 pounds of domestic copper was sold by Beer, Sondheimer & Co. in 1917. The company owns an important Cuban mine.

As American capital owns American copper mines, smelters and refineries, German interests were able to obtain a foothold only through selling organizations (trading in metals), which later they extended to close working arrangements with electrolytic refineries, which were naturally interested in finding a good cash market for their output. The fact that Germany prior to 1914 was the biggest foreign buyer of United States copper, made easy the successful development of the carefully laid German plans.

In the future such plans can be guarded against by encouraging copper producers to sell their own output. All the large producers already do this, a change in this respect having developed since 1914. Sales in foreign markets can now be properly managed under the provisions of recent legislation permitting copper producers to enter into a combination in the sale of export copper. This counteracts the old German system of a buyers’ combine against the sellers of copper, which was an important factor in forcing American producers to have German concerns sell their product. But it will be necessary for the electrolytic refineries to co-operate in this policy of American selling control of American copper. Producers whose output is only a few million pounds per annum probably cannot afford to establish their own selling agencies; such producers will include all who have no smelter but ship to custom smelting plants. The production can be sold by the large custom smelting plants, which are American owned, or these small producers could establish a common sales agency. Other larger producers, as those whose copper is now sold by the American Metal Co., should be enabled to do their own selling. In this they have been blocked by the lack of refining facilities, except on a basis that took away from them selling control of their product. This situation can be corrected by regulations that put electrolytic refineries on a recognized toll basis for all American customers. All refineries have about the same costs and their combined capacity is ample to treat all the blister copper that will be produced. They should receive good profits on the business, but it should be unlawful for refineries to refuse to treat blister copper on toll and insist that copper must be sold to them outright. The toll system is already in use at several refineries and has proved satisfactory.

As shown above, there are in the United States a few very large refineries whose ownership is in few hands. If these refineries control the sale of all the production of copper several objectionable features develop. The few sales agencies handle so much copper that there is a tendency to co-operate with representatives of foreign consumers who can buy in large quantities, and it is not difficult to manipulate the market temporarily, in disregard of actual conditions of demand and supply. Thus the entire output of copper, one of our great natural resources, is placed in the hands of groups who, while interested in mining, are more interested in refining. The best interests of the industry are more nearly those of the miner than of the refiner. Therefore, the most positive dislodgment of former German control of copper through selling will come from the breaking up of the former system and transferring each unit of that system to other hands; rather than transferring the old units in block to non-German hands. Sales of American copper should be handled by a large number of separate agencies actively competing for the domestic market; this is essential in the interests of the consumer and of the country. But export copper business should be handled through one agency or association representing all the sales agencies, as is now legal, and this should be done in the interests of the producer and of the country.

Reserves of United States Copper Mines.

—The developed reserves of United States copper deposits are fully equal, in proportion to output, to such reserves in foreign copper deposits. This insures the fact that for the next ten years, at least, the copper production of the United States will maintain its present relative dominance over all foreign countries.

A large proportion of all copper deposits are of such a deep-seated character that at no time can large reserves be positively developed, even when they exist. On the other hand, all over the world the mines with large known reserves are horizontal deposits, lying near the surface, because only in such occurrences is it possible to block out easily and cheaply big tonnages of ore. There are in the United States six very important deposits of this type, the so-called “porphyries.” These are:

Table 40.—“Porphyry” Copper Mines in the United States

Mine	Reserves (tons)	Years of life at present production
Utah Copper Co.	200,000,000	31
Ray Consolidated Copper Co.	90,000,000	30
Chino Copper Co.	80,000,000	27
Inspiration Consolidated	120,000,000	20
Nevada Consolidated	80,000,000	20
Miami Copper Co.	50,000,000	20
Total	620,000,000	26

These mines in 1917 produced 31.5 per cent. of the total United States output.

The New Cornelia mine is of similar type and has already developed 75,000,000 tons, but as it is new its 1917 output was small. The Arizona Copper Co., Ltd., is also of this type, as are certain new developments in the Phelps-Dodge properties.

These “porphyry” deposits occur in or near intrusive igneous rocks of various ages. Fully one-third of the United States production is now and will continue to be obtained from such deposits. On the average, about 1 per cent. copper is recovered from the ore.

Distinct from the shallow and horizontal-lying disseminated ores or “porphyry coppers,” are the deep mines. The two oldest and most important deep-mine districts in the United States are Butte, Montana, and the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan. The mines of Butte work steeply dipping veins. It cannot be considered that over five years of ore reserves are known, and probably not over 2¹⁄₂ years of reserves are actually blocked out on three sides. However, there are no indications of early exhaustion, as the veins are profitable at more than 3,000 feet, the greatest depth to which mining has yet progressed. The deposits of northern Michigan are in pre-Cambrian rocks. They have been important producers of copper for over 50 years, and several mines have reached a vertical depth of more than 5,000 feet. Certainly not over five years of ore reserves are fully developed, but there are no signs of early exhaustion. These two districts, Butte and Michigan, now produce about 30 per cent. of the total United States output, a smaller proportion than before the development of the “porphyries.” The average copper content of the Michigan deposits ranges from 0.5 per cent. to 2 per cent. and of the Butte deposits 2.5 to 5 per cent.

Certain ore deposits (usually massive but irregular) which are situated mainly in Arizona constitute the third important general class. These deposits produce about one-quarter of the total United States output. Bisbee, Jerome and Globe (Arizona), and Kennecott (Alaska), are the main localities. Owing to the irregular nature of the deposits and the distance from the surface at which the ore is found, large developed reserves cannot be blocked out in advance. Such reserves are assumed to be five years.

Apart from the three classes of deposits described above are many smaller deposits, of which the most distinct class are the pyritic bodies, notably those of Tennessee and California. Such deposits are often profitable even when of low grade, because the sulphur as well as the copper is recovered. Reserves in such deposits are large: equal, say, to ten years’ life. Deposits of this class are important in Spain, Norway and in part in Japan. Mines producing copper as a by-product should also be grouped here.

From the above outline the table below has been compiled:

Table 41.—Developed Reserves of United States Copper Mines

General group	Percentage of total output	Years of life	Extension[118]
The “porphyries”	35	26	9.10
Deep mines	30	5	1.50
Rich ore bodies (Arizona and Alaska)	25	5	1.25
Pyritic ore bodies	5	10	0.50
Others	5	2	0.10
Average	100	12.4	12.45

[118] “Extension” is the Percentage of Total Output multiplied by the Years of Life, giving the relative importance of each group.

The known ore reserves serve as a basis for the assumption that the production of copper in the United States will continue at the present figures for at least ten years.

