The description of the asbestos area of Wolfestown is given by Mr. Ells. It is situate on the north-east extremity of a serpentine ridge which extends south-westerly, with many interruptions, from the road leading from Coleraine Station to Wolfestown, in the vicinity of Lake Nicolet. It belongs to Mr. John Bell (John Bell & Co., asbestos manufacturers, London), and considerable sums have been expended on the property in the way of exploration. The surface indications are said not to be equal to those at Black Lake, but show at several points numbers of veins, some of which are from one and a half to two inches thick.
A very fair showing of workable veins has been exposed on the upper part of a deep cut, which it is proposed to intersect at a considerably lower level. Should the same rule of increase which holds good at Thetford and Coleraine obtain here, there should be good paying ground exposed when the lower level is driven in past the cap of barren rock, provided the veins already disclosed are not cut off by faults, whose presence is noted here as at other points.
The total amount of asbestos taken from the Belmina district Mr. Ells puts at about twenty-five tons.
Considerable quantities of chromic iron are found on the hills in this area, which embraces about six hundred acres.
The foregoing are all the Canadian mines now in work, as far as I have been able to learn, certainly all of any importance. There can be no doubt, however, that as the demand increases further explorations will be made, and new mines discovered, as well as that increased capital will be put in to further develop those already at work. At the present time the supply scarcely keeps pace with the demand, and capitalists are beginning to wake up to the importance of this industry; it having been now conclusively proved that mining for asbestos, properly conducted, shows a more steady return for the money invested, with less elements of risk, than mining for any other known mineral.
I am unable to say, with any degree of exactness, what is the amount of the aggregate output of the Canadian mines; but I saw it stated in a local paper that, in 1885, it was under 1,500 tons, and that in 1886 it had reached 2,000 tons, giving an increase of over 500 tons for the year. This is quite sufficient to show the rapid strides the business is making, and is probably near about correct, judging by the rate of progression in the imports to the States, for instance. The value of manufactured asbestos imported into the United States from Canada, in 1880, is given in the Government Returns as under 10,000 dollars. In 1884 it had risen to 48,755 dollars, and it has been increasing yearly ever since. That the demand is rapidly increasing is unquestionable, not only for the present articles of manufacture, but for the new purposes to which it is being daily applied. More capital will, doubtless, soon be put in, and then new lines, which almost indicate themselves, will prepare the way for continued success.
As regards the progressive output of crude asbestos at the mines, since its introduction in 1887, the following may no doubt be taken as authentic, being extracted from the "Statistical Report on the Production, Value, Exports, and Imports of Minerals in Canada during the year 1886 and previous years," by Eugène Coste, M.E., published by authority of the Dominion Parliament. In this Report the production and value is given as follows:—
| Value at the Mines. | ||
| Tons. | Dollars. | |
| 1879 | 300 | 19,500 |
| 1880 | 380 | 24,700 |
| 1881 | 540 | 35,100 |
| 1882 | 810 | 52,650 |
| 1883 | 955 | 68,750 |
| 1884 | 1,141 | 75,079 |
| 1885 | 2,440 | 142,441 |
| 1886 | 3,458 | 206,251 |
The mode of extraction in all Canadian asbestos mines is by open quarry work. Whether the drills are worked by compressed air, or by hand in the old-fashioned way, the effect is the same. When a sufficient number of holes of the proper depth are drilled and duly charged with dynamite or powder, they are linked together, and fired by a battery in such a way that the face of rock shall be thrown outward on to the floor of the pit. The asbestos is then picked out, the adhering rock roughly broken off, and the ore piled into boxes or tubs, which are loaded on to trolleys, and run off on tram-lines to the cobbing-sheds. The refuse rock, of which there is always an enormous quantity (probably as much as twenty tons of rock to one ton of asbestos), is loaded into cars, run off and shot over on to the dumping-ground.
Boys are employed in the cobbing-sheds to chip, or cob, the rock cleanly from the ore, an operation which is much more troublesome with thin veins than with those of the better sort to which, as I have already said, the waste rock is less firmly adherent. This cobbing is a very troublesome and expensive process, costing about 5 dollars a ton. After cobbing, great care is required in sorting the ore into the respective grades of Nos. 1, 2, and 3. It is then put up in bags of about 160 lbs. each, marked, and stacked away in the bins ready for shipment. All this is done in a very rough and ready style, and the waste is simply enormous: there is no doubt, however, that as the ore increases in value more scientific appliances will be adopted with good results. At present thousands of tons of rock containing only thin veins of asbestos are dumped on the refuse heaps as waste which would all be crushed if a proper machine were at hand, and the valuable material saved.