TN '48 M' ^78 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY P^GlNEEf^^ '"^G LlBRA^y cornel. UnWersttyUbrarv TN 948.M2G78 1919 IMPERIAL MINERAL RESOURCES BUREAU. THE MIXERAL INDUSTRY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRK *ND FORKKiN (orXTRIFS. WAR PERIOD. MAGNESITi:. a9i;! U)U«.) LONDON : PKI.VTED AJID raBUaUKD BT HIS lUJKarrs irrATio.NKRT ockiok. To b» pun-hiuMJ UltwKb »OT BookjuJlw or diracUf trom UM jiTAriONKRY OFKICK »•. UiB loUowin^ MUxr. UAHOUri'i a. fOBfB SmKitr, KbiHML'aan: or tiom & PO.s^vuNbY. Lid, II*. aiiA#tu.> ;.«».i.. U. ^-ix /Vl.r 1*. Srf. .W.'. Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924004705079 IMPERIAL MINERAL RESOURCES BUREAU. THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES. WAR PERIOD. MAGNESITE (1913-1919.) LONDON: PBINTED AND PUBUSHBD BT HIS MAJESTTS STATIONERY OFl'IOB. To be Durchased throogb any Bookseller or direoUy from HM sIaTIONEBT oIfIOE at the foUowin- addreMea : IMPEBIAL HOUSB, KINOSWAY. LONDON. ^.0^ and 28. abinqdon strbbt, london, s5.w.1; 37 Peter Strbei. Manchestbb ; . 1 'st andrew's crescbnt, carditf; ■a FORIU STREET, EDINBURQH ; nrr-rm or irom K PONSONBT, LTD, 116, GRAFTON Sibebi, DUBUN 1920. Price \K.id. Net, V /f/f PREFACE. The following digest of statistical and technical information relative to the production and consumption of Magnesite will constitute a part of the annual volume on the Mineral Resources of the British Empire and Foreign Countries. In the first year of publication an effort has been made to fill in as far as possible the hiatus in the pubhcation relating to mining and metallurgical statistics due to the war. Labour, health and safety statistics have been omitted owing to the difficulty involved in procuring reliable information over the war period, but in future issues such statistics will be included in respect of each year. Use will also be made, to a much greater extent than at present, of graphical representation of statistics of production, consumption, costs and prices. (Signed) R. A. S. Rbdmaynb, Chairman of the (jovernors. June, 1920. 2, Queen Anne's Gate Buildings, London, S.W.I. M CONTENTS. Fage. GENERAL 4 WORLD'S PRODUCTION 6 BRITISH EMPIRE 7 United Kingdom 8 Union of South Africa 9 Canada 11 Quebec H British Columbia ... 12 India ... 17 Australia ... ... 20 New South Wales 20 Victoria ... ... 20 Queensland ... 21 South Australia ... ... ... ... ... ... 21 Western Australia ... 22 FOREIGN COUNTRIES 24 Austria and Hungary ... 24 Greece ... ... 28 Italy 32 Norway ... 33 Russia ... 34 Spain 34 United States 34 Venezuela ... ... ... ... ... ... 39 REFERENCES TO TECHNICAL LITERATURE 39 APPENDIX. NOTE ON MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE 42 (28386) Wt. 32S3-56/8U 1000 7/20 H.St. Q. 2 GENERAL. The name magnesite, as used in English-speaking countries, refers to a rock or mineral consisting essentially of magnesium carbonate. It is analogous to limestone in chemical composition, and differs from the latter in containing magnesia instead of lime. Magnesite may be spathic and comparatively coarse in its crystallization, exhibiting cleavage as is the case with the commercially important magnesites of the province of Quebec in Canada, the State of Washington in the western United States, Austria, and Norway. When spathic the mineral may contain a considerable percentage of ferrous carbonate, as in Austrian magnesite, which is largely the variety known as breunnerite ; or it may be almost free from ferrous carbonate as in the crystalline magnesites of Quebec, Washington and Norway. More commonly magnesite is chalk-like, compact or crypto- crystalline in texture, as in the commercially important magnesites of India, Australia^ Greece, Italy and California. Another variety of magnesium carbonate, hydromagnesite, is a distinct mineral species, with a chemical composition and physical properties essentially different from those of magnesite. Hydro- magnesite has been of little or no value hitherto, and so far as it demands consideration it is conveniently dealt with in conjunction with magnesite, as it yields when calcined a product similar to that yielded by magnesite. The only deposits of hydro- magnesite of any considerable size hitherto described are those of British Columbia and Spain. It is worthy of note that differences of texture among magnesite rocks correspond to differences in chemical composition. Spathic magnesites usually contain more impurity than do compact magnesites. They generally occur in association with dolomite, and are therefore liable to contain much lime impurity. The admixture of this dolomite is less intimate in the coarse-textured breunnerite of Austria than it is in the closer-textured spathic magnesite of Quebec. Partly for this reason, and partly owing to the presence of feri'ous carbonate in a state of intimate admixture, the dressing of breunnerite and the elimination of the dolomitic impurity is economically more feasible than in the case of spathic magnesite free from ferrous carbonate. Compact (cryptocrystalline) magnesite frequently includes an admixture of quartz, serpentine, or sepiolite, and is therefore Hable to contain sihca impurity; but, except where its conditions -of occurrence have allowed the infiltration of calcium carbonate, it is as a rule fairly free from lime impurity. This absence or low percentage of hme and iron renders it eminently suitable for the production of caustic magnesia used in the manufacture of oxy chloride cement, refractory paint, etc. The following generalized analyses illustrate the chemical difference among these various types of dressed raw magnesite : j Spathic Compact Hydro- Spathic 1 magnesite of magnesite magneaite breunnerite 1 Quebec, of Greece, Atlin, Austria. j Norway and India and British ; Washington. California. Columbia. Per cent. j Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Magnesia 38-44 1 38-47 47 42 Lime 1-3 1 0-10 0-2 0-2 Iron oxide and 2-7 ! 2 1 1 alumina. ! Silica l-.'i ! 1-3 1-3 1 Carbon dioxide ... 50 49-51 50 36 Water — — 19 The material quarried in Austria and Hungary varies from pure magnesite to breunnerite, but consists predominantly of breunnerite. The large variation in the lime percentage of spathic magnesites is due to varying amounts of dolomite. Norwegian (Snarum) magnesite contains no lime. The material marketed during the war in Washington State (U.S.A.) contained not more than about 2 per cent, of lime. Quebec magnesite (near (.'alumet), on the other hand, contains a considerable amount of dolomite, and ranges up to 10 per cent, or more of lime. Compact magnesite generally contains very little lime ; but much Italian and some Grecian magnesite contains above the normal percentage, due presumably to the presence of calcite, which has found access to the veins through the medium of in- filtering calcareous solutions that have traversed adjacent masses of limestone. The hydromagnesite of Atlin is powdery, and is remarkable for its low percentage of impurities. Magnesite is utilized chiefly as a source of magnesia which is obtained from it by calcination in kilns. The magnesia is used in two forms, namely : — (1) As caustic magnesia, which is obtained by calcining at a temperature not exceeding 1,000° C, and which in conjunction with magnesium chloride is used for the manufacture of oxychloride cements ; (2) , as dead-burnt or sintered magnesia, which is obtained by calcining at a much higher temperature, preferably over 1,500° C, and which on account of its highly refractory character is adapted for use as a basic lining for steel and copper smelting furnaces. The bottom of the furnace is lined \vith granular sinter, the walls with magnesia bricks. Dead-burnt magnesia is used also in making refractory blocks, crucibles and tuyeres. Before the war most of the dead-burnt or sintered magnesia used for refractory 28:W.-. A- '- purposes was obtained from the ferriferous magnesite (bi'oun- neriteji of Austria-Hungary, the purer magnesites of Greece and India being used chiefly as a source of caustic magnesia for cement-ma,king. According to information received recently from the United States Bureau of Mines, it has been suggested that a coating of magnesia cement might be used as a protection for mine timber. In the early days of the porcelain industry certain types of decorative porcelain were made with steatite as a flux, but these porcelains were not made for very long. In Italy there is a type of earihenware which, according to analysis, contains appreciable quantities of magnesia, :and bulk for bulk this ware is rather lighter than the usual types of earthenware. Some vitreous sparking plugs contain between 15 and '20 per cent, of magnesia, which is introduced either as calcined magnesia or as steatite.