the Department of Mines in 1906. In this report, it is estimated that the Slocan district of British Columbia could probably produce about 15,000 tons of ore of fifty per cent. zinc per annum, and that the Ainsworth camp could produce from 16,000 to 30,000 tons of the same grade of ore per annum. The following are a few extracts from the same report:a

"The majority of the mines of the West Kootenay are, however, essentially silver-lead mines, in which zinc blende occurs as an accessory ore. In this respect they differ in no wise from many other mines in the Rocky mountains from British Columbia to Mexico, in which zinc blende occurs in association with galena, pyrite and other argentiferous and auriferous minerals. The wide-spread and abundant occurrence of zinc in these ores is indicated by the slags made in silver-lead smelting in the United States, which average about 6 per cent. zinc oxide, or approximately 5 per cent. metallic zinc. Estimating the smelting of 2,500,000 tons of ore per annum, which is considerably under the quantity now actually treated, and the product of 0.9 ton of slag per ton of ore, there is annually discarded in this form about 112,500 tons of zinc, which is the result after the zinc ore has been so far as possible culled out by the miner, or left behind in his stopes."

In speaking of the mines, the report says:

"The silver-lead ore is generally of high-grade silver, which has made it possible to operate certain of the mines at the excellent percentage of profit that has been shown most brilliantly by the Payne and Slocan Star.

"However, it has been the failure to recognize the true conditions. which has been the cause of many disasters in the district. Many properties have been developed in too ambitious a manner. Long cross-cut tunnels have been driven at large outlay of money, which has not been justified by the advantage to be gained. Mills of too large capacity have been built, and attention in their design has been directed toward reduction of operating cost of per ton of ore, rather than toward securing the maximum percentage of the valuable minerals of the ore, which should have been the chief consideration in the concentration of these rich and difficult ores. This error in mill design appears to have been due to a mistaken following of the practice in the Coeur d'Alene district of Idaho, where the conditions as to ore deposits, character and grade of the ore are radically different from those which obtain in the Slocan. The large number of mills standing idle throughout the Slocan, in spite of the bounty on lead ore, is the best possible evidence of the mistakes of the past. In future attempts to re-open these mines with a view to augmenting the yield of argentiferous galena by the marketing of argentiferous blende as a by-product, it is important that profit be taken of previous experience. Operations must be inaugurated tentatively. Large outlays in dead-work must be avoided. Prospecting in the veins must be pushed boldly and must always be kept well ahead of stoping.

a See pp. 41-42. The italics are the writer's.

Installation of plant, either mining or milling, must be carefully considered with respect to the probability of reimbursement of the cost of the plant. If there be only 100 tons of ore to be hoisted out of shaft, it is both better engineering and better business to raise it by windlass than to buy a steam hoist, and this same principle obtains throughout mine operation."

CONSUMPTION. The consumption of zinc in Canada is comparatively small, but is increasing. The imports (which may be taken as representing the consumption) were 4,298 tons in the fiscal year 1908, against 3,154 tons in 1905. It has been estimated that Ainsworth and the Slocan are capable of producing 30,000 tons of zinc-blende per annum of an average zinc content of about fifty per cent. This would correspond to a smelter production of upward of 12,000 tons, or nearly equal to three times the present consumption of the Dominion. As the future production depends to a large extent on the successful smelting of these ores in British Columbia, the Dominion Government is carrying on experiments with a view to successfully smelting these ores.

Nickel

PRODUCTION OF CANADA.-With the exception of the nickel contained in the ores shipped from the Cobalt district, the production of nickel in Canada is derived entirely from the well-known nickel-copper deposits of the Sudbury district, Ontario. The diagram (Plate X) shows graphically the annual production of nickel in Canada for the last twenty years. From 830,747 pounds in 1889, the production increased rapidly to 1903, when it was 12,505,510 pounds, an average increase of over 800,000 pounds per annum for fourteen years. From 1904 to 1910, the output rose rapidly (except for a small setback in 1908) at an average increase of over 4,400,000 pounds per annum. In 1910, the production reached 37,271,033 pounds.

PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD.-The world's production of nickel was 4,197,558 pounds in 1889, and about 35,500,000 pounds in 1909. The upper line in the diagram represents the world's production in the same time, and it well illustrates the increase in production. (See Plate X.) The entire production of nickel, apart from quite insignificant quantities obtained in Germany, Norway and the United States, comes from New Caledonian and Canadian ores. In 1909, the supply from each of the latter countries was 9,217,009 pounds and 26,282,991 pounds respectively." The increase in the world's production of nickel has been due to the extensive use of nickel alloys. Nickel steel is now being used for armour plates, steel rails and for machine parts subjected to reversals of stresses, and where increase of strength and decrease of weight are desired.

RESOURCES OF CANADA.-The nickel deposits of the Sudbury district supplied over seventy-four per cent. of the world's production of nickel a Estimated from smelter production.

NICKEL PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD AND OF THE PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES FROM 1889 TO 1910