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    "localId": "486500536",
    "label": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, A Survey of the World Mercury Situation, Situation Report 28",
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    "id": "486500536",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, A Survey of the World Mercury Situation, Situation Report 28",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486500536",
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        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Intelligence Files"
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 4,
            "logicalDate": "1949-02-04",
            "month": 2,
            "year": 1949
        }
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{
    "seq": 20,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875510/875510-02-020.tif",
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    "ocrText": "wage for only working forty-eight hours a month. The mine ceases operations from\nJune through September to allow the employees to farm. Due to wasteful mining and\ntreatment methods coupled with inflation, costs are believed to have risen to the pres-\nent market price, compared to a cost of about $11 a flask early in the war. With modern\nmining and milling methods and efficient labor practices, costs could be reduced to $7\na flask or less.\nAlmaden is over 1,300 feet deep which is unusual, for mercury deposits are nor-\nmally shallow. The ore has diminished in grade and volume with depth, but reserves\nhave been reported at 250,000 tons of measured ore averaging six to eight percent and\nat least 650,000 tons of indicated ore averaging two and one-half percent mercury.\nThese deposits represent about one million flasks of mercury or about twenty-five\nyears of operation at a normal rate. Large potential reserves of high grade ore are\nbelieved to exist in deposits to the east, along the strike of the formation in which the\nmercury occurs at Almaden. These deposits occur in the valley of the Rio Valdeazogue\nbut are within the Almaden concession. (For description of Almaden mine see\nChart XIII.)\nAt the end of the war mercury stocks in Spain were reported to total 120,700 flasks.\nA considerably decreased world consumption and large stocks in other countries made\nsales difficult even at low prices. In 1947 Spain was unable to sell any mercury to US\nfirms at $65 a flask, plus $19 tariff, until August when a contract for 2,500 flasks was\nmade with P. R. Mallory Company, makers of the mercury battery. This sale was made\nat $55 a flask, f.o.b. Cadiz. United States producers claim the sale was a violation of\nthe Antidumping Act of 1921. Mallory's agents, Philipp Brothers, requested a reduc-\ntion in price to make mercury available for experiments conducted in manufacturing\nthe mercury battery for commercial use. The Consejo Almaden agreed to the contract,\nstating that the size of the order warranted the discount of slightly more than fifteen\npercent, and that a large new market might be developed by the experiments. About\n1,250 flasks were sold to Berk & Company of London at a price of about $60 f.o.b. port,\na\nsmaller discount, but a smaller order. Large orders, such as Mallory's, were given\nsubstantial discounts in prewar years.\nIn 1947 Spain's mercury output amounted to 35,420 flasks and exports were 18,172\nflasks compared with a 1946 production of 41,481 flasks and exports of 10,946 flasks.\nDuring the first six months of 1948 Spanish exports of mercury increased to 52,707\nflasks with more than 21,000 flasks shipped to the US. Production for the first half of\nthe year was 6,358 flasks, thus withdrawals of 46,349 were made from stocks which are\nnow believed to total at least 75,000 flasks. Two British firms were reported in July\n1948 to have purchased from Spain about 15,000 flasks which is equal to about one\nyear's consumption in the UK.\nThe following export figures for the period January 1 to June 30, 1948, were\nreleased by the Spanish Customs Service in \"Estadistica del Commercio Exterior de\nEspaña\":\n13\nCONFIDENTIAL"
}