* Large amounts of caustic magnesia have been made into magnesium bisulphite for use in the manufacture of paper from iPood pulp. Another use of magnesite is in the manufacture of carbon dioxide. The magnesite of the Transvaal is used in this way, and the residual caustic magnesia is in part sintered to obtain Tefractory magnesia. Magnesium sulphate for medicinal and chemical uses is in part made by treating magnesite with sulphuric acid. WOELD'S PRODUCTION. The world's supplies of magnesite before the war were drawn chiefly from Austria-Hungary and Greece. The exports of Austria-Hungary were of refractory or sintered magnesia for metallurgical uses, and were consumed chiefly in the United States, though considerable amounts were sent to other countries. The exports of Greece consisted chiefly of raw magnesite and lightly-calcined or caustic magnesia for use in the manufacture of oxycbloride cement. The lightly-calcined magnesia of Greece was consumed largely by Germany for this purpose. The exports of Greece were continued and even increased during the war, under the control of the British and French Governments, but the material was used chiefly for metallurgical refractories. The shortage of supply in the United States due to the cutting off of the exports from Austria-Hungary was compensated for by a remarkable increase in production in the States of California and Washington, and to a smaller extent by an increased production in Canada. * Dr. J. W. Mellor has kindly supplied this paragraph on the use of magnesia in porcelain and earthenware. World's Production of Raw Ma(/nesite('). (In metric toii8.)(0 1913. 1914. 1915. 1916. 1917. 1918. 1919. Union of 8. 403 519 569 553 709 756 929 Africa. Canada(a) ... Nil. Nil. 14,778 48,980 58,076 46,489 9,020 India 16,462 1,707 7,572 17,928 18,499 5,949 Australia ... 7,220 2,056 1,729 4,121 9,588 4,203 9,772* Austria- 200,947 133,099 36,541 38,527 48,622 Hungary(6) Greece 118,054 136,701 159,981 199,484 162,938 39,340 Italy 600 1,140 9,200 18,252 31,070 28,882 Spain 958 583 1,400 2,500 800 1,700 UnitedStates 8,740 10,248 27,676 140,630 287,512 210,168 147,005 (a) Including some calcined in 1915 and 1916. (6) Sintered magnesia ; exports only. • Excluding Western Australia. (') In addition to the countries mentioned in this table, Cyprus, Norway, Serbia, Russia, Mexico, and Venezuela, have produced magnesite. The Cyprus output in 1916 was 15 tons. Figures for Norway are not available. Russia's pre-war annual production of raw magnesite is estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 tons. Venezuela exported 6,360 and 1,700 metric tons of magnesite in 1916 and 1917 respectively. (') The metric, long, and short tons referred to at various places in this publication, are equivalent to '2,204 lb., 2,240 lb. and 2,000 lb. respectively. BRITISH EMPIRE. In the last year before the war for which we ha\e fairly com- plete statistics, viz., 1913, the British Empire produced less than 4 J per cent, of the world's output of magnesite, chiefly from India and Australia, only comparatively small amounts being produced in the Union of South Africa during that year. The large demand for dead-burnt magnesia for use as a basic refractory during the war stimulated mining activity, and in the increased output that resulted therefrom Canada figured most prominently, owing to the proximity to the centres of steel production in the United States, where the shortage of dead- burnt magnesia due to the cutting off of imports from Austria was felt very keenly. India also increased its output sub- stantially as the result of war conditions, but the output of Australia and the Union of South Africa remained almost un- changed. In the year 1918 the British Empire output of magnesite probably amounted to about 15 per cent, of the world's output. In addition to the overseas countries mentioned below Cyprus has produced a small amount from the Akamas mine in the Paphos district. The deposit appears to be one of little importance however, and the production for 1916 amounted to only 15 tons. The Bureau is informed by Mr. H. E. Mason, whose firm used most of this 1916 output of Cyprus magnesite, that the bricks made from it were of good quality, though they contained a considerable percentage of lime ; and that an analysis of the fired 2888,5 .\ 3 8 brick made from this Cyprus magnesite was reported by Dr. J. W. Mellor to give the following results : — Per cent. 87-36 Magnesia ... Lime Silica Alumina . . . Ferric oxide , Potash Soda ... : Loss on calcination 7-77 2-52 1-16 1-00 0-13 0-18 0-21 Refractory test, over cone 35, approximately 1770° C. (=3218°F.) ! United Kingdom. The United Kingdom produces no magnesite, and no deposits are known anywhere in the United Kingdom that offer the least prospect of development to meet the needs of either the metallurgical or chemical industries, so long as foreign magnesite is available at cheap rates. British requirements during the war were met by importation of magnesite from Greece and India. Before the war Austrian magnesia sinter was imported largely for use as a basic refractory, and when Austrian supphes were cut off, the deficiency had to be met by increased imports from Greece and India. The position of France closely resembled that of the United Kingdom. One of the important results of the war was to necessitate a larger development of the home production of iron ore, and as the only ores available for supplying the needful quantity of iron and steel were in large part of the low-grade phosphatic type, this accentuated the need for basic refractories in steel production, and made it necessary to economise the use of magnesite as far as possible. With this end in view the French and British Governments controlled the supplies of magnesite used in the manufacture of basic refractories, which supplies were drawn largely from Greece. Grecian magnesite was not used to anything like so large an extent as a source of basic refractories before the war, and was regarded as being less suitable for this purpose than an Austrian sinter, which could be supplied at a cheaper rate. Indeed the early efforts of British magnesia brick manufacturers to sub- stitute Grecian for Austrian sinter during the war could not be described as other than unsuccessful. As they acquired , more experience, however, they were able to make substantial improve- ments in the quality of magnesia bricks, and towards the close of the war they were confident that they would be able to produce from Grecian sinter, bricks that would defy the competition of bricks made from Aiistrian sinter. Arrangements for the supply of Grecian magnesite to meet the requirements of the magnesia brick manufacturers in Great Britain were made before the termination of the war, and the Grecian producers contracted to supply large quantities to British maniil'actiirers for Tiiany years. Under these circumstances the British manufacturers will be able to take advantage of the experience gained during the war in the manufacture of magnesia bricks from Grecian magnesite. The requirements of raw magnesite in the United Kingdom for 1918 were estimated by the Ministry of Munitions at about 50,000 tons. It has been estimated that the steelmakers' annual pre- war requirements were approximately 2J milhon of 9 inches by 2J inches magnesia bricks, equivalent to 20,000 tons of raw magnesite. Of this quantity of bricks probably less than one million were made in the United Kingdom, leaving a balance of IJ million bricks to be imported from foreign countries to meet the needs of the manufacturers of basic steel. The imports of magnesite, etc., for 1917 and 1918 are given by the Ministry of Munitions as equivalent to 95,045 tons and 43,672 tons respectively (" Iron and Steel Industry," bv F. H. Hatch). The annual values of the imports of " magnesite powder " are given in the official trade returns as follows : — 1913 £24,847 1914 -22,036 1915 .54,386 1916 76,032 1917 78,943 1918 ... 21,024 The value of the exports of magnesite manufactures were not returned prior to 1915. For the vears 1915, 1916, 1917, and 1918, they are ^iven a,s i'34,175, i*2'33,604, £116,437, and ,i73,507, respectively. Union of South Africa.* Compact magnesite is found in deposits of considerable size in the Barberton district, eastern Transvaal, at various localities near the railway line between the station of Kaapmuiden and Malelane. Kaapmuiden is about 87 miles from Delagoa Bay, and 300 miles from Johannesburg. Hall describes the magnesite as occurring in countless thin white veins traversing mottled serpentine in all directions. The veins vary in thickness from 3 to 4 feet down to mere films, but veins from 2 to 6 inches thick are by far the most common. They show a very irregular distribution in the serpentine and change their disposition from the horizontal to vertical within a few yards. The thicker veins (2 to 4 feet thick) are as a rule highly inclined. The rock is perfectly white. It is rather soft as a rule and yields much dust when broken ; but some masses are hard and can be handled without producing dust. The magnesite usually ' " The magnesite deposits of Malelane," by A. L. Hall ; Transvaal Mines Dept. Rept. of the Geol. Surv. for 1906, p. 127. " Magnesite in South Africa," by P. A. Wagner ; S. Afr. Journ. Ind., 1918, vol. 1, 570. " Annual Reports of the Government Mining Engineer, Department of Mines, Union of B. Africa." 2S3S.-, A i 10 contains patches and specks of serpentine. It is characterised by a somewhat cellular texture and there is a considerable amount of quartz present, lining the walls of the small cavities and impregnating the mass of the magnesite. Thin films of silica occur between the magnesite veins and the enclosing serpentine. The following is an analysis of a comparatively pure picked specimen of the magnesite "of specific gravity 295 ; — ' Per cent. Magnesia 45"27 Carbon dioxide 49-80 Silica 2-30 Ferric oxide ... ... ... ... 