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THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

December 22, 1916.

NON-FERROUS METAL RESOURCES
OF THE EMPIRE.

The following is a summary of the paper read by Prof.
C. Gilbert Cullis, on “ The Mineral Resources of the
British Empire with Regard to the Production of Non-
Ferrous Metals,” before the Society of Engineers last
week :—

It would seem that, with regard to four out of the five
metals dealt with (copper, lead, zinc, tin, and alumi-
nium), the Imperial position is wanting in independence
and security.

In the case of lead and zinc, more especially the latter,
this is due not to any dearth of domestic ores, but to a
lack of smelting enterprise. In that of copper, it is due
both to a deficiency of ore production—which is possibly
insuperable owing to an inadequacy of copper ore
resources—and to the export of British ores or crude
products for metal recovery in foreign countries. In the
case of aluminium, it is due to an insufficiency of the
high-grade ore which alone is at present employed, and
not to the absence of smelting facilities, foreign ore
being imported • for treatment both in Great Britain and
Canada. In the case of tin only is our position really
strong, and even here, in order to consolidate it, and
keep it impregnable, improvements in ore winning and
metal extraction seem to be imperative.

From the consideration of the resources of these
metals a number of principles affecting the conservation
and development of Imperial mineral resources gener-
ally have suggested themselves, and it is proposed in
the concluding paragraphs to refer to these.

In order 'to improve the Imperial position as to
mineral supplies, two courses may be adopted — to
utilise more adequately known deposits, and to discover
or acquire fresh ones.

Fuller Utilisation of Known Deposits.

In the first place, all wasteful methods involved in
the incomplete removal of ore from the deposit—as in
the working of rich parts only of tin alluvials by small
scale methods, when large scale operations would render
poorer ground also available—‘the imperfect recovery of
mineral from ore—as in much of the present day tin
dressing with losses up to 40 per cent.—or the partial
recovery of metal from mineral—as in current zinc
extraction with smelting losses of from 10 to 20 per-
cent.—.should, as far as possible, be eliminated.

A matter of importance as facilitating the exploita-
tion of low-grade deposits is the recovery of by-products.
Ores must be made to yield all the products of value
they contain. Formerly an ore was mined exclusively
for a particular metal. That metal extracted, the resi-
dues were waste products. Wolfram was once a waste
product from tin ores, and blende from silver-lead ores.
Great improvements 'in this matter have taken place, and
a careful distinction is now made between waste pro-
ducts and by-products. It is recognised that by-pro-
ducts may determine the exploitability or otherwise of
a given deposit. Many low-grade copper deposits could
not be profitably worked for copper alone, but the
recovery of small quantities of gold and silver permits
of their exploitation, and thus leads to the utilisation of
a copper deposit which would otherwise lie untouched.
From the Sudbury ore not only nickel and copper are
extracted as the main products, but also gold, silver,
platinum, and palladium as by-products. The complex
lead-zine ores of British Columbia are made to yield
besides lead and zinc, in favourable cases, copper, gold,
and silver also. Every prospective ore should be sub-
jected to careful scientific investigation, to determine
its full possibilities. If it contains materials hitherto
unmarketable because of lack of industrial applications,
e.g., tellurium from gold tellurides, and titanium from
titaniferous iron ores, research should be undertaken to
discover uses for these. The value of such investiga-
tions has often been exemplified. The utilisation of
tungsten ores was not possible until a demand had been
created by the discovery of the value of the metal for
high-speed Steel and electric lighting. The tin ores of
Bolivia are marketable with some difficulty because of
their impurities. It is possible that by the electrolytic
refining of tin these very impurities might become addi-
tional sources of profit.

In order to avail ourselves of the low-grade deposits,
which have such a wide distribution, but which have
largely awaited development, it is and will be necessary
to organise and introduce large -scale operations of high
engineering efficiency, which make use of capital and
power in the most economical and advantageous way.
The combination of operations of this kind with the
recovery of by-products, by reducing working costs, and
’ucreasing revenue, brings within the scope of profitable
mining, deposits which would else remain undeveloped.
‘ ‘ The net result of this type of exploitation is to increase
rather than to decrease the nation’s resources.”*

Here may be mentioned the desirability of the fuller
use of water power for smelting, and where possible for
mining and milling. The Empire possesses in Canada,
Africa, India, and elsewhere, some of the finest inland
sources of water power known. Canada, with great
mineral wealth and power supplies, might conceivably
become one of the greatest smelting centres of the world,
not only dealing with its own ores, which it now largely
exports" to the United States, but with imported ores
from North and South America, China, Australia, etc.
In the British Isles we possess the finest coast in the
world for tidal power, which only wants to be harnessed.

Another matter which calls for serious consideration
is the widespread manner in which either raw ores or
partially smelted materials, produced within the Empire,
are exported to foreign countries for the recovery of the
finished products. The export to the United States of
the copper ones of Quebec, of the copper and zinc ores of

* Otis Smith. “The Public Interest in Mineral
Resources.” United States Geological Survey, 1915.

