THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF SOUTH DAKOTA 721 
 
Table 9.—Mine production of gold and silver in terms of recoverable
metals 
 Mines producing Material Gold (lode and placer) Silver (lode and placer)

   sold orYear   treated 1    Value   Troy   Value           Lode Placer
(thousand Troy ounces (thousands)   ounces (thousands)  short tons)   (thousands)

1968 3 1 1,909 576,726 $20,185 117 $1501964 1 1 2,033 616,913 21,592 133
1721965 1  2,032 628,259 21,989 129 1671966 1  2,002 606,467 21,226 110 1421967
1 1 1,896 601,785 21,062 121 1881876—1967 NA NA NA 32,416,144 916,162
12,369 9,616 
NA Not available. 
1 Excludes placer gravel. 
Table 1O—~Homestake mine ore milled, receipts, and dividends 1 
   Ore  Receipts for bullion productYear  milled ——-—----
- Dividends (thousand     Total Per ton (thousands) short tons)  (thousands)

 1963 1,909 $20,278 $10.62 $3,265 1964 2,033 21,703 10.68 3,288 1965 2,032
22,094 10.88 3,445 1966 2,002 21,309 10.64 3,937 1967 1,896 21,200 11.18
2 4,087 
 1 From 1876 to 1967, inclusive, this mine yielded bullion and concentrates
that brought a net return of $844.5 million and paid $236.1 million in dividends.

 2 Consists of dividends as follows: 
Cash—$0.80 per share $1,995,721 
Stock—market value of 45,331 shares of capital stock issued as a 2
percent stock dividend and 
$164,988 paid in lieu of fractional shares 2,091,555 
 Total 4,087,276 
Source: Homestake Mining Co. annual report. 
 
 Exploration for uranium increased because of the increased demand for the
commodity. Among those involved in the activity were Susquehanna-Western,
Inc., a subsidiary of The Susquehanna Corp., which performed extensive drilling,
drifting, and trenching, and Hells Canyon Mining Co. which accomplished 2,000
feet of rotary drilling. 
 
 Vanadium.—At its Edgemont plant Susquehanna-Western, Inc., recovered
vanadium pentoxide from uranium-sandstone ore tailings from the adjacent
mill of Mines Development, Inc., and from fly ash from California. The expansion
of the vanadium mill was virtually completed in 1967 at an approximate cost
of $500,000. 
 
MINERAL FUELS 
 
 Coal.—Early in the year Dewey County Coal Co., near Firesteel, was
purchased by Herbert H. Davis of Timber Lake, who operated it as Firesteel
Coal Co. 
 Petroleum.—Output of crude oil from the Buffalo field, Harding County,
declined 12 percent to 194,049 barrels; the decline resulted from normal
depletion of the field reservoir, the Red River Formation (Ordovician). Associated
natural gas, 12 million cubic feet, was used as field fuel or flared. The
four-well Barker Dome field, Custer County, also had a decline in production—to
16,838 barrels; output was from the Leo sandstone (Pennsylvanian). The net
decrease in production for the State was 28,450 barrels (12 percent). 
 Drilling activity was 25 percent below the level of the previous year. All
of the nine exploratory wells were unsuccessful; no development wells were
drilled. Gulf Oil Corp. continued its interest in the south-central part
of the State with three wildcat wells drilled; this operator drilled a fourth
well in Dewey County. Miami Oil Producers, Inc., drilled an 8,600-foot Ordovician
test about 10 miles west of the Buffalo field; Amerada Petro