0'80 Moisture (110°C.) O'lG An examination of samples of Kaapmuiden magnesite gives one the impression that on the average the percentage of silica is con- siderable, and well above the amount indicated in this analysis. A recently quoted analysis of a representative sample shows 524 per cent, of silica. Up to the present there has been no considerable expOrt of magnesite from South Africa, and, so. far as can be judged from the deposits hitherto described, it does not seem likely that there will be under normal conditions, as these deposits appear to be of rather small dimensions and the Kaapmuiden magnesite is in parts very siliceous. There was an export of about 80 tons of crude magnesite from the Barberton district to the United States in 1915, but this was due to the temporary shortage of supplies and the exceptionally high price then offered in the United States. According to a recent report only the Pettygrew's Nek deposit, about two miles S.S.W. of Kaapmuiden, is being quarried at present in South Africa. The average monthly output from this deposit during 1918 was about 65 tons. The magnesite is sold f .o.r. at Kaapmuiden station at £.9, 12s. 6d. per ton and the output is taken almost entirely by a Johannesburg firm for the manu- facture of hquid carbon dioxide, which is used throughout South Africa for aerating water. The calcined magnesia is sold locally, and is taken mostly by the Union Steel Corporation of Vereenig- ing, who re-calcine it and use the sintered product in the manu- facture of magnesia bricks. To do this they first briquette the caustic magnesia and dead-burn the briquettes. The sintered briquettes are then crushed, and the product thus obtained is made into bricks, which are burned in special kilns. Production of Magnesite in the Union of South Africa. Tear. Quantity. Short Tons. Value. £. Tear. Quantity. Short Tons. Value. £ 1913 1914 1915 1916 444 572 627 609 1,194 1,451 1,568 1,766 1917 781 1918 833 1919 1 1,024 2,050 2,184 2,723 11 Canada. Quebec— IjdTge deposits of magnesite occur and were quarried extensively during the war period near Calumet in Argenteuil County, Quebec. They were first observed in the year 1900, and have l)eea described at length by M. E. Wilson in a memoir issued recently by the Geological Survey of Canada.* The chief localities are in the townships of Grenville and Harrington. Work was commenced on these deposits in a small way in 1907, at a lijcality about 12 miles from the Canadian Pacific Eailway, the nearest station being Calumet. The magnesite deposits are found cropping out in the form of ridges, which pierce the superficial sands and ciays, and which may be as large as 1,000 feet long and 300 feet wide The rocks of the Grenville district in which the magnesite occurs have suffered much crumpling and deformation. As a result of this, well-marked foliation and lenticular structure have been developed. The magnesite itself occurs in lenticular masses, and shows a banded appearance due to the streaky distribution of the serpentine it contains. The intimacy of association between the magnesite and the serpentine is shown by the manner in which such streaked masses of magnesite pass gradually into massive serpentine. Still more intimately asso- ciated with the magnesite is the mineral dolomite, which is almost invariably present in scattered irregular pieces through the magnesite. The dolomite is also present in the form of separate lenticular masses. Some idea of the magnitude of certain of the Grenville district deposits may be gathered from the dimensions 'ecorded for Out- crop No. 3, Lot 15, Range XI., in Grenville township. This deposit has a horizontal extent of 30,000 square feet, a proved average depth of 125 feet, and is estimated to contain 60 per cent, of magnesite. The estimated quantity of magnesite available in this particular deposit is 187,500 tons, and 71 samples of magnesite taken from the deposit show amounts of lime ranging from 5 to 15 per cent. The Grenville magnesite is cobbed in the quarries to remove the impurities as far as this is economically possible. The colour and appearance of the material assists the quarryraen in their hand-dressing operations. The dolomite is dull-white or coarsely crystalline. Cream-white to glistening magnesite of medium to fine-grained texture contains as a rule less than 7 per cent, of lime, whereas the pure-white variety contains rather more lime, up to 11 or 12 j)er cent., and the grey varieties may contain still more lime. A laboratory test is stated to have shown that, after calcination, the dolomite slakes to a smooth paste and can be washed away, leaving a residue of purer magnesite. + • Magnesite deposits of Grenville District Argentenil County, Quebec, Memoir 98, Dept. of Mines, Canada 1917. See also the various Annual Reports on Mining Operations in Quebec. f Summary Report of the Mines Branch, Dept. of Mines, Canada, for the year 1916. 12 Although dolomite is invariably present in the deposits, it has been shown by diamond-drilling and other development work that there is a large amount of magnesite containing on _ the average not more than from 7 to 10 per cent, of lime. The following summary by Wilson shows the amount of mag- nesite and magnesite-dolomite in sight on various properties at the time he examined them : — Magnesite Magnesite Property. with less than dolomite with 12 per cent. more than 12 lime. per cent. lime. Tons. Tons. Lot 13 Range I Harrington township 25,000 8,000 18 XI Grenville 15,000 6,000 )) 15 XI , 11 418,000 186,300 15 X 2,500 4,000 JJ 15 »j IX Totals 11 226,400 279,400 686,900 483,700 Further exploration in the Grenville district is likely to result in the discovery of other deposits, and a large increase in the proved reserves of magnesite. According to Wilson it is probable that extensive masses of magnesite occm* beneath the superficial clay in the low-lying parts of the district. The amount of magnesite marketed by Quebec operators during 1917 totalled 58,340 tons. This included some calcined and sin- tered magnesia. The total tonnage in terms of crude magnesite for that year was estimated at about 64,000 tons. A notable feature of the Quebec magnesite industry in 1917 was the introduction of rotary kilns for sintering the magnesia at Montreal and Hull. The magnesite was ground to pass a 20-mesh screen, mixed with 5 per cent, of ground iron ore and sintered at a temperature of 2400°F. The product was found to be a very desirable refractory, and sold at $5 per ton. The Steel Company of Canada has experimented largely with Quebec magnesite in their open-hearth furnaces, and claim that, by suitable treatment, it yields results as good as those obtained by using Austrian magnesite. Good results are also obtained by using a mixture of sinter, caustic magnesia, and magnesium chloride as a plaster on the walls of the steel furnace. British Columbia.— British Columbia has deposits of both com- pact magnesite and hydromagnesite. A deposit of compact mag- nesite of some note is that of the Bridge Eiver district reported on recently by C. W. Drysdale, who described an outcrop 52 feet wide and 48 feet long near the south-west end of Liza Lake. The locality is about 30 miles from the Pacific Great Eastern Railway at Bridge River crossing on the Seton Lake. 13 More interesting, however, are the deposits of hydromagneait© near Atlin in British Columbia, which have been examined and described recently by Cr. A. Young.* The deposits are situated close to Atlin — one of the two chief groups of deposits is only about half a mile from Atlin wharf, the other is on the south-east border of the town site. The hydromagnesite is pure white, rather soft, and falls to powder on drying. Some, of it is very wet in the natural state, and may lose as much as •2-2 per cent, of water at 105° C, but most of it appears to be fairly dry, except !or cliemically com- bined water. Where saturated with water the deposits are so situated as to facilitate ready drainage. The mineral is exposed at the surface, and can be won by open quarrying without the removal of any overburden. The largest deposit in the first group already referred to (about half :i mile from Atlin wharf) covers about 18 acres, and appears to have an average thickness of 2 ft. 8 in. The deposit was sampled in two pits at different depths. One of those pits was in the south-eastern portion of the deposit at a point where the tliickiiess was 2 ft. 2 in. ; the other was in the northern part of the body at a point where the thickness was 3 ft. 6 in. The following analyses of samples collected in those two pits were made on material dried at 105° C. , at which temperature the loss of water varied from 1'51 to 2"64 per cent. South-eaatein Pit. Northern Pit. Depth Depth Depth Depth Depth Depth 5" 1' 1" 1' 11" 4" 1' 4i" 2' 4" Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Percent. Per cent. Silica 1-86 0-90 54 1-22 1-96 9 22 Alumina 0-67 0-10 17 0-67 0-14 94 Ferric oxide 0-15 0-09 11 0-18 0-45 73 Perrons oxide 0-60 0-45 64 0-63 0-65 78 Lime 2-04 0-82 68 1-26 1-50 6 44 Magnesia 41-13 42-35 42 19 40-56 41-93 35 23 Carbon dioxide 35-98 36-10 36 17 35-96 36-04 37 70 Water 18-02 18-95 19-05 19-04 17-66 8-20 Totals 100-46 99-76 99-55 99-52 100-33 99-24 The second group of deposits (that on the south-east border of the town site) consists of three large bodies of hydromagnesite that lie in shallow valleys depressed 30 to 75 feet below the surrounding country. The mineral in this group of deposits is much wetter than that of the first group, and analyses show losses of water up to 21"77 per cent, at 105° C. The largest of Summary Rept. Geol. Burv. Canada, 1915. 