1890-91.] NOTES ON NICKEL. 91 



tion that the point to stop the blast is difficult to determine, and 

 either a good deal of Iron is left behind or some Nickel is lost in the 

 slag. The removal of oxygen without generation of Carbon Dioxide, 

 which would of course blister the metal, is effected by the addition of 

 various substances, such as Phosphorus, Manganese, Potassium Ferro- 

 cyanide, Magnesium. The addition of 1.20 of a per cent. Magnesium has 

 been found to be sufficient to remove all the oxygen (Fleitmann, 

 Iserlohn). About 2 per cent. Manganese ore is used by some metallur- 

 gists. 



Phosphorus is largely used in France. Garnier employs an equal 

 amount of a Phosphorus Nickel alloy, containing 6 per cent. Phosphorus. 



A patented process employed in Paris produces wrought Ferro-Nickel 

 direct from Nickel Matte, by smelting the Matte with Potassium Ferro- 

 cyanide and Manganese Super-Oxide, and then adding a small amount 

 of Aluminum at the moment of tapping. The product of 70 per cent. 

 N., 30 Fe., was produced from 71.9 Ni. Matte, 12 per cent, of 63 per cent. 

 Manganese Oxide, 16 per cent. Ferrocyankalium, o.i per cent. Aluminum. 



I wish now to say a few words in explanation of the statistics given 

 and to explain the effect the fall in price has had on the industry in 

 the various countries. 



The collapse of the Nickel industry in Norway and Sweden is due not 

 to any deterioration in the ores or to their exhaustion. The ore was 

 there a magnetic pyrites, containing in the best mines 2.3 per cent. 

 Nickel, but no other metals of value. 



In Germany, the mode of occurrence is altogether different. There are 

 small quantities of the rich Cobalt and Nickel Arsenides associated in 

 the one case with Bismuth, and in the other with Silver, and small 

 deposits of Silicates. The mines are worked more for the sake of the 

 other metals associated with the Nickel, and the Nickel must be 

 separated in the course of smelting, and is, as it were, a bye-product, 

 and the amount produced is not generally affected by the price. 



Thus one works (Schneeberg) smelted in one year : — 



700 tons Cobalt, in value, $299,000. 

 119 " Nickel, " 131,000. 



55 " Bismuth, " 88,000. $518,000. 



The Nickel industry in the United States has met with the same fate 

 as the Norwegian, although to a somewhat less degree, the chief ore 

 being there also a magnetic pyrites bearing Nickel. The occurrence in 

 Austria is similar to that in Germany. 