CANADA

Canadian copper-producing properties are entirely controlled by American and British capital in about equal proportion, changes involving construction of new refineries and a shift in selling control being assumed to be already effective. Up to the present time the natural development has been for Canada to depend largely on the United States for refining facilities. It is likely that in the future local or English control in this field will be closer than heretofore, although the Canadian copper industry will always be closely identified with that of the United States.

There are three chief copper properties in Canada which are controlled by United States capital, all in British Columbia, as well as several small mines in this province and in others. By far the largest is the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting & Power Co. This company has mines in two districts. One of these properties is nearly exhausted; the other is a new and vigorous producer. Smelters are operated at each place. The Granby company is controlled by the same interests that own the Nichols Copper Co. (electrolytic refinery). Considerable custom ore is treated by Granby, a large amount coming from Alaska. The other two mines are those of the Canada Copper Co. and the Howe Sound Co. Their production is refined and sold in the United States by American concerns. The developed reserves at these three mines are all large, being fully adequate for fifteen years at the present rate of production.

The only property in Canada which has established facilities for producing copper ready for the consumer is the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co., of Trial, B. C. This Canadian company owns and operates its own mines, smelter and electrolytic refinery. The capacity of the refinery is now 14,000,000 pounds refined copper annually. The ores are massive pyritic bodies without great developed reserves, but the probable reserves are large.

The English and American properties at Sudbury yield nearly as much copper as the Granby company, although their main business is nickel production. A small part of the output is refined in Wales, producing copper sulphate; but the largest part has been refined in New Jersey. A refinery is being completed in Canada that will treat these copper-nickel mattes and produce refined copper. These copper-nickel deposits occur in pre-Cambrian rocks, and the known or potential reserves are very large. They are described in more detail in [Chapter VI].

In Ontario and Quebec there are a number of pyrite mines where some of the pyrite contains considerable copper. Most of the pyrite is shipped to the United States, where the copper is recovered, refined and sold.

The production of Canada is growing, and the country will become of increasing importance as a source of copper. Known reserves are larger in proportion to output than in the United States and there will probably be important developments of new districts. The northern British Columbia region is of exceptional promise.

CUBA AND THE CARIBBEAN

The copper output of Cuba has increased in an extraordinary degree during the past few years, but there are no indications that this increase will continue. Two mines are responsible for nearly all the production. One is an old mine near Santiago, the El Cobre, which yielded about one-quarter of the total output. It is owned by the German metal combine, which ships the ore and concentrates to Norfolk, where they are treated by the smelter owned by Beer, Sondheimer & Co., who have always marketed the production. The Matahambre mine, in Pinar del Rio Province, yields nearly the entire remaining Cuban output; it is owned by Cubans. Ore is shipped to the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Co., of New York, and is believed to be sold by L. Vogelstein & Co. The reserves of copper ore in Cuba can not be considered large. Statistics of Cuban output are conflicting: producers’ reports, statistical authorities and United States commerce reports not being in agreement. All production is shipped in crude form to the United States for refining.

There are copper deposits in Central America,[119] and at one or two points in the West Indies outside of Cuba. To date production has been insignificant, although future possibilities are considerable.

[119] The Rosita mine, in Nicaragua, has 1,500,000 tons of ore blocked out, running over 5 per cent. copper. It has not been equipped.

MEXICO

The future importance of Mexico as a producer of copper or of other metals will be determined not only by the character of her natural deposits but by political conditions. The latter have materially decreased the output during the past few years, so that in 1917 production was about 100,000,000 pounds, probably not much over half what it would have been had normal conditions been continuous since 1912.

Commercial Control.

—Three companies now produce about three-fourths of the total copper. Two of these are owned by American capital and their product is refined and sold in the United States. Situated near the Arizona border, they have not suffered from the revolution as much as the properties farther south. These two companies are the Greene Cananea Copper Co. (Ryan-Rockefeller, group 3 of [Table 38]) and Montezuma Copper Co. (Phelps-Dodge, etc.; group 4 of [Table 38]). The developed reserves at the Montezuma Copper Co. are equivalent to five years at present production and those at Cananea can be considered about the same. Both districts have important possibilities. Near Greene Cananea is another American property, Democrata Cananea, which is a producer of moderate size. The Cananea district is now producing at the rate of over 50,000,000 pounds per annum. Another American property of note is the Teziutlan Copper Co., Puebla, now idle due to revolutions. It has a smelter which normally ships 12,000,000 pounds of blister copper annually to the Anaconda company’s electrolytic plant. Considerable copper is produced at the plants of the American Smelting & Refining Co., which has three copper smelters, one at Matehuala, San Luis Potosi; one at Asarco and another at Aguascalientes, Durango.

French capital

controls the third important property (among the three most important in Mexico), which is on the peninsula of Lower California. This is the Boleo, owned by the Rothschilds; as it is far removed from the heart of Mexico, operations have not been greatly disturbed. The mine is an old producer with large potential reserves, and the actual developed reserves will maintain present output for six years. The Boleo ore deposits, which are of an uncommon type, are Tertiary sediments that contain 3.5 per cent. copper ore, usually as oxides. Smelters near the mine produce blister copper and matte, which normally is shipped to France. During the war a large part of the blister and matte came to the United States and passed into the hands of the American Smelting & Refining Co. French interests also own the Compagnie d’Inguaran, near Ario, Michoacan. There are large developed reserves, but the property is idle because of political conditions and absence of equipment or rail connections. French capital also controls the Magistral Ameca Co., in Jalisco, where large ore reserves have been developed. This property is also idle due to political conditions.

English capital

controls the Mazapil Copper Co., which has large plants, including smelters, in Zacatecas and Coahuila. This is one of the largest copper companies in Mexico as well as one of the oldest important mines. It was idle for some time because of the Mexican revolutions, but has been reopened recently.

To sum up, the production in Mexico at present is three-quarters American controlled (of which one-half may be assigned to group 3 and one-quarter to groups 2 and 4), while the remaining one-quarter is French controlled. But present output and known reserves give no true picture of future possibilities. Mexico can become of first importance as a copper producer, ranking possibly second only to the United States or equaling Chile and Japan among the world’s producers. The natural resources are there and in the future will surely be developed much more extensively than ever before.

