November 13, 1914. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 1032 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. much greater than in any of the nine preceding years, but the number of workpeople was exceeded in 1908, 1910, 1911 and 1912. In the mining and quarrying trades more disputes were settled by conciliation and arbitration than in the previous year, but the number of disputes and the number of workpeople directly involved were considerably I ss than in 1908, 1909 and 1910. The above deals with strikes and lock-outs which were settled by conciliatory agencies, including voluntary permanent conciliation boards and standing joint committees. The number of voluntary permanent conciliation boards and standing joint committees in existence at the end of 1913, so far as known to the Department, was 343, and of these, 159 were reported as having settled cases during the year. Of the total number of cases considered by the boards and com- mittees, 2,283 were settled by conciliation and 291 by arbitration ; 182 of the total number of cases settled by arbitration were in connection with the Durham coal trade joint committees. The total number of cases withdrawn, ruled out of order, or settled independently of the hoards, was 1,117, of which 444 were Durham Coal Miners’ Joint Committee cases. As usual, very few of the disputes settled by the boards involved a stoppage of work, the total number of such cases being 31, of which 4 were in the coal mining industry. The cases dealt with by the boards varied very greatly in importance. In the coal mining industry, for example, each of the cases settled by the board for the Federated districts affected over 400,000 workpeople, while the majority of the cases dealt with by the committees in the Northumberland and Durham coalfields were grievances affecting a few workmen at individual pits. The following table summarises the work of voluntary permanent conciliation and arbitration boards and standing joint committees in the coal mining industry in 1913:— Boards and committees. Cases Other cases settled considered in 1913. in 1913. £ -Oft 075 ' So o o 02 ® 02 . r-i no O Federated districts .... Northumberland miners’ committee............ Durham coal board ..... Durham miners’ com- mittee............... Durham cokemen’s com- mittee ............... Durham enginemen’s com- mittee...................... Durham colliery mechanics’ committee............ Cumber1 and coal ...... Cumberland coke ...... Forest of Dean ........ Radstock ............. Monmouthshire and South Wales............... Scottish coal board ..... Scottish engine - k eepers’ committee............ Total........ o H O o 2 . — . ... — . ... — 2 61 .. . 23 .. 38 . ... 1 ... 123 4 .. . — . 1 ... 1 6 224 .. . 168 . .. 444 . ... — . ... 836 18 .. . 14 . ... 13 ... — 45 5 .. . — . ... 1 ... — 6 10 .. — ... 4 — 14 13 .. — ... 3 9 25 2 .. 1 ... 1 ... 1 5 1 — — — - 1 1 . 1 ... — ... — 2 2 .. 6 ... 11 ... 39 58 — .. .. 4 ... — ... — 4 4 . — — — 4 ... — —. 347 . .. 217 ... 516 ... 51 ... 1,131 ____________________________ Partnerships Dissolved.—The London Gazette announces the dissolution of the following partnerships :—H. R. Wilson and S. Butler, coal, coke, and breeze merchants, at Oakeswell End, Wednesbury, under the style of Wilson and Butler; J. W. Teale and H. G. Nichols, carrying on business as mining engineers at Salisbury House, in the City of London, under the style of Bainbridge, Seymour and Company; T. B. Roulston, J. Travis, and J. E. Hewitt, carrying on business as coal merchants at 46, Castle-street, and 179, Crown-street, Liverpool, under the style of R. W. Roulston and Sons, as regards Hewitt; J. Maden, Ashworth Maden, J. Ackroyd Maden, F. Dyson Sacker, and Lewis Sacker, carrying on business as colliery proprietors and coal merchants at the Granville Colliery, Old Hill, Stafford, as regards J., Ashworth, and J. Ackroyd Maden. Panama Canal and Coaling Stations.—Some time before the opening of the Panama Canal the provision of more coaling stations on the routes leading to it was under con- sideration by the Imperial Government and the different Colonial administrations concerned, and although the war has, naturally, checked these plans for the present, prepara- tions, it is understood, are still being made in this connec- tion. A little over a year ago all the principal harbours in the Caribbean Sea were re-surveyed in order to furnish material for a comprehensive scheme, and the recommenda- tions included the establishment of fuel depots at Castries Harbour, St. Lucia, and Carlisle ■ Bar, Barbados. Most importance attaches, however, to the provision of additional facilities at Kingston, Jamaica, the necessity of which was frequently and strongly urged by the late Sir Alfred Jones. Tim Legislative Council has already bought a site abutting on the harbour, so as to deal with any demand that may arise. Kingston possesses all the natural advantages for the construction of a dock capable of accommodating the largest vessels afloat. Moreover, it lies almost in a direct line between Europe and Panama. So far as the Pacific Ocean is concerned, it is said that the creation of a naval base at Fanning Island, the mid-Pacific junction of the Pacific Cable Company, is also proposed, together with facilities for merchant vessels, while mention is also made of Palmyra Island, as to whose ownership there is, however, some doubt. This question will most likely be submitted to arbitration. Important developments farther south are also contemplated. THE IRON ORE DEPOSITS OF EASTERN AND WESTERN FRANCE.