14 the three deposits varies in thickness from 1 foot to 5 feet, with an average of 3 feet. Two samples from different parts of this deposit lost respectively 1'21 to 1'18 per cent, of water at 105° C. and gave the following results on further analysis : — Silica . . . Alumina Ferric oxide Ferrous oxide Lime Magnesia Carbon dioxide Water ... Per cent. Per ce 0-74 3-48 0-35 2-85 015 0-56 0-66 0-81 0-32 -0-42 42-85 38-94 36-35 34'31 19-10 18-10 Totals 100-52 99-47 It is estimated that the two groups of deposits contain, approxi- mately, 180,000 tons of hydromagnesite, in beds ranging from about 1 foot to 5 feet in thickness. It is reported that about 200 tons of the material was shipped to San Francisco in 1904 and that some was sent to England. During 1915 a trial shipment of some 500 tons was sent to Vancouver. The district is stated to be easily accessible by way of the White Pass and Yukon Eailway from Skag"way, Alaska, to Carcross, Yukon Territory, and thence by a bi-weekly boat service on Tagish and Atlin Lakes. Another locality in British Columbia where, according to Gr. C. Hoffmann,* hydromagnesite occurs in considerable abundance is that near the 180 mile house in the Cariboo Eoad, 93 miles north of Ashcroft, in Lillooet district. At this locality there are three or four deposits from 50 to 100 feet across, standing a foot or more above the level of the surrounding surface, and the hydro- magnesite is traceable from one to the other of these deposits over an area of some 50 acres of ground. A shaft sunk in one of these deposits passed successively through about 5 feet of the pure white material, a layer of about 6 inches of the same of a somewhat yellowish colour, a layer of some 3 feet of the pure white material, a layer of about 18 inches of the yellowish coloured tnaterial, an apparently thin layer of the pure white material, and finally reached, what evidently constituted the bed of the deposit, viz., a dark coloured mud containing a few well-preserved shells. On another of these deposits a shaft is stated to have been carried to a depth of 30 feet without the bottom being reached. The material examined consisted of a pure white, somewhat compacted, yet readily friable aggregate of fine crystalline particles with a few intermingled rootlets. An analysis by B. A. A. Johnston gave : — • Ann. Rept. G-eoI. Surv. of Canada, new series, vol. 11, p. 10 R, 1898. 15 Per cent. Magnesia 43'71 Lime 010 Carbon dioxide 3703 Alumina ... ... ... 0'02 Ferric oxide ... ... 004 Phosphorus pentoxide 030 Soluble silica O'SS Insoluble, chiefly silica ... ... 1"53 Water with a little organic matter ... ... 17''70 An analysis of the insoluble portion showed that of the 1"53 per cent., r35 consisted of silica, and O'lO of alumina. It is thought that the origin of these deposits is connected with the occurrence of the later Tertiary volcanic rocks, basalts, etc., which are abundant in the area referred to. Production of Magnesitc in Canada* Tear. Quantity. Short Tons. Value. Year. Quantity. Short Tons. Value. $ 1918 1914 1915 16,285 (o) 137,353 1916 1917 1918 1919 53,976 (a) 64,000 51,231 9,940 525,966 729,025 (6) 1,016,764 (6) 283,719 (a) Including some calcined. (6) This represents the total value of the magnesite sold, including crude calcined, or sintered. Sales of Canadian Magnesite (raw, calcined and dead-burnt), t Year. Quantity. Short Tons. Value. Year. Quantity. Short Toni. Value. $ 1913 1914 1915 515 358 14,779 3,335 2,240 126,584 1916 1917 1918 55,413 58,090 39,365 563,829 728,275 1,016,765 Canadian Imports of Magnesia A „ Quantity. Value. Y«"- Short Tons. S Year. Quantity. Short Tons. Value. 1 1913 145 1914 ' 127 1915 91 12,226 16,429 9,695 1916 1917 1918 195 58 47 20,651 16,186 13,200 • Annual Reports on Mining Operations in the Province of Quebec, j* Annual Reports on the Mineral Production of Canada. 16 ^ p OD '^ "t^ a c A., GO S f—i lU Si ;h rr cS TTf o m p^ fe o •^^ 1 m « CO CO to CO c» c^ t- t- ■* •* 1 -^ 1 I 1 1 o o >o S 1 M 1 1 ^- ■*" -*" '"' »-c T-H 00 00 -* -* ■* Oi o^ -* ■^ T* lO 1 lO 1 1 1 f ^^ 05 >o Oi •^ 1 1 •> ^ 1 o" ' ' 1 ' r 1 (M" 1 1 1 1 ^- •;£ ■^" © 3 o o to CO N (M »o CO CO ^ oo CO 00 1 00 1 -)• 1 1 or rH m 1 nf 1 1 1 oT o" '*' 1— ( ' ' ■* ^ -el< (M lO ^ lO 05 -*^ ^ -f I- i> >ooo OO (M lO 1 >o 1 f-CO o lO T-H s ^'' 1 "* 1 ^ t-T 05 ■<* 00 —1 Oi CO t^ CO t- 1-1 T— t o CO O (M IN u:^ cx) -^ CO « o rH C^ (M I>- 00 to_ tr-^ 05 ■^ -* rn' O" co" t^ N (M 5<1 ■<^ Ttl CO CO C- 00 ■* •«* CO CO t^ lO 1 o 1 1 1 1 o o_ ■O >. 1 11*" o ' o" 1 1 ' ' o o" 1-H Ol o T-H ai a> o lO ^ t> (M c^ ^f -^ r^ T— * - ■<* I 1 1 1 o lO en Oi di ' co" ' 1 1 ' n" so 00 IN o CO o o o ocoo to to lO o OQ uno o T-H lO -^ ^* «::> o lO 1— 1 —_-* »o CO^O^O^r-^ lO o_ O lO >o" '^"crfto'-Hr oo" ^" lO o CO a * ' ' ' : o t-l c H r C3 s ■ QQ ID : V o p4 1 £ cc 1 C3 be ■ a : : : : M^ 5 o h- H o O H 03 OQ ranee erman aly etherli nited c SB -5 -e •1 '2 o t3iS -^ o ■* eo Ifl ■V m n a '-«3 -*3 o (M o U3 era era II O t~__ O OS* •*" o o C9 (N 00 •"^ ^ 1 1 O CO C5 IM en era -t9 l> K a 1 1 1 g 00 OS IN 2 ^ 1 1 «5 as 03 o -ts OQ a <1 ■5 ^i g t° o « o o era .s 1 1 00 CO m 'I" t^ OS if 1 1 1-H •>* IN 1*^ CO e» t^ o O) lO 50 «o to OS (N t- CO lO (N to i> cj >i-i 1^ -S o > >i •■5 ° ■* m OS o ■* >a t* §»> o (N 00 eo b- (N t* ^ (N o S 0^3 i o 'i'^ CO ^ T-< era (N o s c-" (>r era" os~ era of ^^ u : ; : ; : • ce e t« CO ■^j* to CO t- 00 OS 1-H 1-4 tH «H wt T-l 1 OS OS OS OS OS 1-H OS OS T-l 1 be 'a s cc o S o«ri V a fS ^. ^ a 3 o ■« MS ^© .B *M o o d <■> '^ 3 -75 <5 0.2 • °s a. O 24 FOKEIGN COUNTRIES. At the outset of the war period Austria and Greece had been for some years the chief producers and exporters of magnesite and magnesia sinter. The output in Greece continued to rise during the war to meet British, French and United States requirements ; but the output in Austria-Hungary fell consider- ably, and the consumption of the Central Empires for war purposes appears to have been far less than the exports from Austria-Hungary before the war. The most remarkable feature of foreign developments during the war period, however, was a large increase in the output of the United States. In addition to the foreign countries enumerated below, Mexico ■ and Serbia should be mentioned. In Mexico, deposits are reported to occur in the island of Santa Margarita in Magdalene Bay, Lower California, and in the island of Cedros further north. The United States imported 81 short tons of magnesite from Mexico in 1912. In Serbia deposits occur, and have been worked at Kraljevo and other localities. Deposits of magnesite in Manchuria, presumably of the com- pact vein type like that of Greece, received much attention during the period under review. They are within a few miles of the South Manchurian Bailway, and are largely under Japanese control. The deposits are reported to be very large,, and the magnesite of good quality. An analysis of the Manchurian magnesite gave 47'13 per cent, magnesia,; 0'64 iron oxide and alumina, 1'48 silica, and 50"75 loss on ignition. Austria and Hungary. Austria-Hungary produced magnesia sinter before the war chiefly for export purposes, from deposits of the breunnerite type in Styria, Lower Austria and northern Hungary. The following summary of information concerning the deposits of this region is based on the accounts given by P. Foetterle,* J. Eumpf.t K. A. Redlich,+ and F. Cornu.§ The Styrian and Lower Austrian deposits have the advantage that they are much nearer their Adriatic port than are those of northern Himgary, and it is from them that most of the Austro- Hungarian magnesite hitherto exported has been obtained. They are situated in the region to the south-west of Vienna, along a tract extending westward from Semmering through the Miirz valley to the Tyrol. The largest and most important ■ deposit is that of Veitsch, which is situated near Mitterdorf, a station on the South Austrian railway in the Miirz valley, in Styria. • Jahrb. k.k. geol. Reiohanstalt, 1852, vol. 3, p. 145; 1855, vol. 6, p. 68. t Tschermak's Min. Mitt., 1873, p. 263. J YariouB papers in Zeit.f.prakt.Geol. ; and Doelter's Handbuch der Mineral- chemie. Band 1, p. 243. § Zeit. f. prakt. Geol., 1908, vol. 16, p. 449. 25 The Veitsch magnesile occurs as lenticular masses in a belt of foliated Carboniferous rocks consisting of metamorphosed shales, sandstone, conglomerates and limestone. The chief lenticular mass of magnesite near Veitsch forms the main part of the Sattlerkogels, a hill lying about a kilometre to the north-west of the village. The summit of the Sattlerkogels is about 3, '260 feet above sea level, and nearly 1^000 feet above the level of the Veitsch works. The magnesite is quarried on the slope of the hill in a series of terraces about 50 feet apart through a vertical distance of nearly 500 feet. The magnesite lens is three-quarters of a mile in length, and over 1,000 feet in width. So far as can be judged from its disposition it probably extends to a considerable depth. The chief minerals of the Sattlerkogels deposit, as described by Cornu, are magnesite and dolomite. The magnesite is greyish in colour when fresh, and contains sufficient ferrous carbonate to blacken when calcined in a reducing atmosphere. The amount of iron carbonate is variable, and various analyses show percentages ranging up to 13 or 14 per cent. A little pyrite is frequently present. Scaly masses and films of talc are associated with the magnesite. Although selected specimens of the Sattlerkogels breunnerite show so much variation in the percentage of ferrous carbonate present, there is comparatively little variability in the percentage of iron oxide in the sintered product as marketed. This may be seen from five analyses of sintered magnesite quoted by Cornu, which show variation between the following limits : — Per cent. Magnesia 85'53— 90-07 Lime 0-96— 3-52 Ferric oxide 7-43 — 9-96 Manganese oxide 0'51 — 0'76 Silica 0'26— 1-34 Alumina nil — 2'22 A. Kern* quotes the following analyses of sintered magnesite for some of the more important Austrian localities : — Veitsch. Breitenau. Semmer- ing. Sunk. Salzburg Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Magnesia 84-2 87-9 85-9 85-9 86-7 Lime 2-5 2-8 3-0 4-5 2-0 Ferric oxide 8-4 5-5 5-3 6-8 6-9 Alnmina — 0-7 01 1-4 11 Silica 3-8 2-0 5-1 0-6 2-2 According to Cornu, dolomite is abundant in the Veitsch mag- nesite deposits, partly as a fine-grained, greyish-black rock, and Gliiokauf, 1912, vol. 48, p. 281. 