German capital

must be taken into consideration, and especially the activities of the American Metal Co. in Mexico, notably more vigorous since 1914 than before. It is believed that the company has made substantial profits from Mexican mining investments in this period and has obtained a very strong foothold. The Compañia Metallurgica de Torreon is one of the American Metal Co. subsidiaries, owning promising mines, chiefly in the development state, and smelters already equipped to produce 20,000,000 pounds of copper yearly. The Mapimi smelter is also owned by the American Metal Co., as are many other companies. What is the future Mexican political situation to be and what part will the American Metal Co. or the German metal combine play in the Mexican copper industry? There is no more pertinent question in the entire field of the political and commercial control of the copper resources of the world, particularly as American capital is largely interested in Mexican copper mines and has made enormous investments there. Also the natural tendency is for most of the Mexican copper to be shipped to the United States for refining and marketing. American refineries, with cheap fuel and efficient methods, are the natural destination for Mexican raw copper.

SOUTH AMERICA

South America is the second largest copper-producing continent of the world, but at present stands far behind North America. The copper-producing countries of South America, in the order of their importance, are Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela and Argentina.

CHILE

Chile is a copper producer of rapidly increasing importance, as indicated by production records of recent years.[120]

[120] According to Chilean statistics, and estimate for 1917.

	1914	1915	1916	1917
Metric tons	44,665	52,341	71,288	95,000

The largest mines of Chile are controlled by American capital. Group 2 of [Table 38] (the Morgan-Guggenheim interests) controls the Chile Copper Co., Braden Copper Co. and the Caldera and Carrizal custom smelters. The developed ore reserves of the Chile Copper Co. are the largest in any known copper deposits in the world and the reserves of Braden are among the largest known. Group 3 of [Table 38] (Anaconda Copper Co.) has a property with large developed ore reserves—the Andes Copper Co. This mine is not yet (1918) producing.

[Table 43] (p. 243) gives data concerning these American-owned mines.

These three mines are allied to the “porphyries” of the United States in character, but they are less profitable because the external conditions make operation more difficult.

Table 42.—Chief Copper Producers of Chile. Their Ownership and Relative Importance

Controlled by capital of	Company	Plant capacity, 1918 (pounds a year)	Nature of product	Source of product			Remarks
United States	Chile Copper Co.	120,000,000	Refined copper	Mines of the Company			Capacity will be increased
Do	Braden Copper Co.	72,000,000	Blister copper	Do			Do
Do	A. S. & R. Co.	24,000,000	Blister copper and matte	Local owned mines			Caldera plant
Do	A. S. & R. Co., custom smelters	24,000,000		Do			Carrizal plant
	Total United States	240,000,000
	United States properties’ reserves	150 years
England	Central Chile Co.	6,000,000	Matte	Panulcillo mine ¹⁄₃			Balance custom ore
Do	Poderosa mine	2,000,000	Ore (rich)				Shipped to U. S.
Do	Lota custom smelter	8,000,000	Blister	Largely custom ore			Treat custom matte
	Total British	16,000,000
	British properties’ reserves	3 years
France	Chanaral	15,000,000	Blister and matte	Mines of the company		-	Product treated at Balbach plant (U. S.) in 1917
Do	Naltagua	10,000,000	Blister	Mines of the company
	Total French	25,000,000
	French properties’ reserves	5 years
Belgium	Catemo	11,000,000	Blister	Mines of the company			Refined by Balbach, 1917.
	Reserves	5 years
Germany	Gatico smelter	8,000,000	Blister	Custom ore and mines controlled.			Tributary to rich mining district.
	Guayacan smelter	3,000,000	Matte				Formerly shipped matte to England.
Chile	6 mines with smelters	5,000,000	Matte	Locally owned mines			Shipped to big smelters or exported.
	Great numbers of mines	large	Ore	Locally owned mines			Shipped to big smelters or exported.
	Grand total	308,000,000
	Expected output 1918-1919	244,000,000 (110,000 metric tons)

Table 43.—Output, Reserves, and Life of Three American-owned Copper Mines in Chile

Company	Output, First six months of 1918, (pounds)	Ore reserves (tons)	Life at present output, (years)
Chile	50,000,000	350,000,000	200
Braden Copper Co.	36,000,000	150,000,000	125
Andes Copper Co.	non-producing (capacity 24,000,000)	50,000,000	Work suspended for present

The Caldera and Carrizal custom smelters of the American Smelting & Refining Co. treat ores shipped from various smaller mines. The Carrizal plant has been closed. Two chief properties are tributary to this plant,—the Carrizal Alto and the Astilla mines. A large number of properties are tributary to the Caldera plant, among them: Dulcinea, Flamenco, Morado, San Juan, El Gallo, etc. Throughout northern Chile there are a great many small copper mines. From the Braden property east of Valparaiso to the Chili Copper Co., southeast of Iquique, the entire country seems to be unusually rich in copper.

There are five important Chilean mines controlled by French or British capital. See [Table 42]. All are vein mines with no considerable tonnage of developed ore reserves, and the combined output is nearly 50,000,000 pounds of copper a year (a considerable part being from custom ore shipped by small mines) in the form of blister or matte. This production is normally shipped to France or England.

The American Metal Co. and L. Vogelstein, representing German capital, are believed to control, through selling and refining, much of the output of the French, British and Belgian mines. These concerns also own custom smelters in Chile and probably have interests in many mining properties there. The big business in Chilean ores shipped into the United States is done by these concerns, although the American Smelting, Refining & Mining Co. is also an important factor. These ores come from many small mines, although there are a few important ore shippers, one of which is British owned. Most of the mines are ostensibly Chilean owned, but much of the financing, marketing of products, etc., is done by American houses with German affiliations.

It seems that Chile may soon become the second largest copper producer of the world. American capital has led in the development of the Chilean deposits, as American interests have discovered and furnished funds for the equipment of the two leading producers, and the third most important ore body is American owned. This is the more remarkable in light of the fact that American capital has so far been conspicuous by its absence in the development of the other important industries of Chile. Were it not for the present difficulties of building up plant facilities, due to shipping shortage, high cost of equipment, etc., the American-owned copper mines would today be still larger producers than they are. However, American capital now completely controls about seven-eighths of the total output. Substantially all the copper produced in Chile is shipped to the United States. The Chili Copper Co. produces in Chile a refined electrolytic copper, and this is the only finished refined copper produced in South America. Braden can produce a grade of copper that does not compete with electrolytic but is refined enough to go directly to the consumer.

PERU

Peru is one of the important copper-producing countries of the world. The chief mines are at extreme altitudes, however, and their character and location is such as to indicate that production will probably remain stationary or at least not show any important increases in the next few years. There are two important districts: Cerro de Pasco (elevation, 14,300 feet) and Morococha (elevation 13,700 feet).

