years, and now State mines are few and insignificant compared with the private mining concessions granted by the Government on long leases.
The mineral areas of Western Siberia are found chiefly in the Palaeozoic formations of the Altai system. The richest areas are those situated at the headwaters of the Obi and Irtish, where these rivers flow off the Altai plateaus, while in the lower reaches also of these rivers, as they wander northward across the steppes, there are rich deposits of auriferous silt. Here, where the current is slack, dredging is chiefly resorted to, while on the upland plateaus gold is won by washing the sand and gravel. The working of reefs only began in 1897, and the output by this method has been comparatively small hitherto, although there is every reason to believe that in the mountainous districts of the Altai this method will become the principal one. A great hindrance to the successful working of reef gold in Western Siberia has hitherto been the difficulty in obtaining efficient mining machinery. Of late years, however, English firms have sent out some up-to-date machinery which is stimulating this branch of the mining industry. Although not so plentiful as in the Baikal district, North-Eastern Siberia and the Far East, gold is nevertheless found all over the Altai Mountains, and is especially rich in the Zeminogorsk and Salayersk districts. A number of syndicates, most of which have foreign capital at their backs, are working successfully here.
The Altai district is also very rich in silver. In the early days this was the chief mineral that was worked, and for a long time proved a profitable industry. But as the nineteenth century advanced, the increased
