duction, particularly since the discontinuance of the chlorination process in the metallurgy of gold, has been relatively unimportant until the present activity. The war in Europe has affected the manganese ore market, as it has a number of other minerals in which California is also to the fore. Prices have ranged from $12 to $18 per ton for the lower grades, to $50 to $60 for chemical grades.

The production of manganese ore in California for 1915 amounted to 4,013 tons of all grades, having a total value of $49,098 at the mines. It was distributed by counties as follows:

The production of manganese ore in California annually since 1887

Bibliography: Bulletin 67, "Molybdenite.”

Molybdenum is used to a limited extent as an alloy in the steel industry, and also in certain forms of electrical apparatus. Deposits of disseminated molybdenum ores have been observed in several localities in California, and also in small masses associated with copper ore in one district in Plumas County. No commercial production has been made to date, except that a small tonnage was mined in Plumas County in the latter part of the year 1915, but has not been marketed.

NICKEL.

Bibliography: Report on San Diego County, 1914.

Nickel occurs in the Friday Copper Mine in the Julian District, San Diego County. The ore is a nickel-bearing pyrrhotite, with some associated chalcopyrite. Some ore was mined during 1915 in the course of development work, but was not treated nor disposed of, as they were unable to get any smelter to handle it for them.

OSMIUM (see under Platinum).

PALLADIUM (see under Platinum).

PLATINUM.

Bibliography: State Mineralogist Reports XII, XIII. Bulletins 38, 45, 67.

Platinum is a by-product from California's placer operations for gold, and is obtained in part by hydraulic mines in Trinity County, and in the other counties by the gold dredges. As explained under the heading of Gold, the State Mining Bureau does not collect the statistics on platinum, we being indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Chas. G. Yale, of the Division of Mineral Resources, U. S. Geological Survey, for these figures also.

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The production for 1915 amounted to 667 ounces of crude platinum, valued at a total of $21,149. Crude platinum varies considerably in its purity. That marketed during the year 1914, is stated to have averaged 51% platinum, 3% iridium, and 30% iridosmine or osmiridium. Some platinum is also recovered in the electrolytic refining of blister copper. It has been found' that blister copper from several smelters in the United States carries from 0.342 oz. to 1.825 oz. platinum and from 0.607 oz. to 4.402 oz. palladium per 100 tons of blister copper treated; that from Shasta County, California, yielding 1.320 oz. platinum and 0.607 oz. palladium. Iron in greater or less amount is always alloyed naturally with native platinum, and usually some iridium and osmium.

For 1915, the distribution, by counties, was as follows:

Russia produces about 90% of the world's output of platinum. Because of this source being cut off at present, the domestic price is practically double what it was before the war. California's yield for 1915 shows an increase in both amount and value, as compared to 1914. There have been occasional reports of platinum in California being found in vein materials, but as yet no authentic case has come to the notice of the laboratory of the State Mining Bureau.

The annual production and value since 1887, have been as follows:

Bibliography: State Mineralogist Reports IV, X, XII, XIII.
Reports on Colusa et al., counties, 1915. Bulletin 27. U. S. G.
S., Monograph XIII.

Quicksilver was produced in 12 counties in 1915, to the amount of 14,199 flasks, valued at $1,157,449, which is an increase both in number of flasks and value over the year 1914. The European war caused a considerable rise in the price of quicksilver, due to the prohibition of exports from Austria and Italy, and the retention of the Spanish output in England. Immediate steps were taken by many to reopen old quicksilver properties which had been idle for many years. The coming year will show a still further advance in production. A total of approximately 700 men were employed in the quicksilver mines of California in 1915.

The following table of monthly San Francisco quotations per flask of 75 pounds, will indicate the decided change in the status of quicksilver during the year 1915, as compared with the pre-war price of about $37 per flask. As San Francisco is the primary domestic market for quicksilver, the average yearly quotations on this market have always been used by the State Mining Bureau (and the U. S. Geological Survey,

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also) in calculating the value of the state's output of this metal. The 1914 figure was $49.05 per flask. However, because in 1915 there was considerable speculation in quicksilver by parties other than the actual producers, and the price changes were often rapid, so that quotations did not always mean sales, we have in this case taken for the average value the average actual sales as reported to us by the producers. This gives us an average value of $81.52 per flask for the year 1915, instead of the $85.80 average of quotations.

The important uses of quicksilver are the recovery of gold and silver by amalgamation, and in the manufacture of fulminate for explosive caps, of drugs, of electric appliances, and of scientific apparatus. By far the greatest consumption is in the first two mentioned.

Though some domestic yield of this metal is now obtained from Texas, Nevada and Arizona, the bulk of the output still comes from California.

The distribution of the 1915 product, by counties, was:

Kings, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Solano, Stanislaus and
Yolo*

Totals

14,199 $1,157,449

*Combined to conceal output of a single mine in each.

Total Quicksilver Production of California.

The total amount and value of the quicksilver production of California, as given in available records, is shown in the following tabulation. Though the New Almaden mine in Santa Clara County was first worked in 1824, and has been in practically continuous operation since 1846 (though the yield was small the first two years), there are no

available data on the output earlier than 1850. Previous to June, 1904, a "flask" of quicksilver contained 76 pounds, but since that date 75 pounds. In compiling this table the following sources of information were used: For 1850-1883, table by J. B. Randol, in Report of State Mineralogist, IV, p. 336; 1883-1893, U. S. Geological Survey reports; 1894 to date, statistical bulletins of the State Mining Bureau; also State Mining Bureau, Bulletin 27, "Quicksilver Resources of California," 1908, p. 10:

Bibliography: State Mineralogist Reports IV, VIII, XII.

Silver in California is produced largely as a by-product, associated with copper, lead, zinc and gold ores. As explained under the heading of Gold, the following figures are those of the U. S. Geological Survey. The average price of silver during 1915 was 50.7¢ per ounce at New York, as compared with 54.8¢ in 1914.