26 partly in the form of coarsely crystalline and yellowish-white masses. Large cleavage fragments of 10 to 20 cm. edge are obtainable from those masses of coarse-texture dolomite which are enclosed. The sintering temperature varies from 1,400° C. for breun- nerite containing a considerable percentage of iron oxide to 1,700° C. for magnesite poor in iron oxide ; but however easily the material sinters, it is, according to Horhager, desirable to carry the temperature up to at least 1,500° C, and this tem- perature seems to be exceeded as a rule in Styrian shaft kilns. Horhager states that the amount of fuel required to sinter Austrian magnesite is variable, and depends on the amount of ferrous carbonate present ; but with good flaming brown coal having a calorific value of 6,000 calories, the amount of coal required is from 0'3 to 0'4 ton per ton of sintered magnesia pro- duced. Kern puts the fuel requirements at 0'5 ton of brown coal (calorific value 4,000 calories) per ton of sintered magnesia produced. According to L. C. Morganroth,* kilns of the rotary type have been installed at several places in Austria, powdered coal being used as fuel, but they sulfer from the disadvantage of yielding a large percentage of fines. Sintering does not destroy the rhombohedral form of the magnesite fragments, and a microscopical examination of the powdered sinters show clearly the characteristic texture that has been described by Cornu. The crushed sinter, as a rule, requires to be further dressed to eliminate impurities, for these are far from having been com- pletely removed before sintering. For this purpose the grains are classified mechanically. Much of the caustic lime or calcined dolomite falls to dust and is easily eliminated in the finest screenings. The coarser grains are readily dressed by hand- picking, the light-coloured and therefore readily-distinguished impurities, such as talc, calcined dolomite and silica being easily removed in the Veitsch breunnerite. Such included lumps of dolomite are naturally regarded as objectionable by the quarry- men, and have to be eliminated as far as possible either by cobbing in the quarry or in subsequent dressing operations, as otherwise the product obtained would contain too much lime. The colour of the dolomite lumps helps the quarrymen to detect their presence. Lime is regarded as an objectionable ingredient in calcined magnesia, and efforts are made to keep its percentage as low as possible in the sintered product. Austrian sinter usually contains a variable but small percentage of lime, which is doubtless due to the presence of dolomite in the raw material. According to J. Horhager! and A. KernJ the quantity of waste rock obtainable in quarrying may amount to about two- thirds of the total bulk of the rock. The freshly quarried material • Bull. Amer. Inst. Eng., 1914, p. 2350. t Stahl und Eisen 1911, vol. 31, p. 955. j Op. oit. 27 is cobbed to free it as far as possible from coarse fragments of impurity such as schist, dolomite and quartz, and the lumps are sorted. The cleaner portions of the rock are reduced to pieces about head-size. Less pure material has to be broken into smaller pieces, of fist-size, and its dressing involves a considerable loss of magnesite in the form of fragments smaller than nut-size, which are too small to be burnt in shaft kilns. The raw mag- nesite thus obtained in the quarries at Sattlerkogels, near \'eitsch, is readily transported by aerial ropeways and shoots to the sintering kilns at the foot of the hill. The less coarse material is presumably in large part marketed in a comparatively impure condition, or otherwise requires to be treated magnetically to remove the impurities which are non- magnetic. This magnetic treatment, which involves much waste, adds considerably to the cost of the material, and is presumably only carried out when it is necessary to concentrate the sintered magnesia, and thus secure a more refractory product. In addition to the sintering and dressing plant near Veitsch there are works at other localities in Styria, including those at Breitenau and Trieben. There are also works at Eichberg near Gloggnitz, in Lower Austria. At Veitsch, transportation of the refined sinter from the kilns to the goods depot at Wartberg station is by an aerial ropeway over four miles long. The works at Breitenau are situated at the foot of the Hochlantsch (5,700 feet) , where terrace-quarrying and other working conditions closely resemble those at Veitsch and Eichberg. The Trieben works are near the station at Trieben, and are some three miles from the deposits at Sunk, where the magnesite is quarried. The deposit at Radenthein has been worked since 1908 by American capital. From that date down to 1915 large quantities of sinter were shipped to Philadelphia, New Orleans and New York, and smaller quantities to Great Britain. The overseas exports of sintered magnesia from all these works in Styria and other parts of Austria were shipped at the port of Trieste chiefly to the United States, which was the chief con- sumer of Austrian sinter before the war. The Austrian magnesite formation stretches eastward beyond Vienna into northern Hungary, where large magnesite deposits are quarried between Jolsva and Xyustya in the Gomor district. Those northern Hungarian deposits have much in com- mon with the Austrian, and in spite of their great distance inland from the Adriatic there have been considerable oversea exports in pre-war days from Fiume, to which port thev were railed some 380 miles for shipment to various parts of Europe and America. There are numerous occurrences of breunnerite in the form of scattered small crj'stals in talc-schists in various other parts of Austria, but such occurrences cannot be economically worked. Only the massive deposits of the Veitsch type can be quarried and worked at a profit, and even some of the'^* are unable to 28 compete with the largest and most favourably situated deposits, which are easily quarried and are within easy reach of transport facilities. A factor of much economic importance in the mag- nesite industry of Austria-Hungary is the abundance and accessi- bility of brown coal which is used in the sintering kilns. Austro-Hungarian Imports of Raw Magnesite and Sintered Magnesia. Tear. >Raw Magnesite. Sintered Magnesia. Metric tons. Metric tons. 1913 ... 316-5 99 1914 ... 269-1 88-8 1915 ... 139-2 56-1 1916 ... 40-7 5-5 1917 ... 18-5 1-3 1918 ... Austro-Hungarian Exports of Raw Magnesite and Sintered Magnesia. Tear. Raw Magnesite. Metric tons. Sintered Magnesia. Metric tons. 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 460 143 1,578 865 4,677 200,947 133,099 36,541 38,527 48,622 Comparative Table Showing the Exports of Sintered Magnesia from Austria-Hungary in 1913 and 1917. 1913. 1917. Consigned to Quantity. Metric tons. Per cent. Quantity. Metric tons. Per cent. United States Oreat Britain ■Grermany France Other Countries 113,300 34,400 27,662 14,697 10,888 56 17 14-5 7 5-5 46,692 1,930 96 4 Total 200,947 100 48,622 100 Greece.* Previous to the war Greece supplied the major portion of the world's requirements of the chalk-like variety of magnesite, * This account ia based largely on information kindly supplied by the Anglo- Greek Magnesite Company. 