Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources

by Unknown

—In addition to her large sulphur production Italy has produced a considerable quantity of pyrite, which has been used locally in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Pyrite production was about 300,000 tons before the war and increased to 400,000 tons in 1916, so that Italy produces about 6 per cent. of the world output. The pyrite contains about 45 per cent. of sulphur and a small part of it carries copper values. The principal production comes from a district near Florence, although a number of smaller mines are widely scattered.

Russia.

—Russia has large pyrite deposits located in a belt parallel to the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains. The Kyshtim and Sissert districts furnish the principal output. Reports indicate a good grade of pyrite with high sulphur content. The production has been in the neighborhood of 150,000 tons, or about 2 per cent. of the world total. Production had been steadily increasing up to the time of Russia’s economic collapse, but has been limited, due to the remote location of the deposits from the chief centres of consumption at Petrograd, Moscow, and Odessa. It is to be expected that Russia, after she regains her balance, will continue to import pyrite to a considerable extent, as she has done in the past.

Germany, Austria and Hungary.

—The pre-war German production was from 200,000 to 250,000 tons of pyrite per annum, or about 4 per cent. of the world output. About two-thirds of the output comes from deposits near Meggen. The pyrite is estimated to run about 43 per cent. sulphur. It is reported that the pyrite output was largely increased during the war, as Germany had been importing from 800,000 to 1,000,000 tons of pyrite. She continued to import some Norwegian pyrite, which is especially desirable because of its recoverable copper content. Germany secures a considerable amount of sulphuric acid as a by-product from zinc smelters, which helped to make up the deficiency in her sulphur resources.

Hungary normally produces about 100,000 tons of pyrite per annum, chiefly from the deposits of Schemnitz.

Cyprus.

—An important deposit of cupriferous pyrite is under development in an old copper-mining region on the northwest coast of Cyprus. Several million tons of ore are reported, containing a high sulphur content and high copper values. It is being developed on a large scale by the Cyprus Mines Corporation, representing United States capital, and may be expected to become an important factor in pyrite export.

The United States.

—The pre-war production of the United States was about 350,000 long tons, or 6 per cent. of the world’s production, compared to an import of about 1,000,000 tons. About 40 per cent. of the total was produced in Virginia and largely sold for use in acid-phosphate plants from Maryland to Georgia; about 25 per cent. was produced in California and used for local acid manufacture in the vicinity of San Francisco; about 15 per cent. was produced in New York State; and the balance was scattered, coming as a by-product from coal mines in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, and from the zinc-mining region of southern Wisconsin. During the war, production was increased by about 50 per cent., but with no discoveries which promise to greatly increase the permanent production of the country. On the whole the deposits are not of very high quality, averaging about 40 per cent. sulphur content. Very large reserves of pyrrhotite are located in western Virginia and eastern Tennessee, but have not been very extensively utilized. Large reserves of pyrite exist in Colorado, Arizona, Utah and other western states, but are too far from the acid plants located in the East and South to compete. On the whole, the scanty development of pyrite in the United States is due to the competition of high-grade Spanish pyrite coming in to the Atlantic ports at cheap ballast rates; to the import of Canadian pyrite either to near-by points in New England or to the Great Lakes ports; to the large production of cheap sulphur from Louisiana and Texas, which has monopolized the sulphite pulp trade; and to the recovery of by-product acid from copper and zinc smelters. The great increase in the production of sulphur during and since the war is very likely still further to curtail the market for pyrite. The production of pyrite has been in the hands of American companies, several of the larger operations being controlled by concerns either in the acid or fertilizer business.