The chief mines of these districts are now controlled by American capital and may be classed with group 2 of [Table 38]. The Morococha district was formerly English controlled, but the majority interests have lately been acquired by the Cerro de Pasco Copper Co. (American). The ores in both districts are exceedingly rich and the properties are well fortified with reserves. Developed reserves are adequate to insure four years’ production, and everything indicates that the mines are working extensive and persistent ore deposits. Blister copper is shipped to the American Smelting & Refining Co. in New York for treatment and marketing. Both mines have fully equipped plants, including smelters.

At the plant of Backus & Johnson Co., Morococha, some custom ore and matte from locally owned mines is treated. Among these mines are those of J. Galliver, producing 600 tons matte a year. Backus & Johnson also have a smelter and mines in the Casapalca district. The Sayapullo Syndicate (English) is working the Sayapullo mine under option from the Peruvian owners. Some of this matte is shipped to the Casapalca smelter, and the rest is exported to the United States. The output so far is small; at present 800 tons per year.

Certain small companies ship ores to the United States: from these the copper content amounted to about 4,000,000 pounds in 1917. This goes (1919) chiefly to the American Metal Co. and L. Vogelstein for refining and selling. This ore comes from Salaverry and Trujillo (Casapalca district), Mollendo (southern district, including Ferrobamba, see below), and Callao. All the blister copper is shipped from Callao except small amounts shipped by Backus & Johnson from the Casapalca district. An American company has developed a large body of low-grade ore at Ferrobamba (Cotobamba Province), southern Peru. The property is inaccessible and no work is now being done.

The following résumé gives some of the salient facts concerning the Peruvian copper producers:

Table 44.—Production of Copper in Peru in 1918

	Output		Developed Reserves	Product	Control
Cerro de Pasco	72,000,000	(-)	4 years	Blister Copper	United States
Backus & Johnson	28,000,000	(-)	4 years	Do	Do
Huaron (new)	5,000,000	(?)	4 years	Do	French
Ore shippers	5,000,000		?	Ore	Local
	110,000,000

BOLIVIA

There is one important copper producing locality in Bolivia—Coro Coro, central Bolivia (elevation 12,000 feet). Beds of sandstone carry native copper and veins of sulphides. The mines are owned by French capital. There is no smelter, but concentrates running up to 85 per cent. copper are exported to France for treatment. Production is about 12,000,000 pounds annually. Reserves are large, but the almost inaccessible location of the mines has retarded development. Recently, there has been more activity, a flotation concentrator having been installed.

Some of the Bolivian tin and silver mines produce small amounts of copper, but outside of Coro Coro total copper production is insignificant.

VENEZUELA

The Aroa Mines, an English syndicate, owns a copper mine and smelter producing low-grade matte. The property is located along the railroad which terminates at the port of Tucacas. In 1917 the output was 3,500,000 pounds. The product was shipped to the United States and refined and sold there by L. Vogelstein & Co.

ARGENTINA

There are some copper prospects in the extreme western portion of the country, which are really extensions from the Chilean copper-producing areas. One company, Famatina, Ltd., is an English concern which has had an unfortunate career. The company operates the only copper smelter in Argentina, a small affair that mines irregularly. At last accounts a few hundred tons of blister copper was the annual output; this has always been shipped to England, but recently attempts have been made to ship to New York. This blister is exceedingly rich in silver (6 per cent. silver).

AFRICA

Africa is a copper producer of growing importance, almost entirely because of the development of one group of deposits (Katanga), which overshadows all others to such an extent that the African situation is almost completely described by a discussion of the properties of the Tanganyika Concession, Ltd. The mines of this company yield now three-quarters of the copper production of Africa, and their importance in the future will be still greater.

The copper production of Africa comes from south of the Equator and from six general districts, as follows:

Table 45.—Copper Production of Africa
(Production, pounds of fine copper)

District	Province and chief mines	1917 output		1918-1919, estimated output		Control	Reserves, years of life at this rate of output
1.	Congo: Katanga[121]	60,000,000		80,000,000		English-Belgian	100
	Bwan M’Kubwa	4,000,000	?	3,000,000		English	large
2.	Transvaal: Messina	14,000,000		12,000,000		English	1¹⁄₂
3.	Rhodesia: Falcon	7,000,000		7,000,000		English	4
4.	Cape Colony: Cape Copper-Namaqua	7,000,000		6,000,000		English	2
5.	Former German Southwest-Africa: Tsumeb (Otavi)	10,000,000	?[122]	15,000,000	?	(English since conquest of German Southwest Africa)	4
	Khan, etc.	2,000,000		4,000,000	?		4
6.	Miscellaneous northern Africa not specified	1,000,000	?	1,000,000	?	French	?
	Total	105,000,000		128,000,000		Almost entirely English

[121] Kanshanshi included in Katanga.

[122] Basis 1914. Present political conditions govern extent of work. Shipped 1,000,000 pounds copper in ore to United States in 1917.

In District 1, the Katanga district, which includes the Belgian Congo and adjacent territory, the Union Minière du Haut Katanga has acquired from the Belgian Special Committee the ownership of all of the Katanga copper belt but not the Kanshanshi deposit in Rhodesia. Equal, but not the entire, share interests of this company are owned by the Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd., and the Katanga (Belgian) Special Committee. The Lubumbashi smelter of U. M. du Haut Katanga, at Elisabethville, close to the Rhodesian boundary, has seven blast furnaces with a daily capacity of 2,000 tons. The ore treated runs 15 per cent. copper, and yields 96 per cent. blister copper. The past production is as follows: 1911, 996 tons blister copper; 1912, 2,492 tons; 1913, 7,407 tons; 1914, 10,722 tons; 1915, 14,190 tons; 1916, 22,165 tons; 1917, 30,000 tons. This copper is shipped to England, and is consumed there and in France after further refining. There is very little gold and silver in the copper, so it goes to market largely as refined, best selected and tough copper.

Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd., owns concessions in northern Rhodesia containing the Kanshanshi mine (a deposit similar to those in Katanga) owned by a subsidiary railroad company, 70 per cent. of which is owned by Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd. A small blast furnace there is producing. The actual railroad connection with Katanga is north from Rhodesia and thence to the eastern coast of Africa. An uncompleted line from the West Coast is planned to connect these mineral deposits with Lobito Bay (Benguella By. Co.). The Portuguese government has a small interest in certain railway lines in its territory. It seems that the English group, (R. Williams, who was an associate of Cecil Rhodes, T. White and others) with the Belgian Special Committee, control the entire group; but a considerable interest has been sold to the public, mainly British and Belgian investors.