29 which, on account of its low percentage of iron oxide, was used chiefly in the manufacture of magnesia cement, and Germany was the chief consumer. Most of the deposits so far exploited in Greece lie in the northern part of the island of Euboea, where there is a belt of serpentine 6 to 9 miles in width and 15 miles in length. The magnesite occurs as white, compact masses in the form of veins, lenticles, or irregular masses in the serpentine. The dimensions of the magnesite bodies are very variable. The width of the bodies varies from tJ.l feet up to 130 feet, and the j^reatest length so far observed in a vein is 500 feet. The greatest depths at which deposits are worked to-day in Eubcea is about 660 feet, which depth has been reached in the Mantudi mine on the north-east coast of the island. The average depth of mining operations elsewhere does not exceed 200 feet. The veins probably do not extend to any great depth. The more important of the Euboea magnesite deposits may be classed in three groups, as follows : — (1) The Limni-Galataki group, situated on the southern side of the serpentine belt. These include the Limni community mine and the deposits of the Galataki concession. The distance of the Galataki concession to the loading port is 9 miles by railway ('2 feet gauge) and 4 miles by rope line. The rope line is worked on the double rope system, and is capable of conveying 200 tons of mineral per working day of ten hours. (2) The Mantudi-Pyli group, situated on the north-eastern coast of the island. The port of shipment for the Mantudi con- cession is Kymassi, which is connected with the mines by means of a 2-feet gauge railway 2^ miles in length. A rope line connects the two outlying concessions of Plakaries and Yerorevma with Mantudi. The port of shipment for the Haghia Triti, Maccas and Stavros mines is Pyli, which is connected with the mines by a rope line capable of transporting 100 tons per working day of ten hours. This rope line is 3:J miles long, with an intermediate station at Maccas and Stavros, nearly 2 miles from Pyli Bay. (3) The Chalcis group, situated east-south-east of Chalcis, including the Afrati, Gerakari and Phylla mines. The transport of the magnesite mined in the Afrati district is by carts to the loading port of Lefkandi, in the Euripo channel. The Euboean deposits were formerly worked open-cast, but in recent years underground mining has been resorted to. In the first instance the method adopted was to work the veins by wide stalls, pillars being left to support the roof, but this has more recently given place to the long-wall method of working. The crude magnesite obtained by mining is hand-dressed by girls, as much serpentine and calcite as possible being eliminated in this way. The hand-dressed raw material is then transported, as already indicated, to the ports of shipment, where part of it is calcined. The material to be calcined is, however, still furthe; 30 dressed and broken into lumps of convenient size before it is fed into the kilns. The material is shipped partly in the raw and partly in the calcined state. A considerable amount of magnesite has been mined in recent years in Macedonia on the Chalcidice peninsula, chiefly at Yerakino. The following analyses show the chemical composition of typical samples of Grecian raw magnesite : — Typical Mantudi. Mantudi. law Macedon. Kymi. Grecian. (a) (6) Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Magnesium carbonate 95-70 98-08 97-45 94-10 to 98-70 92-05 Calcium caibonate... 2-20 0-80 1-39 Trace to 3-00 6-15 Silica 1-48 0-30 0-20 0-16 to 4-00 1-30 Ferric oxide and alamina 0-60 1-20 1-15 0-02 to 0-40 0-50 The kilns used in Greece are large gas-fired shaft kilns, and up to a few years ago these were all of the Schmatolla type. In recent years various improvements, including Morgan gas generators, Steiger kilns, and pressure and exhaust fans, have been introduced, the result being to increase the rate of calcina- tion and reduce the consumption of fuel. Experiments made with the rotary kiln of the Fellner and Ziegler type did not meet with great success. The following analyses show the chemical composition of typical samples of caustic and dead-burnt magnesia obtained by calcination : — Caustic. Dead-burnt Per cent. Per cent. Magnesia 91-00 90-62 Lime 2-50 4-10 Ferric oxide and alumina 2-85 1-57 Silica 2-65 3-00 Moisture 1-10 0-71 The production of caustic magnesia requires, on the average, 4-8 cwts. of coal per ton of caustic magnesia produced ; whilst in the old type of bottle kiln, dead-burning or sintering requires from 6 to 7 cwts. per ton of sintered magnesia produced. The latest type of sintering kiln requires about 4-6 cwts. per ton of sintered magnesia produced. The coal used is in part imported ; but the lignite of Bubcea is of good quality and is used to a considerable extent in the <:alcination of magnesite. 31 >o a> N t- •«(< 00 i m i-H t^ to to to to ^Ort ■"fO.-i I 01 ei'arrt-o'o" S ■>» « ■«)< en_(N_o_ 1 —TcN'T-r C9 1 CO >, 00 a s s ■4S eq to to IM (NOO 13 ca •c \a T^ t~ CO to -rl ce 00 to c- t-o to u 3 JS i-r(N"Bft~'-H"nf S O" « »-l -Q S "i ^ 1 1 CO ■* 00 to CO to -^ 1-H Cq 0»_CO^t-H^tO_00^0^ f-Tco'-^Qo'or'^ h OJ P^ s CO r- to (M r* ♦ i t^ OS t* CO *-< ^ 3 id >0 (N 90 OJ^UfS ^ ^ to" (n"-"*" in" coco" Qj 2 rt CO t~co eooo (4i Fa^ t^ ^ (M to 05 K o^Tcn'oJco" ^ 1 1 -S DO <4i 1 .■§■ a •* r-ooeo i> ^ '.«a -tj t^ rH •* -^ CO 1^ a f cq^ CO^ CO^ OS^O^ -^ tO~t£rO~c4~to" ^ c 1 CO (N 05 to t> to o 1 i-H CO (M 00 Cq CN »-H CO C^^"^ «3 ^ *rl oTusco'rt-iar -*3 CO (N Oq ■ Sh 05 IM (N to t^OO p^ •* IN CO rt 00_ S DC T-T eo^icT -*"'-<'" c 1 d QQ .2 1 ■^ i-H ,-H Tji 00 B »o 00 00 CO -^ 2 t— OS ^ oi eo g .3 00 CO OS OS (M OS Ss r-< CO »0 OS to CO ^H t-H 1-H T-t i-H Pli S ti A ^ CO -* -o to t> 00 .— 1 f— « ^H 1— 1 1— < »-N OS OS OS OS OS OS f— ( •-« i-H r-t f-< *— • i g ■*oo icsooeo 1 co_os__os_ 1 •*"c-' OS- l« CO CO 1-1 00 4> 'c3 ". f> 1 ■i 00 -"l" OJ .2 too 1 rt^rH 9 & ^ a « ■u OS to 1 1 13 •c Tllr-I 1 1 Ph s : : : : : | H ■* into t-00 _ -H —I ^ ^ ' OS OS OS OS OS o Ss a □ a- «00 3 un s 3 ^ -** ■ — ' 32 Italy.* In Italy compact magnesite occurs and is, or has been, quarried at Castiglioncello, at Monterufoli, and also on the island of Elba, all in the Pirenze mining district, which includes the provinces of Pisa and Livorno. It is also mined to a small extent in the province of Turin. In Elba the magnesite is quarried in a primitive manner on the slope of the Monte Capanne, in the commune of Campa, where it ■occurs in altered serpentine. The mineral is dug from small holes in the ground, and the holes are abandoned at a depth of a few metres. The magnesite is white, friable, rich in silica, and becomes pasty when wetted. Analyses show from 41 to 42 per cent, magnesia, about 44 carbon-dioxide, 1 to 3J of lime, 8 to 9 of silica, and 3 to 4 per cent, of water. The output has been irregular. The recent production has been at the rate of 600 tons a year, and the magnesite is sold, at about £1 12s. per ton, for use in pottery manufacture. The Castiglioncello deposits are in the commune of Eosignano Marittimo, on the hills between the Salvetti-Vada and Livorna- Vada railways, and within a mile of the latter. They consist of large veins in serpentine and occur near the contact of the latter with Eocene beds. Three veins running for a length of a kilo- metre are exposed and vary in thickness from 3 to 10 metres. Lairge quarries were opened up in 1914-15, and kilns for calcining the magnesite have been erected recently. Local transportation to the kiln is by light railway and rope-line. The deposits are large, and, though the output during 1915 was only from 3,000 to 4,000 tons, it is estimated that a daily output oi 100 tons can be maintained. The Castiglioncello magnesite is partly hard and compact and partly friable. Its composition when dressed is, approximately, as follows : Per cent. Magnesium carbonate ... ... ... 89 Calcium carbonate 5 Ferric oxide ... ... ... ... 2 Silica 3' Magnesia bricks are made from the calcined product at Vada by a firm which previous to the war used material imported from Greece and Austria. The deposit at Monterufoli, in the province of Pisa, is a vein ranging from 4 to 8 metres in thickness. It is found along with serpentine and occurs near the contact of this with Eocene beds, which include chalk. The magnesite is associated with quartz and chalcedony, which are removed as far as possible by hand- • Eivista del Servizio Minerario. 33 dressing. A sample of the dressed raw magnesite gave the follow- ing analysis : — Per cent. Magnesium carbonate ... ... 8602 Calcium carbonate ... ... ... 960 Iron oxide and alumina ... ... -2 63 Insoluble 107 The dressed, raw magnesite is carted about 2^ kilometres to the station at Monterufoli. From there it is taken by rail to Ardenza, and thence by cart to Montenero (Livorno), where it is calcined in a Dietzsch furnace. Production of Raw Magnesite in Italy. (In metric tons and £.)* Province. 1913. 1914. 1915. , 1916. 1917. 1918. Torino Livorno Pisa 600 740 400 2,300 600 6,300 1,260 600 16,392 1,264 800 29,006 Total (metric tons) Total Value £ 600 320 1,140 827 9,200 12,355 18,252 21,117 31,070 39,163 28,882 67,127 Norway. A deposit of white spathic magnesite fairly free from ferrous carbonate occurs and is worked at Snarum, in the Modum district of southern Norway. The locality wliere it is obtained is about 35 miles from Drammen, and is conveniently situated for shipment either at the latter port or at C'hristiania. The magne- site is found as veins averaging 13 feet thick in a mass of serpen- tine which is associated with schists and quartzites. The magnesite contains serpentine impurity, which is used in ad- mixture with the magnesite fRr sintering and brick-making, as in the case of Grecian magnesite. There is a brick-making plant at the mines, and the bricks are stated to be superior to Austrian bricks in their refractory qualities. A characteristic feature of the Snarum magnesite is the absence of lime. The following are analyses of the magnesite of Snarum and a brick made from it : — Magnesite, Magnesia Sp. gr. 3- 02. brick. Per cent. Per cent. Magnesia 17-29 83-6 Silica — 9-3 Alumina — 2-0 Ferric oxide 0-79 4-6 Carbon dioxide 51-45 — • Converted into £ sterling at the rate of 25 lire = £1. 