Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources

by Unknown

Canada.

—With the assistance, through bounties, of the Canadian government, the Trail smelter has become firmly established and is the only important lead producer of Canada. It handles most of the British Columbia output of ores, which otherwise would have to go to the United States for reduction. The Canadian consumption is, however, about one-third greater than the production.

Burma.

—Although the production of ore and pig lead in the Northern Shan States by the Burma Mines Corporation was in 1913 an insignificant part of the world’s output, the company has developed its deposits so as to be capable of a very much greater yield, which may amount in the near future to 75,000 tons annually. This company is controlled by British with probably some American capital.

Egypt.

—The small ore production of Egypt is exported for smelting and is controlled by French capital.

Germany.

—Germany, a large producer of lead ores, imported in 1913 for smelting nearly 10 per cent. of the world’s output and in addition imported a considerable amount of pig lead, being the second largest consumer of lead in the world. Should Germany lose Upper Silesia, which produced nearly half the domestic ores, it will be still more dependent on imports to supply its smelters. Prior to the war the German lead industry was closely organized, much of the lead mining and smelting being conducted by departments of the state governments, although some of the largest concerns were private corporations. The German metal “Trio” headed by the Metallgesellschaft through the International Sales Association controlled directly about one-half the European production, comprising in this so-called Lead Convention, besides the German concerns, most of the Spanish and Belgian producers, most of the lead exported from the United States and Mexico, and the pig lead and concentrates exported from Australia. This system of control outside of Germany has now been permanently destroyed, and the magnitude and the organization of the German lead industry in the near future cannot be anticipated.

France.

—In France the output of lead ore is small and is controlled, with probably one exception, by French capital. Some ores are imported for smelting, Tunis and Algeria being capable of supplying even more. To provide for the large consumption, France ranking fourth among lead-consuming countries, there is imported in the form of pig lead some 7 per cent. of the world’s output. Recently smelting capacity has been increased. French capital controls more than half the production of Belgium through ownership of smelters, and through ownership of mines and smelters controls more than half the production of Spain and most, if not all, of the output of Greece. It also controls the ore production of Egypt and most of the ores produced in Algeria and Tunis. Under government auspices a strong organization of all the metal-producing companies controlled by French capital in France and foreign countries has recently been effected under the name of the Société Minerais et Metaux, which controls the sale of all the production of its members, as well as acting as a purchasing agent for them.