The Bwan M’Kubwa mine farther south on the Rhodesia railroad is a deposit of the same general character. This is owned by British capital, two of the Rhodesian development companies holding a large block of the stock.

Ore bodies are found in Katanga over a district extending 250 miles east-west and 50 miles north-south, and also at scattered localities in Rhodesia. Malachite chiefly and other oxidized ores impregnate certain sediments and constitute the ore bodies, which are very rich (10 to 15 per cent. copper). At Luushia sulphides (3 per cent. copper as chalcopyrite) occur beneath the oxidized ore. Cobalt is common; there is some nickel but not much gold and silver. The developed reserves of the mines of Katanga are estimated at 40,000,000 tons of 8 per cent. copper ore above water level, equal to 100 years’ production at the present rate of output; of the Bwan M’Kubwa mine in Rhodesia at 3,000,000 tons of 4 per cent. ore, besides ore of lesser grade. The reserves of the Kanshanshi mine, in Rhodesia, are not included in the estimates.

In District 2, near the Rhodesian boundary, is the Messina mine, the only copper producer of the Transvaal. Along veins in very old gneissic rocks occur shoots and lenses of chalcocite and enargite with some oxide. A little matte is made at the mine but the chief product is concentrates (45 to 50 per cent. copper), all of which were shipped to England. Lately they have been in part sent to the United States. The production was about 14,000,000 pounds in 1915 and the same in 1916. Reserves of 208,000 tons of 5 per cent. ore are reported developed, or not much over one year’s supply. The company is strictly English.

In District 3, the Falcon mines in Central Rhodesia belong to an English company which is treating copper-gold ore occurring in old schists. The production was about 7,000,000 pounds in 1916. The ore carries 2 per cent. copper, $5 in gold, and the reserves are stated at 862,000 tons of this grade, or about four years’ supply.

In the French Congo, just north of the mouth of Congo River, is a belt of copper deposits 60 miles long, which have been worked for centuries by the natives. Diabase rocks occur in this vicinity. The output is very small.

District 4, Cape Colony, is the oldest important copper producer of modern Africa, but its chief deposits, worked since 1852, are nearly exhausted. The Cape Copper Co. and Namaqua Copper Co. are south of the Orange River in a district 90 miles by rail from a port on the West Coast. The ore is bornite and chalcopyrite, in irregular lenses; the reserves are equivalent to only two years of production. Each mine has a mill and smelter. Further refining is done at the Briton Ferry smelter of the Cape Copper Co. in Wales, which has a capacity of 12,000 tons per year of refined copper and electrolytic copper. All these companies, including the railroad, are entirely British. Cape Colony copper production is dependent on this one district, from which the 1917 output was 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 pounds.

In District 5, the former colony of German Southwest Africa, copper deposits are numerous, and next to diamond mining the production of copper is the most important industry of the province. The main deposit is the Tsumeb in the northeast part of the country, where solid sulphides of lead and copper occur in dolomite. Fifty thousand tons of ore carrying 13 per cent. copper and 40 per cent. lead was shipped in 1917. There is a smelter here and the mine has rail connection. The company working these deposits was the Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn, but through the Southwest Africa Co. the English had an interest in the property. The English now have control. The Khan mine, second in importance to Tsumeb, is working a pegmatite vein in schist. In 1914 a mill treating 50 tons a day was shipping 60 to 70 per cent. concentrates to Europe. The ores are chalcopyrite and chalcocite.

In District 6, northern Africa, there are some deposits of copper in Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco. They are not of importance at present. De Launay describes them as chiefly veins in rocks of much younger age than the important deposits of Africa which lie south of the Equator.

Matte and blister produced in Africa are normally treated at small English plants or at the Briton Ferry smelter, Wales, which is a plant of some size.

The general economic situation as regards African copper ores in 1917 is shown in the [table].

Table 46.—Production and Shipments of Copper from Africa in 1917

Mine	Production, (pounds)	Chief product shipped	Shipped to—
Katanga	60,000,000	matte and blister	England
Cape Copper-Namaqua	7,000,000	matte	England
Messina	14,000,000	concentrates, matte, hand-picked ore	England
Falcon	7,000,000	concentrates or ore	England
Bwan M’Kubwa	4,000,000		Katanga plants
German Southwest Africa, Otavi, Khan	12,000,000	ore	England or Germany
North Africa	1,000,000	ore	France
	105,000,000

Considerable of this copper goes to the United States. In 1917, as shown below, the total amount of copper received in this country was 7.5 per cent. of the total African production.

Table 47.—Shipments to the United States in 1917

	Grade Shipped	Shipments (tons)	Copper content (pounds)
Otavi to New York	Ore (12 per cent.)	3,900	1,048,000
Messina to New York	Ore (45 per cent.)	703	715,000
Do	Matte (45 per cent.)	306	310,000
Cape Copper to New York	Concentrates (55 per cent.)	375	460,000
		5,284	2,533,000
Katanga	Blister	...	5,437,000
Total			8,000,000

AUSTRALASIA

Copper production in Australasia is not now increasing. In recent years the production (metric tons) has been as follows:

1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917
16,600	22,900	37,592	32,512	35,000	38,100

Formerly German metal buying and refining companies controlled the Australian copper output (as that of lead and zinc) by virtue of refining and selling contracts. Hence the year 1914 brought disorganization to Australian mining. War-profits taxation on Australian mines has been severe; and government aid, formerly granted, has been largely withdrawn. Lack of labor, inability of new properties to obtain railroad connections, and absence of government encouragement to prospecting, have retarded the copper industry since August, 1914. Aside from former German control based on selling and refining contracts, all Australian copper mining is and has been under British control. The properties are owned by British and Australian capital and present refining and selling arrangements will prevent the German metal companies from again getting any foothold in the field. All former contracts with German agencies were abrogated. The government took this phase of the matter in hand, and one step was to purchase the entire production of Australia for the first half of 1918 at £106 to £108 per ton.

The Australian copper situation in 1917 is exhibited in the table following:

Table 48.—Production of Copper and Refining Plants in Australia in 1917

Chief mines	Production, 1917, (long tons)		Refineries
Queensland:
Mount Morgan	8,000	[123]	Port Kembla plant, Electrolyte Refining & Smelting Co., Ltd.
Hampden Cloncurry	8,000	[123]	Capacity, 29,000 tons electrolyte copper per annum; 12,000 tons fire-refined copper per annum.
Other Cloncurry district mines	4,000	[123]	Mount Elliott completed refinery at Bowen, Queensland, in 1917; capacity 10,000 tons refined copper.
South Australia:
Wallaroo & Moonta	7,000		Wallaroo & Moonta smelter, Bowen, Queensland; capacity increased from 7,000 to 10,000 tons per annum.
Tasmania:
Mount Lyell	5,000		Ships to Port Kembla.
New South Wales:
Great Cobar	2,500	[123]
C. S. A. and Mt. Hope, etc.	2,250
West Australia and Papua:
New pyrite ore bodies of promise opened	1,250
	38,000

[123] Ores mined are primary, consisting of chalcopyrite and chalcocite. Secondarily enriched ores near the surface have been entirely mined out.

