on I p r 1 ^<1 Ml 6 am CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ENGINEERING LIBRARY IMPERIAL MINERAL RESOURCES BUREAU. THE MINERAL IXDUSTRV OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES. WAR PERIOD. B I S M u r H . (11)13-1919.) TN 4in BhG78 1919""' ^"""'' The mineral industry ol Ihc Bridsh Empi 3 ri.^.i oil: tvt.i 2" < l.ON DON : raumo and pimususo bt mn MAJlWTY-8 STAFIONKBT OKWOIt To b* puratUMttl throiub uiy Bookaeilor or dlraotlv irom UM. srf ATIONEKT 0F> ICK kt Um toUowl^ tMrimet UiriBlAL HoU.SK, KlNO^'WAT. UUTIXUI, WXH ud W, ABUtUDON SraSKT. LOKDOX, aW.t^ n, Fxnia aruKxr. Mamchkjtkb . 1. »r. ASDBIWS OIUOCK.NT, CAHOtFr, a, FOBia aTREET. KDlMBOR^a : at tram B. K>N;MSBY, LTO. lid, Onxrrvx Sraurr. UVbUM Pncf t' L A>.'. 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/cu31924004694273 IMPERIAL MINERAL RESOURCES BUREAU. THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES. WAR PERIOD. BISMUTH (191;; 11)111. )■ LONDON; m ,fflSS-8'??ffiSfll§ 5W 1920. Price 6d. Net. CONTENT vS GENPJRAL WORLD'S PRODUCTION PRICES BRITISH EMPIRE : United Kingdom Rhodesia India Australia : New South Wales Queensland Tasmania FOREIGN COUNTRIES : Mexico United States Bolivia Peru ... .Japan PAGE 5 6 7 7 T 10 lo- ll 12 12 REFERENCES TO TECHNICAL LlT^ERATURE la GKNEKAL. I l|■^llllltll iiiiaerals are iiuiiier(Mi.s, but uiost nl them are ni luuDiiiinon (Mciirrence. Those occurring in ores are ihietiy the uatixe uietal and the sulphide, bismuthiuite. Of tlie oxidation prcHbicts of Ijismuth, bisiiiutite is the commonest. Bisnnith minerals coiiiain a hi'^\\ [)ercentage (Hi per cent, or more) ot bismuth, but tlie ores as mined seldom c()ntain nujre than 10 to •JO [)er ci.M\t. Hismuth ores are commonly connected with intrusions ot j^iaiiite and porphyry, and when oF lii^li ^rade are frequently associated with tin and tunj^sten ores. In smaller (piaiitities bismuth minerals aie associated with lead, zinc, cobalt, coi)per, gold and silver ores, and the metal is recineied to .some extent as a by-product in the metallurf^'ical treatment of tliese oies. liismuth and its compounds have a variety of u.ses. The metal is \aluable as an ingredient of vai'ious " fusible alloys.'" In Kose's metal and Newton's metal it is alloyed with lead and tin. In Wood's metal and rji|)owit/.' metal it is alloyed witli tin cadmium and lead. Bisnudh is an ingredient of some antifriction and slereotyin- metals. Bismuth compounds are used in the njanufacture of drugs and medicines and also of certain pigments. \V01tld)'S rHODrcTlON. The production of bisnuith and the market price of the metal have been sti'ictl\ controlled for man\ years, and Messis. .John- son, Mattliey and Co. Ltd., a Tjondon firm, are tlie chief buyers The world's supply is obtained partly from bisnnith ore, and partly from bismuth metal obtained during the process ol electrolytically refining lead and copper. Boli\ia is the chief producer of bisnuith. Other important producing countries are .\ustralia, ^Mexico, Peru, and HaxoiJ>. During the period under review an occasional shipment of bis- muth ore has been reported from the " Kjenner Bismuth " mine in Norway, and both Spain and Chile produced small quantities. During the war there was an increased demand for bismuth both for the numufacture of ceitain low-temperature fuses and for medicinal purposes. To meet this increased demand there was a la^ en ^ O (S SO ^ >> CQ a -g C8 tiO 3 a o- _o •c t^ cc -<*" CO cc CC C -f cr* CO -f ^) CO W C^ _ t^ CO CO t^ rc GO ^ (M r^ lO "M ta lO 'C fN CO •i" TJ „ ._ , rc X c^ rj oc -t" CO -f 'M ■>] -t ^ 5i t^ ^ iO ^ o^ iC cc »o CO cr^ O ^ OS T-H 1— 1 C'l re -r >c ^-O c- GO c: c^ c- en. CV c- Cs as -— ^^ ■■— < — a. 10 FOREIGN COUNTRIES. Mexico. High-grade bismuth ore is worked chiefly in the States of Sinaloa and Sonora. The Belen mine in Sonora and the Mariposa mine in Sinaloa are the principal producing centres of high-grade ore. Low-grade ores carrying about 2 per cent, of bisinuth are common throughout these States and there are rich oxidized ores near Ojo Caliente in Chihuahua. United States.