34 Russia. Magnesite occurs and has been quarried extensively at Mt. Boltscheja, between Satka and Berdjausch, some miles to the west of Zlatoust, Ufa province, in the Southern Urals. The magnesite is reported by H. Mohr to be remarkably similar to Austrian magnesite. It consists of breunnerite, and is regarded as identical with the breunnerite of Veitsch and other parts of Styria, both in its nature and mode of occurrence. No definite production statistics are available, but the pre-war annual output of raw magnesite from these deposits is estimated at from 16,000 to 20,000 tons. The magnesite is sintered at Satka, where there was an annual output of 400,000 bricks for some years before the war. Spain. Small outputs of magnesite have been reported for some years in Spain, chiefly from the Santander Province (see world's pro- duction table on p. 7). Typical compact magnesite occurs in the form of a vein 3 metres thick at La Papa, in Almeria, but this does not appear to have yielded much. The outputs reported in the past appear to have been obtained chiefly from the Esperanza and San Jose deposits of the Eeinosa district, Santander Province, but neither of these consists of ordinary magnesite. The Esperanza rock appears to consist largely of dolo- mite, and much of the material hitherto quarried in the Santander Province seems to have been of the nature of dolomite and dolomitic limestone rather than magnesite The published analyses of the San Jose material indicate that the free mag- nesium carbonate is hydromagnesite, and not ordinary magnesite. The " magnesite " of Santander Province has been stated to consist of breunnerite resembling the ferriferous magnesite of Austria, but the report by E. Dupuy de Lome and C. P. Maquieira de Borbon (Los yacimientos de ,carbonato de magnesia en Espana, Bol. Inst. Geol. Espana, 1918, 19, 255) indicates that the free magnesium carbonate hitherto produced from the Santander deposits has consisted of impure hydromagnesite and not breunnerite. The known deposits of magnesite in Spain are not large, and the material produced appears to be of rather poor quality. So far as can be judged from information at present available, Spain is not likely to become an important producer, at any rate for export purposes. United States. The magnesite mined in the United States before the war was entirely of the compact (Grecian) variety, and California was responsible for practically the whole of the production, which 35 showed no striking growth up to 1914 ; but the output increased largely during the war period, partly owing to the extensive development of the deposits of crystalline magnesite in Washington State, as shown by the following figures of output by States : — Unitf'd States Output of Magnesite (by States). (Short tons.) State. 1913. 1914. 1 1915. 1916. 1917. 1918. 1919.* California 9,632 11,293 1 30,499 154,259 211,663 84,077 42,000 Washington ... — — — 715 105,175 147,528 120,000 • Preliminary figures. Previous to the war the United States was the chief consumer of Austrian magnesia sinter, which was used as a refnictory in the metallurgical industries of the eastern and middle-west States, Crude Grecian magnesite was also imported in lar^e amounts, and the imports of crude Grecian alone exceeded the total production of the United States. The shutting off of imports from Austria 'during 1915 and 1916 led to a serious shortage of supplies, but the loss was made good by a large increase in the ( lalifornian output, and rapid development of the spathic magnesite deposits of Washington State, together with increased imports from Canada and Greece. The United States production declined somewhat in 19is, due to increased cost of transport and a large increase in the imports of Canadian sinter, which could be landed in the eastern United States at a cheaper rate than the Californian product. The magnesite deposits of California occur on the western side of the Sierra Nevada, in the Tulare and Kern Counties, and at many localities in the serpentine belt of the coast range extending from the southern margin of Mendocino County to Winchester in Eiverside County. The more important of the deposits hitherto worked are those of the Tulare, Sonoma, Santa Clara, and Kern Counties. It is estimated by the Geological Survey authorities that about half of the United States output in 1916 was produced by Tulare County alone, chiefly from the deposits of the Porter- ville district. The Porterville deposits include many veins, some of which are of large size. One of these is described as attaining a thickness of 8 feet, and as having been exploited over a distance of 785 feet of the outcrop, the actual extent of which appeared to be much greater. The following are two analyses of samples taken from the hunker or stock pile of magnesite from the White Eock mine. 36 Pope Valley, in Napa County, and from Porterville, in Tulare County : — White Eock Porterville Mine. Magnesite. Per cent. Per cent. Silica 2-43 0-80 Ferrous oxide 2-40 0-20 Lime 1-57 102 Magnesia 43-^2 45-94 Carbon dioxide 50-11 51-30 10013 99-26 The magnesite from the White Eock mine in Napa County shows rather more iron oxide than is usually present in Cali- fornian magnesite, and on this account it was used largely during the war for the manufacture of refractory magnesia. The mag- nesite- of the Porterville district is typical of most Californian magnesite. The company working the Porterville deposits has in the past used the calcined magnesia chiefly in the manufacture of wood pulp at its Oregon mills. The deposits of crystalline magnesite that were opened up during the war in Washington State are situated about 60 miles north of Spokane, in Stevens County. The magnesite of this area is described as resembling marble or dolomite in texture. It occurs in thick and extensive beds which can be quarried easily and cheaply. The deposits are thus compared with those of Quebec, and, like the latter, were formerly quarried for use as marble. Several large quarries have been opened up in Stevens County, and some of these are within about 5 miles of the Chewelah railway station. As described by E. W. Stone, the deposits of Washington State appear to be of large size. One lens of magnesite in which two quarries have been opened near Brown's Lake has a length of 1,000 ft., a thickness of 200 ft., and is worked on a quarry face 75 feet in height. The magnesite is underlain by slate, overlain by quartzite, and is associated with a compact igneous greenstone. At the Keystone quarry, where magnesite was formerly quarried as marble, magnesite occurs mixed with dolomite in a large lens in which it is estimated that there is 1,000,000 tons of magnesite in sight. Another, known as the red marble deposit, on account of its colour, though it contains very little iron oxide, is a lens about a quarter of a mile long and from 200 to 300 feet thick, associated with quartzite, slate, schist, and igneous greenstone. It is esti- mated that this deposit may contain not less than 2,000,000 tons of magnesite within 50 feet of the surface, assuming that 50 per cent, of the rock is magnesite. Stone states that Washington magnesite commonly contains from 42 to 45 per cent, of magnesia and 1 to 2 per cent, of ferric 37 oxide. The magnesite sold in the raw state is specified as con- taining not more than 3 per cent, of silica and 2 per cent, of lime. In 1917 tlie raw and calcined maj^neKite were delivered on the railway at Chewelah (Wash.) for $75 per ton and $325 per ton, respectively. The activity of- war developments in these Washington quarries may be judged from the fact that the outjiut, which was only 715 tons in 1916, reached about 100,000 tons in 1917, and is expected to exceed this in 1918. During the war the magnesite was trans- ported largely to Chicago and the eastern States for use iu steel and copper furnace linings and had to bear a freight charge of $10 or more per ton. Analyses of the samples taken from the bunker or stock pile of the magnesite produced at the quarries near Valley and Chewelah in Stevens County, Washington, are given below. ()ne was a red magnesite from the Red Mariile (|uany at Valley, Washington. The other was a white magnesite from the .Mien quarry at Valley, Washington. The following are the analyses which aie remarkable as showing that a sample of the red mag- nesite which might be expected to contain an appreciable per- centage of iron oxide, contains very little, and indeed rather leas than that of the white magnesite : — Red Magnesite. Red Marble Quarry. Per cent. White Magnesite Allen Quarry. Per cent. Silica ... 4-27 0-46 Ferrous oxide... 0-78 1-01 Lime 1-07 0-31 Magnesia Carbon dioxide 45-02 49-51 46-23 50-32 100-65 98-33 It will be observed that these analyses show very little lime in comparison with those of Quebec magnesite which they other- wise closely resemble. Production of Raw Magnesite in the United States.* Year. Quantity. Short Tons. Value. Year. Quantity. Short Tons. Value. 1913 1914 1915 9,632 11,293 30,499 77,056 124,223 274,491 1916 ... 1917 ... 1918 ... 154,974 316,838 231,605 1,393,693 2,899,818 1,812,601 Annual Reports on the Mineral Resources of the United States. 38 United States Imports of Magnesite Calcined, not Purified.' (In short tons.)' Fiscal Years ending 30th June. Country. 1913. 1914. 1915. ■ 1916. 1917. 1913. Austria- Hungary 163,715 134,260 52,086 _. _ Belgium — 11 — — — — Denmark — 58 103 — — — Germany 2,412 2,578 723 12 — — Greece 1,605 3,232 4,4.37 11,413 1,792 — Italy — — 709 — — — Netherlands 4,508 4,191 3,554 1,949 — — Norway ... — — — 23 — 11 United Kingdom 1 13 280 349 785 932 Canada 350 404 948 2,440 2,148 10,805 Mexico — — Venezuela 508 — — British East Indies — — — — — British South Africa — — — — — 2 Total 172,591 144,747 63,348 16,186 4,725 ^ 11,750 * Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the United States. United States Imports of Raw and Calcined Magnesite for Consumption. Year. Raw. Short Tons. Calcined. Short Tons. Year. Raw. 1 Calcined. Short j Short Tons. 1 Tons. 1913 1914 1915 1916 13,240 13,354 49,764 75,345 167,094 121,817 26,574 9,270 1917 1918 1919 30,277 5,432 6,381 3,966 19,049 9,471 United States hnports of Magnesimn Salts. (In pounds and dollars.) Year. Calcined Magnesia (medical). Carbonate of Magnesia (medical). Sulphate of Magnesia (Epsom Salts). 