As stated, the ownership of these mines is strictly British, and at present the refining and marketing is now British instead of German. Two refineries, both recently enlarged and improved, now have a capacity of over 60,000 tons a year, which is well in excess of the present output of the country. Towards the end of 1917, the Copper Producers’ Association Proprietary, Ltd., was formed in Australia for the purpose of selling and shipping copper on a co-operative basis. All copper producers were invited to join. Wallaroo & Moonta, Mount Morgan, Mount Lyell and the Cloncurry mines are members of this association, as is the Electrolytic Refining & Smelting Co., which treats the ores of these mines. The company markets its products in England and Australia. Its chief brands are E. S. A. (electrolytic) and E. S.A.F.R. (fire refined). These brands are also sold by Elder Smith & Co., Ltd., of London and Australia, which has had a financial interest in the Wallaroo & Moonta Co. since the early days, and has financed and marketed the copper production of this company since 1915.

Metals Products, Ltd., has recently been formed, with works at Port Kembla producing copper wire, brass goods, etc. Importation of copper and brass products into Australia should entirely disappear if the plans of the Australian government and copper producers do not miscarry.

The oldest mine and one of the two leading mines in Australasia is the Wallaroo & Moonta, in South Australia. This deposit occurs in a pre-Cambrian complex, intersected by pegmatitic dikes. Ore reserves are believed to be ample: say five years’ supply of developed ore. In recent years, production has been very steady at about 7,000 tons per year of refined copper. This is the only important copper deposit of pre-Cambrian age in Australia.

The other leading mine in Australia is Mount Morgan, in Queensland, which until 1910 was one of the largest gold mines in the world. The gold was in the oxidized top of a large low-grade copper deposit, which is now being mined from open cuts. Primary chalcocite, chalcopyrite and pyrite with quartz constitutes the ore deposit. The ore runs 2¹⁄₂ per cent. copper and is concentrated up to 7 per cent. The reserves exceed 4,000,000 tons of 2¹⁄₂ per cent. copper, or 10 years’ supply.

The Cloncurry district is a large area, 200 by 40 miles in extent, containing several copper deposits, which occur in schist and are mainly small bonanzas. The future of this district seems very promising. The chief mines are Hampden Cloncurry, Mount Elliott, Mount Cuthbert; and the developed ore reserves insure five years’ production. The Hampden Cloncurry mine has 300,000 tons of 7 per cent. ore in reserve, a smelter producing blister copper, and railroad connections. The district is hampered by bad climate, etc., and especially by labor conditions. Recent government rulings (1918), as to very short hours of labor and higher wages, are reducing outputs. The Mount Elliott mine, which has a 300,000-ton deposit of 10 per cent. ore, is now (1919) idle because of labor conditions. The Mount Cuthbert mine, which completed a new smelter in 1917, has reserves of 150,000 tons of 6¹⁄₂ per cent. copper, and railroad connections.

The Mount Lyell mine, in Tasmania, is an old and steady producer. One class of ore runs 0.5 per cent. of copper and 1.25 ounces silver; the other contains 6 per cent. copper ore, with the same amount of silver. This is a disseminated deposit in schist, near a conglomerate contact. No igneous rocks are known in the vicinity. The reserves are 2,000,000 tons of low-grade ore and 1,000,000 tons of high grade; insuring the present output for 15 years. Considerable of the ore is mined open cut, and this is one of the lowest grade profitable mines in the world. Ores are smelted direct after being mixed, so that the product going to the furnace runs 2¹⁄₂ per cent. copper.

The Great Cobar mine, in New South Wales, works cupriferous pyrite carrying 2 to 2¹⁄₂ per cent. copper. Cobar used to produce 4,000 to 5,000 tons of copper a year. After erecting a 1,200-ton smelter in 1912, the company was placed in the hands of a receiver, April, 1914. The reserves are believed to be large. The other chief mines in New South Wales (the C. S. A., Mount Hope, Nymagee, etc.) produce together about as much as Great Cobar. These mines have smelters, and for the most part were formerly of much greater importance than they are today. Several have no railway connections, and this is an important handicap to New South Wales mines, which once produced twice the present output.

In West Australia, there have been developed recently a number of promising deposits of pyritic copper ores. There are no important producers, there being no railways.

The present conditions in Australia, in which labor conditions are most important, and the absence of new railroad construction, have seriously affected the development of the copper industry, but the future seems promising. Several important deposits have proved large and the ore bodies persistent. Much of the country has not been explored and many good showings could be worked and some probably developed into profitable mines if conditions were favorable to new ventures. Just the reverse is the case, however. The Mount Lyell company has been exploring northern Tasmania, and recently found in the mine of the Tasmania Copper Co. about 1,000,000 tons of ore carrying copper, zinc, gold and silver and worth $20 to $30 per ton, gross.

It is believed that Australia will continue to be an important copper producer; probably its importance will increase. Weighted reserves, in terms of ore supply to maintain present output, insure copper production continuing undiminished for 7.2 years. These reserves are well distributed among the various producers.

ASIA

JAPAN

Copper deposits are found over a large part of central Japan. The ores, which occur in Tertiary volcanics, consist of chalcopyrite and pyrite running 2¹⁄₂ to 3¹⁄₂ per cent. copper, and are commonly concentrated before smelting. The gangue is usually quartzose. Lenticular deposits of cupriferous pyrite in Paleozoic schists and sediments occur on the west and the south side of Japan. These mines yield smelting ore carrying about 3¹⁄₂ to 4 per cent., but contain very little silica. Pyritic smelting is extensively practiced. Over one-half the copper production comes from four chief mines: Ashio and Kosaka of the Tertiary type; and Hitachi and Beshi of the Paleozoic schist type.

The state reserves to itself the right of original ownership in all ores, including copper. The right to work them is granted to individuals or companies of Japanese nationality. Copper mining, smelting and refining companies seem to be entirely Japanese in ownership and policy. The number of mines is considerable, but their ownership is concentrated into a few hands and the smelting and refining industry is still more concentrated. Japanese producers sell their own copper, all foreign selling agencies being strictly Japanese. The mines in Japan are not generally worked as joint-stock enterprises, but are mostly family properties inherited by the present owners. A table showing the 1917 copper production of Japan indicates these facts. (See [Table 49].)

