er ores, with which it is generally
associated, and has been obtained from the amalgamation of these. More
recently gold-bearing quartz lodes are being worked, and are producing
important quantities of gold. Among the foremost of these are the mines
of the district of El Oro, in the State of Mexico, somewhat less than a
hundred miles to the north-west of the capital. They produced in 1905
about ten million dollars in gold, or about 800,000 dollars per month.
Whilst Mexico has not generally been looked upon as a gold-producing
country, it is undoubtedly the case that it will, under the present
rate of development, rank among the foremost of these. At present
Mexico holds sixth place with a production for 1907 of 3-3/4 millions
sterling. Gold-bearing lodes are being discovered and worked in most of
the States, and thousands of such deposits are being prospected, or
awaiting such, whilst numerous crushing plants are treating ores in
those districts most accessible to the railways. The enterprise known
as El Oro Mining and Railway Company may be looked upon as a
well-managed and prosperous concern, controlled by British capital. It
was first acquired by a British company in 1815, and it is stated that
it yielded five or six million pounds sterling of gold. Later it was
abandoned, taken up in 1870 by native capitalists, and at the end of
last century purchased by an American company, to be again acquired by
British interests in 1899. The enterprise controls a large area of
ground of more than 500 acres, a short railway to the Mexican National
Line, and some valuable forests which afford fuel. With its battery of
200 stamps and large cyaniding mills, it has a capacity for ore
treatment of 20,000 tons per month. The yield per ton of ore is given
for 1900 at slightly under 3 pounds sterling per ton, at a cost of
about 25s., and for 1907 35s. per ton, at a cost of slightly under 20s.
The tonnage treated for these years were 53,500 tons and 263,000 tons
respectively, and all the intervening years show the steady increase.
The output for 1907 was more than a million tons of ore, due to the
added capacity of the new stamp mill, whilst the monthly profits for
that year and for 1908 fluctuated between 14,000 and 18,000 pounds
sterling.

Other successful enterprises of El Oro region are the Somera Gold
Mining Company, affiliated with the foregoing, and the Mexico Mines of
El Oro. The latter company's mill has a capacity of 250 tons of