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the economic world so likely to maintain its market value as nickel. Outside the production of New Caledonia, Canada supplies practically all the world's requirements, but these requirements become more and more each year, and new discoveries of the metal are not keeping pace with the increasing demand. It is, however, reported that north of Sudbury considerable areas of the mineral have been found, and it will be interesting to note what effect this will have on the market price of the metal, which, at present, is largely controlled by the International Nickel Company.

UNTOLD RICHES IN COAL.

Dr. Dowling calculates there are over 26,000,000,000 tons of coal. Most of this is possibly lignite of an inferior order, but any one who has studied the immense strides lately made in the treatment of inferior coals cannot fail to realize that the time is not far hence when almost any fair lignite can be easily employed as a power producer.

Only a few years ago pessimistic wiseacres were estimating the probable coal supply of the world and counting on a shortage in our great-grandchildren's time. The calculations of these estimable statisticians were excellent in detail and were wrong only in that the basis on which they were compiled was absolutely false. It was assumed that we knew of practically all the large coal areas of the universe. Since those croaking figures were given to a nervous public it is probable that fifty times as much coal has been located as

If the mineral industry of the Dominion is ever to bear any large proportion to the agricultural industry,-to-day it is only about a fifth as great,-it will not be gold or silver that will bring about the increase, the amount on which the woeful estimates though much gold and silver will undoubtedly be mined. The value of the finds, however, and the chances of working them profitably, are more or less problematical. What remains quite certain is that Canada is destined one day to be the great coal and iron producer of the world.

For many years coal has been worked in the Carboniferous rocks of Nova Scotia and the Cretaceous of Vancouver Island, but more lately the Cretaceous rocks of the Rockies have supplied most of the fuel requirements of the western provinces. On a smaller scale collieries have been opened in New Brunswick, in the southwest corner of Manitoba, in the Lethbridge District of Alberta, and in the Klondike region of the Yukon. But these fields are as mere drops in an ocean compared with the areas of coal that are known to occur in the Northwest Territories, and more especially in Alberta. For many hundreds or thousands of square miles the country is occupied by coal-bearing formations. It is, indeed, practically impossible to appreciate the amount of coal that will one day be available, the human mind scarcely realizes such figures,—but it may be mentioned that Mr. D. B. Dowling, of the Canadian Geological Survey, has estimated, and he considers his estimate very conservative, that from the coal areas already known in Alberta there is a possibility of extracting 150 billion tons in about the following proportions:

Good lignite....

True coal (below bituminous)
Steam and anthracite...

were based. Australia, India, and China have more than enough to supply their own requirements for many generations to come, but Canada has enough and to spare to supply the wants of both hemispheres.

Long before the present severe climatic conditions converted the Polar regions into the Arctic regions, immense forests flourished on what are now the shores of Hudson Strait and Baffin Island; these forests, now large coal-fields, may, even in our own day, supply the steamers that will, within a few years, adopt the Hudson Bay route for carrying wheat from Manitoba to Europe.

VAST DEPOSITS OF IRON ORE.

If the iron production of Canada were in any way proportionate to the value of the iron ore deposits, statistics regarding this industry would be both interesting and startling. The fact, however, remains that in comparison to the population the production is exceedingly small, and in comparison to the ore deposits awaiting development is hardly worth mentioning. A quarter of a million tons is, approximately, Canada's average iron-ore output. Compared to the 44,500,000 tons produced in the United States, iron-mining in the Dominion would, indeed, seem to be a very small branch of the mining industry. The causes of this absence of iron-mining are twofold. In the first place, the deposits that are within reasonable distance of civilization,-namely, the immense areas in Quebec, north of the St. Lawrence 60,000,000,000 valley,-are of the ilmenite or titaniferous

44.000,000,000
20,000,000,000

In the southern portion of Saskatchewan description, for which no satisfactory system.

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A SCENE AT A MINE IN THE COBALT DISTRICT, SHOWING SHAFT AND HOIST.

of economic smelting has as yet been discovered, or, perhaps one should say, has yet been made publicly known, for a group of New York capitalists claim to have the right of an invention that is, by the electrolytic process, to expel the titanium from the iron at a rate that will compete with the reduction of ordinary magnetic ores. Be this as it may, ilmenite has not, so far, been treated profitably on a large scale, and, at the present day, the titaniferous deposits of Quebec are of little value.

The second reason for the neglect of some of the large iron-ore deposits is their location. It is well known that large portions of the Labrador peninsula,-called Ungava on the Dominion maps, contain huge deposits of magnetite and hematite that lend themselves to easy smelting. Some years ago a Philadelphia syndicate engaged the present Director of the Canadian Geological Survey to report on the iron deposits of the Nastapoka Islands cf Hudson Bay. Mr. Low reported finding practically unlimited quantities of good ore, but considered that the situation was such as to render profitable mining out of the question. Of the Labrador deposits the same remark may be made to-day, but it is practically certain that a time will come when the immense iron resources of this peninsula, aided by water-power unrivaled anywhere

else in the world, will constitute a real factor in the Canadian mining industry.