British Columbia, and of the copper-nickel mattes from
Sudbury, may be citied as examples; so'also may the
shipping, to Germany and Belgium, of the greater part
of the zinc concentrates from Broken Hill. The effect of
this export of raw materials is twofold. In the first
place, the benefit in wages, skilled employment, and
greater profits involved in the working up of a refined
metal from its raw materials is lost to the British com-
munity; and, in the second, control of the finished
metal, and of the art of producing it, passes into alien
hands. In this way supplies of indispensable metals
and other materials can only be obtained by paying
enhanced prices, or might be, and indeed have been, in
times of urgent need, cut off altogether. Import rather
than export of raw materials should be encouraged, and
the establishment of industries making for economic
independence as regards essential products should be
promoted.

Other nations have not been slow to realise the advan-
tage of this acquisition of raw materials from outside
sources, as witness the following passage written by the
Director of the United States Geological Survey :—‘ ‘ The
labour of any country is most benefited by the export of
finished products rather than of crude ores, and by the
import of raw materials rather than of manufactures.
Looking at the question from the standpoint of the
United States, it is the product of American labour,
rather than the bounty of our national resources that
should go into the world’s markets, for betterment of
industrial conditions can come best through expansion
of manufacturing. The increase in the element of
labour in the product exported will mean that we are not
bartering away our heritage of national resources, but
rather that we are using those resources as a basis
simply for the expenditure of labour, which renews
itself.*

Various methods of preventing the undue exportation
of raw materials have been attempted. These are prin-
cipally of two kinds—discouragement of the alien pur-
chaser by a prohibitive tax upon exported ore, and
encouragement of the inside smelter by bounties upon
finished metals produced within the Empire from
domestic ores. The former was applied with success a
few years ago by the imposition of a tax upon tin ore
exported from bhe Malay States, at a time when an
attempt was made to ship it, at ballast rates, for smelt-
ing in the United States. The latter has been success-
fully adopted by the Government of Canada in connec-
tion with the lead ores of British Columbia, which were
formerly exported to the United States. Within a few
years of the granting of these bounties the export ceased,
and all the ore is now smelted and refined within the
Dominion at Trail. More recently, bounties have been
granted upon copper and zinc produced in the Dominion
from domestic ores. The effect of these will be watched
with interest. Opinions differ as to the economic sound-
ness of such methods, but in any case the matter is
one that calls for consideration and action.

The full output from some of the remote mineral
fields of the Empire is seriously hampered by difficult
and costly transport. The effect of this in hindering or
entirely preventing development has already been
referred to in the cases of Australia, Nigeria, and
Canada. More vigorous Government action in well-
established and suitable cases might, be taken, and
greater production thereby promoted/

Discovery or Acquisition of Fresh Deposits.

The first requisite is precise information as to what the
mineral resources of the Empire really are. This to a
large extent already exists in the publications of the
various geological surveys and mining departments, but
not in a convenient or easily accessible form. Existing
information needs to be collected, co-ordinated, stan-
dardised, and summarised, and much new information to
be obtained and recorded.

Geological and mineral surveys of all British terri-
tory should be expedited. New surveys would need to
be instituted, and the staff of existing ones to be aug-
mented. With the small staff of most of our surveys,
the completion even of a preliminary reconnaisance of
any real value, w’ithin a reasonable time, to say nothing
of an adequate geological investigation, is quite impos-
sible. Moreover, such surveys should include a pro-
portion of men specially trained in the economic as well
as the purely scientific side of geology—men with not
only a sound knowledge of economic geology and miner-
alogy, but with a useful general acquaintance also with
the theory and practice of mining and metallurgy. If
the supply of such men is insufficient, it should be
increased by the support of institutions where such
training is available, and by the encouragement and
assistance of promising students. The paramount
importance, in the development of mineral industries,
of men of this stamp has been realised in the United
States, where the mining geologist is probably more
efficient and of more value to the State than in any
other country in the world. The services of such men
should be used not only in prospecting for new deposits,
but also in the development of mining fields.

It must be remembered also that the prospecting of
to-day is not that of 10 or 20 years ago. It is no longer
a primitive craft based upon limited experience and
vague knowledge, but an art founded upon scientific
training and wide experience. The prospector to-day
must possess, besides a thorough knowledge of geological
processes, materials, and structures, a precise acquaint-
ance with all minerals of actual or potential commercial
value, and a familiarity with the broad principles under-
lying the exploitation of mineral resources, both on a
large and on a small scale. In this connection, a plea
is put forward for the more general adoption in the
British Empire of special methods of prospecting for or
exploring mineral deposits, such as diamond drilling and
the magnetic survey. The former method offers great

* Otis Smith. Loc. cit.

possibilities, especially when applied to the location of
new ore bodies in districts in which the mode of occur-
rence and origin of the deposits and the general geology
are already well known. Its employment in connection
with water, oil, and coal is fairly universal, but has not
been sufficiently attempted in regard to ore deposits.
The desirability of applying the method to the discovery
of blind tin lodes in Cornwall has already been
referred to.