1913 ... 1914 ... 1915 ... 1916 ... 1917* ... 1918 ... Quantity. 54,915 159,547 94,309 54,981 12,165 423 Value. 10,034 19,342 10,451 14,659 4,483 312 Quantity. 70,823 46,183 48,817 8,202 5,681 Value. 4,880 2,527 2,757 1,048 1,896 Quantity. 8,121,677 13,826,899 3,560,701 674,594 48,540 2,045 Value. 32,884 53,768 16,050 4,036 915 196 For fiscal year ending June 30, 1918. 39 Venezuela. Compact niagnesite occurs in the island of Margarita, near the northern coast of Venezuela. The chief deposits are reported to be about a mile from the Port of Porlaraar, and three miles from the port of Pambatar, both of which have good shipping facilities. American companies were reported to be working these deposits in 1912, and 508 short tons were imported by the United States from Venezuela during 1915. An output of 2,360 tons of magnesite is reported for 1917, and 600 tons for 1918. The ship- ments during 1917 amounted to 1,000 tons, but none was exported during 1918 owing to lack of shipping facihties. REFERENCES TO TECHNICAL LITERATURE. 1913. Magnesite deposits in Euboea, Greece, by J. Hogg; Trans, lust. Min. Bng., 1913-14, 46, 128-148. Development of special refractory bodies, by E. T. Montgomery; Trans. Amer. Ceramic Sec, 1913, 15, 606-619. 1914. The magnesite of Castiglioncello, by 6. d'Achiardi; Rasaegna Mineraria, 1914, 41, 93-94. The origin, preparation and use of magnesite, by L. C. Morganroth; Trans. Amer. Inst. Min. Eng., 1914, 50, 890-900. Report on recent prospecting operations in the vicinity of Tumby Bay, by L. K. Ward; Rev. Min. Oper. S. Austr. No. 20, 1914, 30-33. Effect of steam upon magnesite brick, by R. H. Youngman; Iron Trade Rev., 1914, 683-684. 1915. Magnesite deposits and possibilities in California, by 8. H. Dolbear; Min. Sci. Press, 1915, 105-108. i, ^ d The magnesite deposit at Bulong, N.E. Coolgardie G.F., by F. R. Feldtmann; Rep. Dep. Mines, W. Austr., 1915, 131-133. Solubility of magnesium carbonate in natural waters, by R. C. Wells; Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, 1915, 37, 1704-1707. Hydromagpesite deposits of Atlin, B.C., by G. A. Young; Geol. Surv. Canada, Sunira. Rept., 1915, 50-61. 1916. Mines and mineral resources, CaUfornia, by W. W. Bradley; California State Min. Bur. Rept., 1916, 14, 173-370. Refractories for steel furnaces from the consumer's point of view, by W. J. Brooke; Trans. Ceramic Soc, 1916-17, 16, 205-236. The magnesite mines of India, by C. H. Burlton; Asiatic Rev., 1916, 420-438; Journ. East Indian Assoc, 1917, 8, 1. Magnesite production and markets, by S. H. Dolbear; Mm. Sci. Press, 1916, 118, 234-235. 40 Magnesite at Bridge River, B.C., by C. W. Drysdale; Geol. Surv. Canada, Summ. Rept., 1916, 48. Magnesite, dolomite and magnesium salts in Queensland, by B. Dunstan; Queens. Govt. Min. Journ., 1916, 17, 529-533. Acid and basic furnace linings, by J. E. Foster, Trans. Ceramic Soc, 1916-17, 16, 24-39. Sur les proprietes refractaires de la magnesie, par H. Le Chatelier and B. Bogitch; Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 1917, 165, 488-491, Trans. Ceramic Soc. 1917-18, 17, 181-187. Spalling of magnesite bricks, by J. W. Mellor; Trans. Ceramic Soc, 1916-17, 16, 85-100. Tests on the air-slaking of magnesia calcined at various temperatures, by A. M. Sen; Rec. Mysore Dept. Mines, 1916, 15, 158-163. Mineral Resources of Mysore : Magnesite, by W. F. Smeeth and P. Sampat Iyengar; Bull. Mysore Dept. Mines, 1916, No. 7. Probable cost of burning magnesite in electrically heated kilns, by W. F. Smeeth; Rec. Mysore Dept. Mines, 1916, 15, 152-157. The Tumby Bay Syndicate's magnesite mine, by H. Jones; Rev. Min. Oper. S. Austr. No. 24, 1916, 62-63. 1917. Magnesite, abstracts of papers by Blechsteiner and Leo; Trans. Ceramic Soc, 1917-1918, 17, 8-12. Origin and geochemistry of magnesite, by S. H. Dolbear; Min. Sci. Press, 1917, 114, 237-238. Note on the microstructure of magnesite bricks, by A. Scott; Trans. Ceramic Soc 1917-18, 17, 475-479. Magnesites and magnesite bricks, by W. Donald; Trans. Ceramic Soc, 1917-18, 17, 486-561. Recent developments at the magnesite deposits of Bulong, by F. R. Feldtmann; Rep. Dep. Mines W.A., 1917, 69-70. Refractory magnesia (for furnace linings), by R. C. Gosrow; Met. Chem. Eng., 1917, 17, 415-417. The development of Canadian magnesite, by H. J. Roast; Trans. Can. Min. Inst., 1917, 20, 237. Magnesite deposits of Grenville district, Argenteuil County, Quebec; by M. E. Wilson; Geol. Surv. Canada, Memoir 98 (Geol. Series 81), 1917, 1-88. Magnesite at Heathcote, Victoria; Rec. Geol. Surv. Victoria, 1917, 4, 52. 1918. Magnesite as raw material, by T. Crook; Trans. Ceramic Soc, 1918-19, 18, 67-147. Los yacimieiitos de carbonate de magnesia en Espaiia, por E. Depuy de Lome y C. F. Maquieira de Borbon; Bol. Inst. Geol. de Espafia, 1918, 19, 255-295. Magnesite industry of Quebec, by H. Frechette; Can. Min. Journ., 1918, 39, 81-82. Notes on the possible origin of the magnesite near Valley, Washington, by 0. P. Jenkins; "Econ. Geol., 1918, 13, 381-384. Gipsbrei und Magnesiazement, von B. Kosmann; Tonind. Zeit., 1918, 42, 103, 115, 123, 137. Magnesite and dolomite in Australia and New Zealand, by P. G. Morgan; New Zealand Journ. Sci., 1918, 1, 359-372. Magnesite in South Africa, by P. A. Wagner; S. Afr. Journ. Ind., 1918, 1, 570-578. Magnesia ware, by T. D. Yensen; Journ. Amer. Ceramic Soc, 1918, 1, 730, Abstr. in Journ. Soc Glass Technology, 1919, 3, 123A. , 41 Magnesite in Rhodesia, by A. E. V. Zeaiiey; Rhodesia Munitions and Resources Comm. Rept., 1918, 16. Mining and calcining magnesite in Napa, California; Min. Sci. Press, 1918, 117, 459-460. Resources of magnesite in China (Manchuria) ; Bd. of Tr. Journ., 1918, 101, 224. 1919. Magnesite in Margarita Island, ofiE the coast of Venezuela, by C. F. Z. Caracristi; Eng. Min. Journ., 1919, 107, 645. Magnesite : its geology, products and their uses by C. D. Dolman ; Bull. Amer. Inst. Min. Met. Eng., 1919, 1193-1202. Magnesite deposits of Bulong, North-East Coolgardi'e Goldfield, by F. R. Feldtmann; W. Austr. Geol. Surv. Bulletin No. 82, 1919, 38 pp. Sintering of magnesia, by J. B. Ferguson; Journ. Amer. Ceramic Soc, 1918, 1, 439-440. Abstr. in Journ. Soc. Chem. Ind., 1919, 38, 106A. Basic refractories for open hearths, by J. S. McDowell and R. M. Howe; Blast furnace and steel plant, 1919, 7, 227-229, Abstr. in Journ. Soc. Chem. Ind., 1919, 38, 364A-465A. Der Veitscher Magnesit-Typus in Ural, von H. Mohr. ; Montan. Rund., 1919, 11, 3-5. Magnesite, chromite and fireclay at Mount Pring, Bowen, by B. C. Saint Smith; Queens. Govt. Min. Journ., 1919, 19, 57-58. Magnesite (in India) by H. E. Watson and J. J. Sudborough; Indian Munitions Board Handbook, 1919, 379-381. 42 APPENDIX. NOTE ON MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE. Magnesium chloride is used chiefly in the manufacture of Sorel or oxychloride cement, which consists of a mixture of powdered magnesia and magnesium chloride. These two compounds have the property of setting to form a strong resilient cement when mixed, and in consequence of its resiliency this cement is used extensively in huilding construction on account of its superior quality for flooring and various other purposes. Germany was the chief consumer of Grecian caustic magnesia hefore the war, and it was mostly for this particular use in building construction that the Germans employed it. , Other important uses of magnesium chloride include the production of metallic magnesium, which is obtained chiefly by the electrolysis of the fused chloride, and its use in the textile trades for dressing cotton thread. Magnesium chloride can be made from magnesite and hydrochloric acid, and it is reported to be obtained in this way in the United States; but commercial supplies in Germany are obtained as a by-product in the Stassfurt potash industry. Magnesium chloride occurs in the potash deposits and is recovered from the brines. Since it is obtained as a by-product, the winning of it has an important bearing on the successful prosecution of the potash industry, as is fully realized in Germany. Probably all the potash salt deposits of the Stassfurt type are capable of yielding magnesium chloride as a by-product. If so, the deposits of Alsace may be expected to yield commercial supplies, as also may those of Catalonia in Spain. According to recent reports, magnesium chloride occurs in the potash salts of Mt. Dellol in Abyssinia. At this place there is a hot spring, the water of which is saturated with magnesium chloride. The lake brines of many localities contain magnesium chloride. The salts from the salt lake of Utah, for instance, contain about 11 per cent, of this ingredient. From the British point of view it is worthy of note that India claims to be able to supply large quantities of magnesium chloride from Indian bitterns. The annual output of magnesium chloride at Stassfurt in Germany is stated to be 12,000 tons, and it is estimated that 193,000 tons of magnesium chloride is wasted annually from Indian bitterns.