On Christmas Island (Straits Settlements), which lies in the Indian Ocean 190 miles south of Java, rock carrying 80 per cent. of bone phosphate is quarried and shipped to Australia and Japan. The deposits seem to be irregular, but are estimated to contain several million tons of rock of very high grade. The island belongs to the government of Singapore. Exploitation of the deposits by the British began in 1900. Exports in 1913 were 150,000 tons.
Phosphate rock of high grade is mined on Ocean Island, in the Gilbert Archipelago, between the Marshall and Solomon Islands, east of New Guinea and north of New Zealand. On this and other so-called coral islands in the equatorial belt which for ages have been sea-bird rookeries, leachings from the guano have impregnated the limestone, forming phosphate rock many feet deep. The deposits on this island are said to be many millions of tons and are among the richest in the world. They have been mined since 1901, and have produced as high as 300,000 tons a year. In 1916 the output was 70,000 tons of rock carrying about 85 per cent. tricalcium phosphate. The island is a British possession.
Another British possession in the Gilbert Archipelago containing phosphate rock is Pleasant Island, which is also known as Nauru, or Ngaru, Island. The deposits are similar to those on Ocean and Christmas Islands, being very high in calcium phosphate and low in iron and alumina. Germany formerly owned this island, but it was taken over by the British in 1917.
Makatea, near Tahiti, in the Society Islands, is estimated to contain 10,000,000 tons of very high-grade phosphate rock, irregularly distributed between reefs and pinnacles of dolomite. The deposits were developed as recently as 1910 and yielded more than 300,000 tons before 1917. Some of the rock carries 85 per cent. lime phosphate. The island is a French possession.
RECENT CHANGES AND DEVELOPMENTS
When the World War began, exports of phosphate rock from the United States, ordinarily about 1,000,000 tons a year, were cut off and the annual production of the United States fell from 3,000,000 tons to 1,800,000 tons. There has been a strong recovery in the domestic industry and if labor and transportation conditions improve there should shortly be an annual production of nearly 3,000,000 tons for domestic consumption, or as much phosphate rock for our own use as formerly was produced for ourselves and a large export trade.
It is surmised that northern Africa will yield larger quantities in the future than during the pre-war period. Production in Algeria, Tunis, and Egypt was probably stimulated during the war on account of the large reduction in the quantity of American rock sent to Europe.
Japan doubtless will make a large output from the German deposits in Polynesia which came into her possession at the beginning of the war.
COMMERCIAL CONTROL
Ownership of the phosphate deposits in the United States is largely domestic; some of the Florida hard-rock deposits are owned by French and (before the war) German companies. The German-owned deposits were taken over by the Custodian of Alien-Enemy Property, and have doubtless passed into other hands. The phosphate deposits on Curacao, Dutch West Indies, are worked by the Curacao Phosphate Mining Co., which ships the output to England and Germany. Phosphate deposits in Algeria and Tunis are exploited by French companies. Some of the companies work under lease. La Compagnie des Phosphates de Paris and La Compagnie Algerienne des Phosphates have been mentioned as engaged in these fields. Deposits on the lower Nile and Red Sea are worked by the Egyptian Phosphate Co., a British concern, and by the Societa Egiziana per l’Estrazione de il Commercio dei Phosphati, a company managed by Italians. It is reported that much of the output goes to Japan. The Pacific Phosphate Co., Ltd., of London, operates under concession the phosphate deposits on Ocean and Pleasant islands. Japanese companies are mining phosphate on Rasa and Angaur islands.