Kentucky: Daniel J. Jones, State geologist, Kentucky Geological Survey, Lexington. Maryland: Joseph T. Singewald, Jr., director, Department of Geology, Mines, and Water Resources, Baltimore 18. Michigan: Gerald Eddy, State geologist, Lansing. New Hampshire: T. R. Meyers, geologist, State Planning and Development Commission, Durham. New Jersey: Meredith E. Johnson, State geologist, Trenton. New York: John G. Broughton, State geologist, Albany. North Carolina: Jasper L. Stuckey, State geologist, Raleigh. Oklahoma: Robert H. Dott, director, Oklahoma Geological Survey, Norman. South Dakota: E. P. Rothrock, State geologist, Vermillion. Texas: John T. Lonsdale, director, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas, Austin 12. Utah: Arthur L. Crawford, director, Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, Salt Lake City. Virginia: William M. McGill, State geologist, and Linwood H. Warwick, office administrator, Virginia Geological Survey, Charlottesville. Washington: Sheldon L. Glover, supervisor, Division of Mines and Geology, West Virginia: Paul H. Price, State geologist, Morgantown. Bureau of Mines statisticians and researchers who rendered sub- FEBRUARY 1951. Aluminum, by Richard H. Mote and Horace F. Kurtz Arsenic, by Jack W. Clark____ Asbestos, by G. W. Josephson and F. M. Barsigian. Foreword, by James Boyd CONTENTS Review of the mineral industries in 1949, by Allan F. Matthews.. Statistical summary of mineral production, by John Hozik and K. Employment and injuries in the mineral industries, by Forrest T. Abrasive materials, by Robert W. Metcalf- Antimony, by Samuel A. Gustavson and Mary E. Trought_. Gold and silver, by Charles White Merrill and Helena M. Meyer.. Phosphate rock, by Bertrand L. Johnson and E. M. Tucker_ Platinum-group metals, by Hubert W. Davis and Charlotte R. Buck. PART I. GENERAL REVIEWS Review of the Mineral Industries By Allan F. Matthews PRODUCTION Value of Production. Mineral products mined and processed in the United States in 1949 were valued at 10.6 billion dollars, the second-largest output to date. This was 14 percent below the alltime high in 1948. Of the three major groups, fuels and metals declined 17 and 10 percent, respectively, whereas nonmetallic minerals (other than fuels) was virtually unchanged. The fuels in 1949 constituted 75 percent of the total, nonmetallic minerals 15 percent, and metals 10 percent. The 14-percent decline in value of mineral output in 1949 compared with 1948 was sharper than the decreases in agricultural products (8 percent), all products combined (1 percent), and national income (3 percent). This divergence apparently was a compensation of the spurt by minerals in reaching its 1948 peak, for the output of minerals, all products combined, and national income in 1949 were almost uniformly 10 percent above 1947, although farm_products were 6 percent below. The bases of these comparisons are Bureau of Agricultural Economics reports on cash receipts from farm marketings (28,127 million dollars in 1949 and 30,544 million dollars in 1948, excluding Government payments) and Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce reports on gross national product (255.6 billion dollars in 1949 and 259.1 billion dollars in 1948) and national income (216.8 billion dollars in 1949 and 223.5 billion dollars in 1948). The basis of calculating the total value of mineral production of the United States has been revised to agree with the State totals. The new series is shown in table 1 in the "as reported" columns. The revisions, described in detail in the Statistical Summary of Mineral Production chapter of this volume, are primarily the result of discarding component series measuring the value of mineral products at an advanced stage of processing and substituting series whose points of measurement are at the mine or concentrating mill. This substitution was carried as far as it was possible to go with existing commodity canvasses. The remaining deficiencies are statistical series for mine values of the limestone, cement rock, and clay used in making cement; limestone for lime; dressed dimension stone (in part); natural-gas liquids; and the nonferrous metals-copper, zinc, lead, gold, silver, antimony, mercury, and tin. If estimates for these replace the cement, lime, dressed stone, natural-gasoline plant liquids, and smelted metals series in the "as reported" columns of table 1, the result is shown in the "adjusted" columns of that table. other words, the "adjusted" columns are strictly on a mine basis. Data prior to 1947, on either of these new bases, have not yet been derived. TABLE 1.—Mineral production of the United States, by major groups, 1947-49, in millions of dollars Volume of Production.-The physical volume of production in 1949, compared with 1948, decreased 13 percent for minerals, 10 percent for durable manufactures, and 5 percent for nondurable manufactures, according to the Federal Reserve Board. During 1949 the Board's index of mineral production (1935-39-100) dropped from 149 in January to 112 in October and recovered to 141 in November. The annual average was 135 in 1949, compared with the records of 155 in 1948 and 162 in May 1948. |