Because of labor conditions, abundant fuel near the mines and water transportation, Japanese copper production has increased rapidly in recent years. High prices and the adoption of modern methods of mining and smelting have been important contributing factors. There seems no reason to expect that Japan’s production will decrease, but not enough is known of geological conditions to enable one to discuss the future outlook. The only mine whose reserves are known is the Beshi, which has reserves adequate for 100 years of production at the present rate, which is 10 per cent. of the Japanese output. The reserves at other mines are not developed far ahead, but must insure several years of continued production at the present rate.

The production and exports of Japanese copper in recent years are as follows (in terms of metric tons):

Year	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917
Production	63,893	67,697	71,046	76,039	101,467	124,306
Exports	30,000	42,000	45,500	59,500	62,000	72,000

Table 49.—Japanese Copper Production
Producing companies and brands of copper marketed. The companies named have selling offices in London and in other foreign consuming centers.

Company and chief mines owned	Smelters		Electrolytic refineries
	Location	1917 production (pounds) of refined and casting[124] and brands sold	Location	1917 estimated capacity (pounds) and brands sold
Mitsu Bishi & Co.	Osaka	15,000,000	Osaka	15,000,000
Osaruzawa
Arakawa
Ikuni and 6 smaller mines
Brands sold		Arakawa, Mitsui Bishi, casting, etc. (rough copper)		M. B. (Mitsu Bishi)
Furukawa & Co.	Osaka (Amagasaki)	17,000,000	Osaka (Nikko Plant)	67,000,000
Ashio
also Ani, Furukura, Kune and 6 smaller mines
Brands sold		Furukawa, Ani Tiles, refined Maragata Best Selected		F. M. (Furukawa Mines)
Fujita & Co.	Inushimo	3,000,000	Mosaka	20,000,000
Kosaka (North end Honshu)
Brands sold		Obiye casting, etc. (rough copper)		Kosaka
Kuhara Mining Co.		None	Hitach	100,000,000
Hitachi (near Tokio)				Reported capacity at least 20% in excess of 1917 output.
3 smaller mines 30 per cent. custom ore
Brands sold				H. M. (Hiatachi Mine)
Baron Sumitomo	Shikoku Island	22,000,000
Beshi		Beshi Best Selected
Brands sold
Nippon Metals Co. of Kobe	Moji			19,000,000
Brands sold		S. Z. K. (Susuki) and some casting
Denkibundo Co.			Bundo	13,000,000
Total casting rough copper and best selected sold		57,000,000
Total electrolytic refining capacity[125]				235,000,000
1917 output of electrolytic estimated		217,000,000
Total		214,000,000 or 124,306 metric tons Eng. & Mining Journal figure 1917 output.

[124] Balance smelted to cathodes and treated electrolytically.

[125] Plant capacity. Evidently not reached in 1917.

Since the high copper prices of 1916 there was a heavy importation of Chinese copper coins into Japan. In 1917 one concern alone had contracted for 200,000 tons of such coins, which contain about 85 per cent. copper, and the rate of importation at that time would mean 60,000 tons refined copper a year from this secondary source. This development has enabled Japan to make heavy exports of copper.

The collapse of Russia removed one of Japan’s big copper markets. Japan will probably not be able profitably to produce a large exportable surplus of copper unless the price obtained is fairly high compared to quotations ruling in 1912 to 1914. Under normal conditions Japan will supply her own needs for copper with little or nothing to spare.

KOREA (CHOSEN)

The Seoul Mining Co. (Collbran and Bostwick) is producing from contact deposits, one 50 miles and the other 100 miles from a harbor. This American concern is a dominant trading and banking house in Korea and is working mines formerly operated by Koreans. The copper ores are sulphides between limestone and granite. Five hundred tons of 60 per cent. concentrates were shipped from Chosen to the United States in 1917.

CHINA

The present production of China is 2,000 tons a year, and the chief deposits are in Yunnan Province. A great many localities are reported to show copper ores, mainly cupriferous pyrite in very old schists, or in Permian basalt. The latter deposits are too small for modern methods. In the last hundred years, lack of wood to make charcoal has restricted output to a nominal amount. Small seams of native copper are highly esteemed by the natives. The ores are carefully hand-picked, and the small-scale methods are wasteful.

The Tungschuanfu mine, Yunnan, the chief mine in China, has a yearly output of about 1,000 tons of copper. The district has been worked for hundreds of and probably is very rich. The ores, replacements in limestone and veins in shale, are 8 per cent. copper and the reserves are large. The Yaoki Kansu government smelter is a modern plant with a capacity of four tons of copper a day.

There are several other mines, all controlled by the government. Outside engineers have reported favorably on some of them, but the government closely regulates copper mining in China because it affects currency and government profits on coinage of copper. There are also some copper mines worked with the contact iron deposits of China (formed by contact action of diorite); and deposits of malachite in Triassic sandstone are worked at several points.

INDIA

India is not a copper producer. The Rakha Hills mine of the Cape Copper Co. (see [Cape Colony]) has 400,000 tons of 4 per cent. copper ore developed and a smelter is being built. India is an enormous copper consumer, and it is surprising she has never been a producer.

EUROPE

Political and commercial control of much of the copper production of Europe is obviously uncertain in the extreme, as are any figures of production for the Central Powers and Russia. (See [Table 49].)

SPAIN, PORTUGAL, NORWAY AND SWEDEN

Spain is the oldest and steadiest producer of copper in the world. The chief deposits are controlled by English capital and their developed reserves insure present production for 30 to 60 years. The copper is largely refined to finished form in England and enters the market there under various brands. The Rio Tinto is an enormous deposit worked by open pits.