* No deposits of bismuth ore of any importance are mined in the United States. A little bismuth ore has been produced in the Deep Creek mountains of Utah, and in Colorado. The gold placer deposits of Alaska also yield a small supply. Practically all the bismuth produced in the" United States is found associated with the ores of gold, silver, copper, and lead, more particularly those mined in the States of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. The bismuth does not occur in the ores in sufficient quantity to allow the deposits to be worked for bismuth alone, and the metal is recovered as a by-product during the process of smelting and refining the ores and bullion. It is probable that much of the bismuth contained in the ore passes up the smelter stacks and is lost, but the Cottrell system of fume precipitation is being adopted, and this will yield a considerable addition to the supply of domestic bismuth in the United States, should it prove feasible to separate the bismuth from the resulting dust and. fume. The larger proportion of the domestic supply is obtained during the process of smelting and refining lead ores, notably those from the Tintic mines in Utah, and from Leadville, Colorado, where high-grade bismuth ores occur frequently as irregular deposits in veins of silver-lead ore. Such ore is smelted separately and the bismuth recovered during the subsequent refining of the lead bullion. Bismuth values ranging from a third of a pound to 27 lb. per 100 tons of blister copper have been recovered during the electro- lytic refinement of blister copper from some of the Califomian and Nevada smelters. Before the war a considerable amount of bismuth metal was imported into the United States from the United Kingdom and Germany. During the war these imports declined appreciably, partly owing to war conditions, but chiefly to the great expansion of the domestic lead-mining and smelting industry. The demand for bismuth was met by the increased production of by-product metal from silver-lead ores and bullion partly imported from South America. * Mineral Resources of the United States ; CJ.S. Geol. Surv. (Annual). 11 Bismuth impy L. C. Ball ; Queens. (Jenl. Surv., Publication No. 24."i, 1910, .58 pp. The wolfram, molybdenite and bismuth mines of Bamford, North Queensland, by L. C. Ball ; Queens. Geol. Surv., Publication No. 248, 1915, 7H pp. Manganese-bismuth alloys, by E. Bekier ; Internat. Zeit. Met., I'.U.o, 7, >^'^'- Alloys of manganese and bismuth, by N. Parravano and IT. Perret : Gazz (Uiim. Ital., 191."i, 45. i, 390-394. i9u; Huayna-Potofli bismuth-tin mines of Bolivia. I)v B. L. Miller and J. T. .since wald ; Eng. Min. .lourn., 191ti, 102, 1065-lO(;7. Prominent mines of Junin, Peru, by J. E. Singewald and B. L. ^liller ; Eii» :\Iin. Journ., 1916, 102, 683-..K7. Tlie purification of bismuth, by K. Mvlius and E. GioschufF ; Zeit. f. anorg. Chemie, 1916, 96, 237. Uses of liismuth as an alloy : Metal Industry, 1916, 9, 176-177. Constitution of tin-cadmium and tin-bismuth alloys, liy A. Bucher ; Zeit. f anorg. Chemie, 1916, 98, 97-127. 1917. Queensland mineral deposits. No, s. Bismuth, by B. Dunstan ; (Queens. Govt . Min. Journ., 1917, 18, 17-22. " • Our mineral supplies, bv F. L. Hess ; US. Geol. Surv., Bull. No. 666, 1917, p. 126. 191S. Deseription of tungsten, molybdenite, and bismuth deposits in the Deepwater distriet, by J. E. Came and E. C, Andrews : N,S,W. Dept. of Mines. Ann. Rept,, 1918, pp. 152-],'i.5. Lead-bismuth-silver and lead-silver-gold alloys, bv M. Goto : .Tourn. Coll. Eng.. Imp. Univ.. Tokyo, I'.HS, 9, 63-114. 14 1919. The base metal resources of the Union of South Africa, by W. Versfeld ; Dept. of Mines and Industries, Union of S. Africa, 191 9, pp. 14 -17. The Balkans as a new source of raw material for German metal industries, by H. E. Kepler ; Metall n. Erz, 1919, 16, 513-514. Notes on the S. and M. mine and on treatment of bismuth, tin and wolfram ores, by W. E. Hitchcock and J. R. Pound ; Proc. Austr. Inst. Min. Met., 1919, 35, new series, 33-73. Manganese-bismuth, manganese-zinc and manganese-silver alloys, by P. Siebe ; Zeit. f. anorg. Chemie, 1919, 108, 161-183. Abstr. Journ. Soc. Ohem. Ind., 1920, 39, 27a. G-eology and ore deposits of the Tintic mining district, Utah, by W. Lindgren and others ; U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Paper 107, 1919, pp. 140, 149, 176.