Table 9.-Gold production at placer mines in the United States, by methods of recovery 1 Excludes tonnage of material treated at commercial sand and gravel operations recovering byproduct gold. Includes gold recovered at commercial sand and gravel operations recovering byproduct gold. Gold recovered as a byproduct at sand and gravel operations not used in calculating average value per cubic yard. Less than 1⁄2 unit. Table 10.—U.S. gold consumption in industry and the arts e • Estimated by Office of Domestic Gold and Silver Operations, U.S. Treasury Department. P Preliminary. Revised. NA Not available. 1 Gold is also produced in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Spain, and small quantities probably in East Germany, Hungary, Thailand, and several other countries. Data for these are not available. Data are also lacking on clandestine activities. 2 Mine production. Output from U.S.S.R. in Asia included with U.S.S.R. in Europe. Refinery production for Japan was as follows: 1969-677,476 ounces; 1970-NA; and 1971-772,646 ounces. New Guinea only. Graphite By David G. Willard 1 Supplies of natural graphite, particularly the higher grades, remained tight in 1971. Although the growth of foreign demand eased, mostly as a result of the slowdown in Japanese industrial activity, production problems in Ceylon and the Malagasy Republic-the principal supply areas of high quality graphite-prevented any significant rise in world output. Importers in the United States were hampered both by slow deliveries and by delays resulting from domestic dock strikes. Consumption in the United States is estimated to have risen slightly but remained below the level reached in 1969. Domestic production and imported supplies, supplemented by larg er-than-usual releases of surplus graphite from the strategic stockpile, were sufficient to meet the demand in 1971, but the future supply-demand balance continued to concern the industry. Legislation and Government Programs. DOMESTIC Southwestern Graphite Co. of Burnet, Tex., remained the only domestic producer of natural graphite in 1971. Data on its output are confidential, but it can be stated that there was a continuation of the declining trend of the last few years. The tabulated output of manufactured graphite dropped slightly in 1971, breaking the rapidly rising trend of recent years. -Defense material inventories as of December 31, 1971 showed that the stockpile contained a total of 36,685 tons of strategic-grade graphite. This amount represented a reduction of 4,908 tons from the yearend 1970 inventory and was the result of disposals of 3,976 tons of Malagasy crystalline graphite and 933 tons of crystalline graphite other than Ceylon and Malagasy, plus a 1-ton upward adjustment in the Ceylon amorphous lump stock total. Disposals were larger than in previous years in response to requests from domestic importers who were having difficulty in obtaining supplies from their regular foreign sources. The annual release of Malagasy crystalline flake graphite was raised, in agreement with domestic suppliers and the Malagasy Government, from 500 to 1,500 tons. A further increase to 2,500 tons has been proposed for fiscal year 1973. 1 Economist, Division of Nonmetallic Minerals. PRODUCTION Production of 256,137 tons was 7 percent below the 274,076 tons produced in 1970. Total value fell only 1 percent, to $157.3 million from the $158.5 million of the year before. Although consumption of electrodes continued to grow, markets for other manufactured graphite products were depressed by the continued slackness in industrial ? Data for 1971 not comparable with data for previous years because of additional respondents not previously included in survey. activity. Cost consciousness on the part of industrial consumers created resistance to the introduction of some of the newer types of specialty products. Considerable research and development effort was directed toward the discovery of new forms and uses of manufactured graphite, some of the results of which are noted in the section on technology. Seven companies, operating 12 plants, reported their 1971 output of manufactured graphite to the Bureau of Mines. One company, Becker Brothers Carbon Co. of Cicero, Ill., suspended production during the year. The reporting companies and their plant locations are listed below. Company Air Reduction Co., Inc.: Location Niagara Falls, N.Y. Airco Speer Carbon Products Division St. Marys, Pa. Carborundum Co.: Graphite Plant Hickman, Ky. CONSUMPTION Consumption data reported in table 3 are not comparable with similar data published in earlier years because a large number of firms was added to the survey for this year. Graphite consumption by these firms had not been included in previous tabulations. Total natural graphite consumption is estimated to have risen about 5 to 10 percent in 1971 from its depressed level in 1970. This relatively small rise means that total consumption had not returned to its pre-recession level of 1969. AND USES Improved graphite markets occurred mainly in the motor vehicle industry and in miscellaneous uses. The upturn in domestic automobile sales that occurred in 1971 boosted graphite consumption in the manufacture of brake and clutch linings, rubber goods, and in lubricants and packings. Among the smaller, miscellaneous uses showing strong gains were powdered metal manufactures and products made from graphite-plastic composite materials (the latter group includes seals and similar products but not graphite fiber composites, Source: Office of Emergency Preparedness. Stockpile Report to the Congress July-December 1971. |