58 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B. 



the manufacture of asbestos flooring, and yet another is putting 

 on the market a patent asbestos composition for covering boilers 

 and steam-pipes. 



Corundum. 



That South Africa ranks at the present time as the leading 

 corundum-producng country, and is Hkely to continue almost 

 indefinitely to continue to hold that position is not generally 

 known. 



Much the greater part of the output, amounting to about 

 400 tons per month, is derived from the Zoutpansberg fields, in 

 the Northern Transvaal, which constitute by far the largest and 

 most important corundum-producing area in the world. 



There is also a small production in the Leydsdorp division 

 of the Transvaal, and in the Steinkopf district of Namaqualand. 



The bulk of the corundum exported is in the form of eluvial 

 crystals, for the most part broken, that are separated by sifting 

 and washing from the thin soil and sub-soil of the areas in 

 question. A smaller proportion is boulder- or rock-corundum, in 

 which the mineral is associated with varying amounts of other 

 minerals. 



The position and prospects of the South African corundum 

 industry are fully dealt with in a recent article in the Journal of 

 Industries* 



Antimony. 



The increase in the price of this metal, caused by the demand 

 for it for war purposes, has given a great impetus to antimony- 

 mining and smelting in South Africa. 



Considerable quantities of antimonite are available in certain 

 of the mines on the so-called " Antimony Line " of bedded gold- 

 quartz veins in the Murchison Range, and a very promising 

 occurrence is being worked in the Steynsdorp division of the 

 Barberton district. The bulk of the antimonite recovered is 

 reduced to the metallic state and used in the manufacture of 

 antifriction and white metals, for which there is a fairly large 

 demand in South Africa. Part of the antimonite produced in the 

 Murchison Range is converted by roasting and volatilisation into 

 white antimony oxide, which is used as a substitute for white lead. 



Graphite. 



Reference to the accompanying tables shows that the graphite 

 industry is making steady progress, and it is encouraging to 

 find that practically the whole of the South African requirements 

 of the mineral are now being met by the Transvaal (Graphite 

 Company, who are exploiting a deposit situated 20 miles east of 

 Groot Spelonken Siding, in the Zoutpansberg district of the 

 Transvaal. t 



* Cf. Wagner, P. A. : S.A. Jouni. hidu^tries. May, 1918. 

 ^ S.A. Jotirn. Industries, February, 1918. 



