rabbits' fur. In the extraction of gold and silver from their ores by amalgamation, large amounts of metallic mercury have been utilized, but of late years the wide application of the cyanide process has decreased this use. Minor uses include the making of certain compounds for preventing boiler-scale, of cosmetics, and of dental amalgam.
The ores of mercury vary greatly in grade. Spanish ores yield an average in the neighborhood of 7 per cent, Italian ores 0.9 per cent, and Austrian ores 0.65 per cent of metallic mercury. In the United States the ores of California yield about 0.4 per cent and those of Texas range from about 0.5 to 4 per cent. In almost all cases the ores are treated in the immediate vicinity of the mines, and fairly pure metal is obtained by a process of sublimation and condensation. This is usually marketed in iron bottles or flasks containing 75 pounds each.
The large producers of mercury are, in order of normal importance, Spain, Italy, Austria, and United States. Mexico, Russia, and all other countries produce somewhat less than 5 per cent of the world's total.
The largest quicksilver mines of the world are those of Almaden in central Spain, which are owned and operated by the Spanish government. This government, after reserving a small amount for domestic use, sells all the balance of the production through the Rothschilds of London. In addition British capital controls some smaller mines in northern Spain.
England thus largely controls the European commercial situation in this commodity, and London is the world's great quicksilver market, where prices are fixed and whence supplies go to all corners of the globe.
Reserves of the Almaden ore bodies are very large. Sufficient ore is reported to have been developed to insure a future production of at least 40,000 metric tons—an amount equivalent to the entire world requirements at pre-war rates of consumption for 100 years.
The mercury deposits of the Monte Amiata district of central Italy