Twelve companies were engaged in mining gold, the output being 958,304 grams in 1916 and 712,007 grams in 1918.
Only one company produced commercial asphalt (46,453 tons). (See Report on Petroleum and Asphalt, p. 102.)
The number of mining claims of all kinds taken out was 97 in 1917, 119 in 1918 and 135 in the first three months of 1919.
James J. O'Neil.
[THE PETROLEUM AND ASPHALT INDUSTRY IN VENEZUELA]
[The writer of this report is much indebted to Mr. W. T. S. Doyle, a graduate of Georgetown University, now manager of the Caribbean Petroleum Company in Venezuela.]
The purpose of this report is to present a complete, yet concise, discussion of the petroleum and asphalt situation in Venezuela. The first part is devoted to petroleum and the second part to asphalt.
Señor N. Veloz Goiticoa, a prominent Venezuelan, says, "There is scarcely a mining product known that can not be found in some part of the vast expanse of Venezuela." This statement, intended to apply to all minerals, is particularly true of petroleum and asphalt in respect of which the great area of Venezuela has as yet hardly been scratched.