* By Paul Nicou. (Continued from page 972.J French Lorraine. Although a later arrival in the British market, the French Lorraine ore field, which commenced its exports in 1912 with 28,014 tons (which rose in 1913 to 69,224 tons), may easily become, in the near future, one of the largest contributors of iron ore to the United Kingdom, No doubt the mines are in a less favourable condition from the point of view of transport facilities than those of Normandy, seeing that Homecourt, the centre of the ore field, is about 4t>0 kiloms. by rail from the harbour of Dunkerque and that no other navigable waterway exists which can at present replace this method of transport, at least so far as the portion of the ore field in the vicinity of Briey, from which alone exports to England are possible, is concerned. Schemes have from time to time been put forward for many years past of a “ north-east ” canal, which by connecting up with the already existing canals, would allow ot the ores from the northern region of the department of Meurthe- et-Moselle being transported under the most favourable freightage conditions to the port of embarkation. The realisation of such a scheme would appear, however, to be very far off, and it could only be by means of special tariffs on the railway, by the use of automatically unloading wagons of large tonnage, and by the improve- ment of the methods of loading that this serious difficulty could be surmounted. The problem might, however, be connected with the converse problem of the importation of British coal and coke into Meurthe-et- Moselle, which would supply the special wagons with a valuable return freight and would facilitate the obtaining of important concessions, just as the colliers loading up at Dunkerque would find in the iron ore an excellent return cargo. We have hitherto spoken only of Dunkerque as the harbour for the shipment of the Lorraine ores to Great Britain, but there are other harbours which would be equally interested in the trade. So far as distance is concerned, Calais is in a somewhat similar position. In Belgium, Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges, particularly the two latter, which are endeavouring to develop their trade, would have to be taken into consideration, and have already as a matter of fact, made some shipments to the United Kingdom. These shipments have indeed already led to a highly interesting degree of competition between the different French and Belgian harbour s, and it may be that, as the outcome of this competition, a ver y favourable future may be secured for shipments to England. These Lorraine ores belong to the great metalliferous formation which has been found on French territory and in the annexed portion of Lorraine, in Luxemburg, and, incidentally, in Belgium. The production of iron ore from this formation corresponded in 1912 to 28 per cent, of the world’s production. Of the three principal producing countries on this Lorraine ore field, France is in process of becoming the most important; whereas in 1905 Luxemburg yielded 6,596,000 tons, the annexed portion of Lorraine 11,968,000, and France 7,395,000, the outputs for 1912, the latest year for which official statistics have appeared, were 6,553,900, 20,050,200, and 17,370,900 tons. This reveals stagnation so far as Luxemburg is concerned, but for the annexed portion of Lorraine an increase equal to 67'5 per cent., and for France an increase of 134'9 per cent. The French progress was maintained in 1913, the provisional figures showing an extraction of 19,928,000 tons, or 169'4 per cent, more than that of 1905, while the annexed portion of Lorraine will attain only 21,136,000, or 76'6 per cent. This large increase in the French Lorraine ore pro- duction relates almost exclusively to the opening up in 1894 of the new ore field of Briey, discovered a few years before as the result of systematic trial borings, starting from the new Franco-German frontier between Batilly and Audun-le-Roman and proceeding regularly westwards to the borders of the department of the Meuse and even a little beyond. The new ore field,with its rich calcareous ores, not only enables the French iron industry, which up to then had been supplied chiefly with the siliceous ores of the original ore fields formerly discovered around Longwy and Nancy, to free itself of the necessity of importing heavy tonnages of calca’eous ores from Luxemburg and from the ore fields of annexed Lorraine, but also allows the mining industry to assume a leading part in supplying the markets formerly supplied from these Litter sources. Belgium has become practically dependent on the new supply. Luxemburg, met by the com- petition of these ores, finds her production stationary despite the installation of large works ; annexed Lorraine is seeking foreign markets for her own ores, and the Sarre and Westphalian districts are depending more and more upon supplies from Briey, while every- thing leads to the hope that this situation will develop s*ill more strongly in the future. The French Lorraine ore field comprises at the present time (June 1914) 68,356 hectares of concessions distributed among 114 claims. Some thousands of hectares appear still concedable in the siliceous district of La Crusnes, or beneath the forest of Haye, amounting from 72,000 to 75,000 hectares of the iron-bearing zone. In the annexed province of Lorraine the available surface amounts only to about 43,000 hectares, while that in Luxemburg is 3,600 hectares. The total area of the minette deposits is therefore some 120,000 hectares (296,540 acres). From a geographical point of view the French area can be divided into two portions, one to the south of Nancy with 18,000 hectares of * From a paper prepared for the autumn session of the Iron and Steel Institute. concessions, while the other, sharply separated from the former by a sterile zone, situated between Dieulouard and Mars-la-Tour, extends to the west of the frontier over the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle and partly