In an endeavor to estimate the iron-ore rescurces of the world Professor Tornebohm, cf Sweden, gives a list of countries that may be expected to produce 1,000,000,000 tons or more. In this list Canada does not appear, but is, presumably, included in one item: "Austria-Hungary, and other countries." In criticising this estimate, John Birkinbine, of Philadelphia, late of the United States Geological Survey, assumes that the Swedish professor's calculations are based on the "limited exploitation of Canadian iron ores instead of on the researches made by the Canadian Geological Survey."

VARIED MINERAL RESOURCES. No notes on the mineral industry of Canada would be quite complete without a reference to the mining of mica. Although the mica production of Canada is second only to that of India, the total value of the output scarcely realizes $150,000. For many years to come Canada must play second fiddle to India as regards mica production, owing to the entirely different conditions under which the mineral is wr ked. In the Dominion shafts have to be sunk, machinery must be erected, high wages have to be paid, and mining regulations must be obeyed. In India

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the wages average from 2 to 4 cents a day,according as to whether the laborer be a woman or a man,-there are open-cuts instead of shafts, the tools employed are of the simplest, and no attempt is made to work deeper than the hardness of the rock permits without blasting.

Although only the most important economic minerals have been discussed in these notes, it would be unfair to deny passing mention to the mining of zinc in British Columbia, the possibility of large finds of platinum and mercury in that province, and the enormous deposits of phosphates lying to the north of Ottawa. These last were once mined on a large scale, but the finding of large areas of equally rich fertilizers in Florida and Tennessee that could be economically quarried naturally ruined the industry. It is believed, however, that the Florida rock is nearing exhaustion, and it is admitted by Mr. W. R. Ingalls, editor of the Mineral Industry of the United States, that the Tennessee rock limit is in sight. The price of phosphate has, for some years, been of an upward tendency. The mineral production of Canada in pro

portion to its population is, compared with other large countries such as the United States and Australia, small. Whereas Australia provides about $25 for every member of its population, and the United States about $20, the Canadian output is only equal to about $10 per head. But it is scarcely fair to consider the figures in the light of to-day. What Canada needs is railways and railways. Its government and the public fully realize the necessity, and railways are being built as fast as the scarcity of labor and the inclement winter months allow. The discovery of Cobalt was directly due to the building of the Timiskaming Railway. The Grand Trunk Pacific will undoubtedly open up new mineral areas, principally in coal. The Lake St. John branch of the Great Northern Railway is tapping an area of Huronian rocks in the Chibougamau District that are known to contain gold, silver, and copper. Very little prophetic cunning is needed to predict that in a few years the mineral output of the Dominion of Canada will be a large factor in the world's production, and that the larger proportion of the output will be coal, iron, and copper..

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THE RT. HON. SIR WILFRID LAURIER, PREMIER OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA.

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the wages average from 2 to 4 cents a day, according as to whether the laborer be a woman or a man,-there are open-cuts instead of shafts, the tools employed are of the simplest, and no attempt is made to work deeper than the hardness of the rock permits without blasting.

Although only the most important economic minerals have been discussed in these notes, it would be unfair to deny passing mention to the mining of zinc in British Columbia, the possibility of large finds of platinum and mercury in that province, and the enormous deposits of phosphates lying to the north of Ottawa. These last were once mined on a large scale, but the finding of large areas of equally rich fertilizers in Florida and Tennessee that could be economically quarried naturally ruined the industry. It is believed, however, that the Florida rock is nearing exhaustion, and it is admitted by Mr. W. R. Ingalls, editor of the Mineral Industry of the United States, that the Tennessee rock limit is in sight. The price of phosphate has, for some years, been of an upward tendency.

The mineral production of Canada in pro

portion to its population is, compared with other large countries such as the United States and Australia, small. Whereas Aus tralia provides about $25 for every member of its population, and the United States about $20, the Canadian output is only equal to about $10 per head. But it is scarcely fair to consider the figures in the light of to-day. What Canada needs is railways and railways. Its government and the public fully realize the necessity, and railways are being built as fast as the scarcity of labor and the inclement winter months allow. The discov ery of Cobalt was directly due to the building of the Timiskaming Railway. The Grand Trunk Pacific will undoubtedly open up new mineral areas, principally in coal. The Lake St. John branch of the Great Northern Railway is tapping an area of Huronian rocks in the Chibougamau District that are known to contain gold, silver, and copper. Very little prophetic cunning is needed to predict that in a few years the mineral output of the Dominion of Canada will be a large factor in the world's production, and that the larger proportion of the output will be coal, iron, and copper..

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