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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": 8,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875510/875510-02-008.tif",
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    "ocrText": "CONFIDENTIAL\nA SURVEY OF THE WORLD MERCURY SITUATION\nWORLD PRODUCTION AND RESERVES\nSpain and Italy normally produce more than seventy percent of the world's supply\nof mercury. The US accounts for fifteen percent, and Mexico, the USSR, and China\nall but a small amount of the remainder. World production in 1938 totalled about\n150,000 flasks. Italy mined 66,752 flasks and Spain 41,409 whereas in earlier years\nSpain had accounted for about sixty percent of the combined output of the two coun-\ntries. The US produced 17,991, Mexico 8,519, and the USSR an estimated 8,700 flasks.\nUnder the impetus of military demands for mercury and consequent rises in the\noutputs of Spain and Italy, a World War II high was reached in 1941, when the world\noutput reached 275,000 flasks. Italy's output that year reached a peak of 94,160 flasks\nand Spain, 86,473 flasks. Countries in the Western Hemisphere, however, did not\nachieve maximum outputs until 1942 and 1943. Axis control of the main sources of\nmercury prompted intensive effort on the part of US authorities to encourage output\nin the Western Hemisphere by means of government contracts. These, coupled with\nhigh market prices, were responsible for the excellent production records of the US,\nMexico, and Canada. The US mined 51,929 flasks in 1943 and achieved its highest\nannual output since 1872. Mexico produced a high of 32,443 flasks in 1942; Canada's\noutput was increased from six flasks in 1939 to 22,240 flasks in 1943.\nConsumption dropped when the war ended and world production decreased to\n131,000 flasks in 1945. The large surplus of mercury accumulated during the war\ndepressed the 1947-48 prices to the lowest levels in more than ten years. Canada has\nstopped operations entirely and the major producers in other countries are operating\nat an annual rate of approximately half their World War II peak years.\nThe principal world mercury deposits are those of Almaden in Spain, those of the\nMonte Amiata district in Italy, and in the Western Hemisphere the zone of late volcanics\nbordering the Pacific Ocean. Most deposits are roughly veinlike in form, irregular in\nsize, shape, and grade, and rarely extend more than a few hundred feet in depth,\nalthough a few have been explored to more than 2,000 feet. The individual ore bodies\nare usually small. The average grade of ore in the Western Hemisphere averages from\n.25 to .65 percent compared with 1.4 percent for the large deposits in Italy and six\npercent for large deposits of Almaden in Spain.\nIn few cases are reserves \"blocked out\" for more than a few years operations\nalthough the tonnage of indicated and inferred ore may be large. In the US the work\nof prospectors and producers in searching for and developing mercury deposits has\nbeen supplemented by the efforts of the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines.\nThis cooperation stimulated the industry considerably during World War II and added\nlarge tonnages of mercury to domestic reserves. High prices stimulated exploration\nfor ore and development of mines in all countries outside Spain and Italy, while the\ncapture by German armies of the main source in the USSR, the Nikitoka mines, neces-\nsitated exploitation of several new deposits in that country.\n1"
}