over the department of the Meuse. The recognisedly available industrial area of this second part with its three subsidiary ore fields of Longwy, La Crusnes, and Briey, is practically defined by the districts of Jouaville, Bruville, Brainville, Conflans, Ozerailles, Anoux, Norroy - Je Sec, Eton, Domprix, Xivry-Circourt, Baslieux, Hau- court, Lexy, and Gorcy. The iron-bearing horizon recurs a long distance away, towards the west, but under unworkable conditions, as has been shown by the borings made near Etain and Verdun. At the last-named place in particular, the formation has been ascertained to occur at a depth of 580 metres. The iron-bearing formation comprises a certain number of seams which do not, however, occur through- out the formation, and the distribution of which varies, in the opinion of geologists, in the different levels In France they are ordinarily arranged in three groups, and the complete formation from foot-wall Io roof comprises the upper stratum with the ferruginous chalks and the seam of red ore, the middle stratum with the yellow and grey seams, and the lower stratum with the brown, black and green seams. The ore is a hydrated haematite. It is oolitic—that is to say, it is composed of a number of small round grains or oolites formed in concentric layers and of variable dimensions, so that the grain is sometimes only visible under the microscope, while others attain to the size of a pinhead or of a grain of millet seed. The binding material between the grains is clayey or calcareous—clayey when siliceous and often somewhat f Gable ores are concerned, and, when calcareous, much more resistant, ordinarily speaking, to crushing, in proportion as the percentage of lime becomes higher. The characteristic element is the phosphorus, which for many years hindered the progress of production, but which nowadays constitutes one of the most valuable qualities of the mineral. The ratio of phos- phorus to iron is always such that typical grades of* basic iron containing 1'7 to 19 per cent, of phosphorus can be obtained direct, and with such regularity that it is never necessary to make routine analyses for phos- phorus at the works using the ores. The amount of iron seldom exceeds 42 per cent, in the ore dried at 110 degs Cent., and is generally between 33 and 40 per cent, in the zones worked. It falls to below 30 per cent, in some ferruginous limestones employed as fluxes, and in some parts of the Nancy basin, whereas in others, and, generally speaking, in Briey, it ordinarily runs between 36 and 40 per cent. The composition is not always uniform within the same seam. The ore contains moisture and carbonates, hence there is an appreciable loss on drying and roasting. This loss is 8 to 12 per cent at 110 degs., and 14 to 24 per cent, at red heat. Attempts have been made to enrich the ores intended for transport to distant destinations by roasting, but the resulting product, although frequently attaining, and sometimes exceeding, 50 per cent, of iron, is exceedingly hygroscopic and easily falls to pieces. The Nancy ore fi-ld, including zones not hitherto conceded, appears still to contain 200,000,000 tons of ore. The annual production varies slightly in the vicinity of 2,000,000 tons. Working is carried out almost solely by galleries abutting on the sides of the hills. The most important mine is that of Maron-Val- de-Fer which, in 1913, yielded 707,000 tons. All the rest of the mines at present produce less than 250,000 tons annually. The great bulk of the ore is consumed at the local works at Neuves - Maisons, Jarville, Maxeville, Frouard, Pompey, and Pont-a-Mousson. A little is also transported, chiefly by water, to the furnaces in the department of Nord, and to the Ardennes and abroad. The exports vary in different areas between 14 and 17 per cent, of the total production. In 1913 they amounted to 343,000 tons, of which 1< >6,000 tons were sent to Belgium, and 237,000 tons to Germany. To the north of Nancy, and after traversing the sterile zone from Dieulouard to Mars-la-Tour, we reach the Orne district, the southern portion of the Briey field. The Orne ore field, the oldest known, and the earliest opened out, is situated to the south of the Avril fault. The pits were sunk in the following order:— Homecourt at the end of La None (1895). Joeuf (1896). Auboue (1900), Moutiers (1901). Jarny (1909), Droitau- mont (1910) and Valleroy (1910). The Giraumont pit is at present in process of being sunk. The output of the Orne field is at present 43'2 per cent, of the Briey field generally. The Landres ore fiMd, to the w> st of the Bonvillers and Norroy faults, has an elongated, elliptical shape, the north western axis being 12 kiloms. long, and the short, south-eastern axis 6 kiloms. long. The thickness of the grey seam, which is the only one worked, compensates considerably for the absence of the other seams. Towards the southern edge the ore field terminates, with a very sudden diminution in thickness and iron content; on the northern edge the workable zone fails, on the contrary, not by any diminution in thickness, but by the fall in iron content, with, on the other hand, on this side a sudden transition of the chalky ore field of Landres to a siliceous ore. In some parts of the grey seam zones of special richness may occur? Thus at certain places in the Pienne and Joudreville concessions a reddish ore. always containing decidedly more than 42 per cent, of iron, and, on the other hand, lower in lime, occurs (6 to 7 per cent, of CaO and 7 to 8 per cent, of SiO2). The iron appears to have replaced the lime. The tonnage of these qualities is, however, always rather small. The Tucquegnieux ore field, which forms the third subdivision of the Briey ore field, extends from the Bonvillers. Norroy. and Audun-le-Roman faults in the