Table 50.—Production and Control of Copper in Europe

Country and chief localities in which copper is produced	Output 1916-1917 (metric tons)	Estimated output 1918-1919 (metric tons)		Estimated output 1918-1919 (pounds)	Control by:			Reserves of ore	Remarks
					Financial[126]	Political	Handling of sales
Germany
Mansfeld	30,000	30,000		...		Now entirely German			Output in future should not be nearly as large.
Mitterberg, etc.	10,000	10,000		...		Do
Austria-Hungary	10,000	10,000		...		Do
Serbia, Bor, etc.	10,000	10,000		...		Do
Turkey, Aghano, etc.	10,000	10,000		...		Do
Bulgaria and Roumania	1,000	1,000		...		Do
Total Central Powers (est.)	71,000	71,000		...
Spain and Portugal[127]	42,000	42,000		...					No statistics since 1914.
Mason & Barry	...	...		5,000,000	English	Portuguese	English	32 years’ supply
Rio Tinto	...	...		62,000,000	Do	Spanish	Do	Very large	60 years’ reserves known.
Tharsis	...	...		12,000,000	Do	Do	Do	Do
Misc. (United Alkali, Huelva, Cordoba, etc.)	...	...		11,000,000	Do	Do	Do	Do
Miscellaneous (Calva, Los Guardos, etc.)	...	...		3,000,000	Spanish	Do	Do	Do
Russia (See [Table 52])	18,500	18,000	?	...	?	?	?		1914 output 36,340 tons.
Norway[128] (Sulitolma 40 per cent.)	19,000	19,000		...	¹⁄₂ English and ¹⁄₂ Norwegian	Norwegian		Important	Like Spanish deposits.
Sweden	1,000	1,000		...	Swedish	Swedish	Swedish
Other countries
Italy	3,000	3,000		...	Italian	Italian	Italian		Some English capital.
France	1,000	1,000		...	French	French	French		French pyrite mines.
England	250	250		...	English	English	English		Tin mines.

[126] All companies have foreign stockholders, but dominant nationality is as indicated.

[127] Export copper to France and England in form of blister, alloys, cement, pyrite ore and copper ore.

[128] Export copper to England and Sweden chiefly in form of cupriferous pyrite.

Note. Production for 1919 in Germany probably smaller than estimate.

The copper deposits, chiefly massive cupriferous pyrite, in Norway and Sweden, are similar to those of Spain geologically as well as economically. Their commercial value depends not only on their copper content, but on the sulphur and iron recovered. In many cases the sulphur used in sulphuric acid manufacture is of greater money value than the recovered copper. Hence the exported copper from Spain, Portugal and Norway is in several forms: pyrite, matte, ingot copper from Norway and considerable cement copper or precipitates from Spain and Portugal. Pyrite is exported to England, the United States, and perhaps a little to France; the matte, ingot, etc., to various European countries. Sweden imports as well as produces pyrite. France, Italy and Russia produce considerable pyrite and before the war France exported pyrite. Under normal conditions, the copper in all this pyrite is shipped back and forth over Europe and can hardly be traced. The table shows the location of raw materials but not the place where marketable copper is produced. The chief imports and exports of pyrite are normally as follows:

Table 51.—Normal Exports and Imports of Pyrite for Certain European Countries

Exports from—	Amount (tons)	Imports to—	Amount (tons)
Spain	1,500,000	England	1,050,000
Norway	500,000	Sweden	100,000
Portugal	250,000	United States	1,000,000
	...	France	100,000
Estimated total	2,250,000		2,250,000

GERMANY

Under existing conditions the present output of Germany can not be closely estimated. The figures in [Table 49] are guesses based on the information available. The Mansfeld deposits are clearly the most important, and as they are in shales that extend over a large area, the reserves must be considered large. The Mitterberg mine, owned by the Krupps, had a pre-war output of only 1,000 tons yearly. Several copper deposits in the Austrian Tyrol had a pre-war output of 1,000 tons annually.

The chief source of copper in Germany during the war, however, must have been from conversion of articles containing copper which were in use before the war. It is doubtful if 10 per cent. of the yearly copper production of peace times was destroyed in use. Consequently, in all countries there is normally a big store of copper in the form of wire, brass, machine parts, etc. This is what Germany used during the war, and its replacement is essential to her industrial success in peace.

RUSSIA

The copper production of Russia was rapidly increasing before the war and reached a maximum in 1913. The ownership of the mines and refineries was largely English but in part French. Enough development had been done to indicate that Russia will probably be a large producer of copper when consistent industrial progress is possible. In 1918 the mines had been seized by workmen and operations were nearly or entirely suspended. The copper districts are all in the Urals, the Caucasus or Siberia. The Russian copper production (in long tons) has been as follows:

1905	1910	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917
8,700	22,310	33,794	31,435	25,472	20,557	15,700
		(34,911)		(27,295)

Table 52.—Copper Production and Ore Reserves of Russia
(All figures long tons)

District	Company	Original investments made by:	1913 production	1915 production, (estimated)	Ore reserves (developed)	Copper in ore reserves (per cent.)	Remarks
Urals	Kyshtim	British	7,000	7,600	3,150,000	2.75	Obtains gold as by-product.
Do	Bogoslovsk	Do	4,300	4,100	...	...	Ore hard to follow; excellent possibilities.
Do	Sissert	Do	1,100	1,500	5,000,000	(2³⁄₄)-4
Do	Tanalyk	Do	600	600	126,000	...	Developing into a gold rather than a copper deposit.
Do	Verch-Isselz	Russian	3,000	2,500	large reserves	2-3	Massive pyrite ore.
Do	Nishni Tagilsh (Demidov)	Do	2,000	1,500
Urals total			18,000	17,800
Caucasus	Caucasus Copper Co.	British	5,500	3,000	3,600,000	3	Mines at Khot Eli and Katar.
Do	Allah Verde	French	2,000	700	...	...	Industrial & Metallurgical Co. of Caucasus.
Do	Siemens Co.	Russian	1,500	800	...	...	Mines at Tcherek and Kedabeck.
Caucasus total			9,000	4,500
Siberia	Spassky	British	4,756	3,450	543,000	10.7
Do	Miscellaneous	Do		734	...	...	Development companies, see below.
Do	Irkysh (Ridder)	Do	(New)	...	2,300,000	5	1,000,000 low-grade ore also in reserves.
Do	Russian Mining Co.	Do	410	...	500,000	2.6	Ore carries other metals.
Do	Alexeieff Co.	Do	377	...
Do	Russo-Asiatic Corporation	Do
Siberia total			5,553	4,184
Russian chemical works			1,358	811			Ouchkoff, Kreiners, etc.
Grand total Russia			34,911	27,295
Russian reserves insure maintenance of 1913 maximum output for at least 15 years Copper refineries Capacity per year. Electrolytic Kyshtim 10,000 Electrolytic Bogoslov 6,000 Best selected (refined) Caucasus Copper Co. 10,000 Total 26,000

Russia has always been in large part dependent on foreign copper and there was a tariff premium on domestic production. It is likely that ultimately Russia may more nearly be self-supporting as regards copper requirements, even if consumption increases greatly. [Table 52] shows the important developed properties, their production in 1913 (maximum) and in 1915 (estimated), their developed ore reserves, and the nationality of original capital that made the developments possible.