SUMMARY
The principal and most essential uses of gold are as a measure of value and a medium of exchange. Gold is also used in dentistry, and in the arts for jewelry, gilding, and other forms of ornamentation. In an emergency other materials can be substituted for the latter uses, but any considerable substitution for the principal uses would involve radical changes in our monetary and financial system.
Gold is found in rocks of all geological ages from Archean to Quaternary, and also in minute quantities in ocean water. Only the more concentrated deposits can be worked profitably. It is believed that the production from the present main deposits has reached its zenith, but further important discoveries will probably be made in the Arctic regions, in the tropics, or in other regions hitherto unexplored by man. Siberia, South America, and perhaps China are the most promising regions, as the more settled lands have been already thoroughly prospected.
Gold is widely distributed geographically. It is found in all parts of the world and commercially important mines are worked in every continent. Over 75 per cent. of the total annual output of the world comes from four countries, the Transvaal, the United States, Australia, and Russia. Other important producers are Rhodesia, Mexico, Canada, India, West Africa, and New Zealand. Little gold is produced in Europe or in South America. The deposits of the former continent, at one time important, are becoming exhausted. With improved transportation facilities and with further exploration work, the production of South America is expected to increase materially.
Great Britain controls politically over 60 per cent. of the annual gold production of the world, through state sovereignty over South Africa, Australasia, Rhodesia, Canada, and India. The United States ranks second, controlling about 20 per cent. Russia controls about 6 per cent. and Mexico 4 per cent. The remaining 10 per cent. is controlled by many countries, among them being Japan, France, Belgium, and the Central Powers.
The extent of British political and commercial control is almost identical, British interests controlling over 60 per cent. of the production and owning in addition to the mines in the empire, property in Siberia, South and Central America, Mexico, and the United States. United States interests control financially about 23 per cent. of the world’s production. The Korean deposits are predominantly American owned. United States capital is also invested in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and recently in the Transvaal. Although the gold controlled politically by France is of little importance, French interests control commercially about 5.6 per cent. of the total annual production, owning mines in the Transvaal, in Mexico, and in Central and South America.
Before the war, German interests had extensive holdings in South Africa and Australia.