In order to hold our own with the scientific and tech-
nological advances of such countries as Germany and bhe
United States, “ advance investigations ” should be
carried on continuously with the object of improving
current processes, or introducing new ones, by which
abundant materials, which have hitherto proved refrac-
tory or unprofitable, may be made productive. As illus-
trations of investigations promising great rewards in the
future may be mentioned, the utilisation of felspar as a
source of potash and aluminium, the extraction of
aluminium from clay, and the continuous recovery of
lead, zinc, copper, silver, and gold from complex
sulphide oreis -by continuous electro-thermic and elec-
trolytic methods. These are selected from among many
others which suggest themselves. They are being seri-
ously worked at in America and Germany. It is doubtful
how far either of them is being studied in the British
Empire. Investigations such as these are of national
importance, and should receive national support. They
are imperative if we are to compete successfully with
other countries in the mineral industries.

The development of the mineral resources and indus-
tries of the Empire seems to have taken place in the
past without any constructive Imperial policy. It has
lacked co-ordination and control, and is urgently in need
of enlightened, broad-minded, and business-like adminis-
tration. The events of the last two years have made
this startlingly clear; and probably the most valuable
suggestion towards rectification which has recently been
made, is that addressed to the Advisory Council for
Scientific Research, by the councils of four of our
’largest mining and metallurgical institutions, that a
special Government Department should be established
to faster and safeguard mineral resources and promote
the welfare of related industries. Mineral statistics
need to be collected and published, information to be
gathered and distributed, investigations to be organised
and carried out, methods of encouraging and protecting
young industries to be adopted, laws and customs affect-
ing mining to be modified. These and many other func-
tions such a body could perform, and it is much to be
hoped that the efforts of the signatories to the memor-
andum will be successful, and that a department of
minerals and metals will come into existence. There
can be little doubt that some such controlling depart-
ment is needed, and that, if formed and properly con-
ducted, it would do much to give security and order to
what is now full of danger and disorder.

THE AMERICAN COAL TRADE.

A reaction has occurred in bituminous prices, although
the changes are small. The market shows evidence of
having accepted the prevailing high prices as the normal
level for the time being at least. The situation hinges
largely on weather conditions. The export business has
fallen off very sharply under the combined influence of a
scarcity of both coal and vessel tonnage, together with a
very sharp advance in ocean freights, which are again
back to about maximum figures (says Coal Age).

Clearfields coal is quoted at 4-75 to 5’75 dols., and
Cambridge and Somerset 5*25 to 6-25 dols., all f.o.b.
mines. Pocahontas and New River are quoted at 7 to
7-50 dels, f.o.b. Norfolk and Newport News, Va., for
spot coal, and 9 to-10 dols. on cars, Boston and Provi-
dence, for inland delivery.

Baltimore reports that car scarcity has again brought
complications. Consumers are holding off on account of
high prices. Philadelphia prices per gross ton at mines
are about as follow :—Georges Creek Big Vein, 6 to 6’25
dols.; South Fork Miller Vein, 6 to 6-25dols.; Clearfield
(ordinary), 5*25 to 5’50 dols.; Somerset (ordinary), 5-25
to 5’50 dols.; West Va. Freeport, 5 to 5-25 dols.; Fair-
mont gas, lump, 5’50 to 5-75 dols.; Fairmont gas, mine-
run, 5-25 to 5’50 dols.; Fairmont gas, slack, 4’75 to 5
dols.: Fairmont lump, ordinary, 5 to 5-25 dols.; Fair-
mont mine-rim, 4’75 to 5 dols.; Fairmont slack, 4-75 to
5 dols.

The abnormal price of bituminous coal is diverting
considerable business to the anthracite steam grades, but
milder weather has slowed the demand. Philadelphia
advices state that prices per gross ton f.o.b. cars at mines
for line shipment are as follow:—Broken, 3’60 dols.;
egg, 4’15 dols.: stove, 4’10dols.; nut, 4-50dols.; pea,
2-80 dols.; buck, 2 dols.; rice, 1-25 dols.; boiler, 1’10
dols.; barley, Idol.

At Hampton Roads business is still of a hand-to-
mouth sort. Prices are firm for Pocahontas and New
River run-of-mine, as follow :—For cargo shipment
coastwise and export, 7’50 to 8dols. per gross ton; on
truck, for local consumption, 7 to 7-50 dols. per net
ton; bunker coal, 8 to 8’50dols. per gross ton, plus 10c.
trimming.

Freight rates to all destinations are advancing rapidly,
owing to the scarcity of steamers and the accumulation
of export orders. Shippers of general cargo to French
Atlantic ports are now offering equal to the highest rate
that was paid last winter, which was the highest on
record.

The volume of demand for spot furnace coke is pro-
bably no measure of the amount by which consumers
are short, as it is patent that no considerable tonnage
of coke can be picked up at any price. Quotations : Spot
furnace, 7’50 to 8 dols.; contract, 4 to 4-50 dols.; spot
foundry, 9 to 10 dols.; contract, 5-50 to 6-50 dols. per net
ton at ovens.