COPPER 207 



deposits of it were found in Cyprus, and it was known simply 

 as the Cyprus metal, Cyprium aes. 



It is sometimes found pure, but more often in the form of 

 ores, the most important of which is copper pyrites, or sulphide 

 of copper and iron. 



Copper is very tenacious, though not quite so strong as 

 iron ; it is also very malleable, and can be beaten at ordinary 

 temperatures into almost any shape or design. As a conductor 

 of heat and electricity it stands next to silver, and hence 

 large quantities of it are used for telegraph wires, lightning 

 conductors, and for all kinds of electrical apparatus. 



But though used alone for a great number of purposes, it 

 is perhaps still more useful as an alloy. Mixed with zinc it 

 forms brass, with tin, bronze. 



SOURCES OF SUPPLY. The copper mines of Cornwall were 

 once very famous, but they are now nearly worked out. 



We still mine copper in North Wales, and in Wicklow, 

 but the output is small, and in consequence we have to import 

 most of our supplies from abroad. 1 



These imported ores are smelted at Swansea, Widnes, and 

 Glasgow. 



Within the empire the chief copper-producing countries 

 are Australia, Canada, South Africa. 



1. Australia, (a) South Australia yields more copper than 

 any other state in the Commonwealth. One of the most 

 famous mines is at Wallaroo, in Yorke's Peninsula, to the east 

 of Spencer Gulf. 



(6) Queensland. Mount Morgan, south-west of Rock- 

 hampton, the Cloncurry district, and the hinterland of the 

 port of Cairns, are the chief copper districts. Of the Cloncurry 

 district we read that ' it is the largest tract of copper-bearing 

 country in Australia, and one of the largest in the world. 

 As the crow flies it extends north and south for more than 

 150 miles, and east and west some 80 or 90 miles. Over this 

 large area, covering at least 15,000 square miles, copper has 

 1 27 per cent, from empire sources, 73 per cent, foreign sources. 



