26 



NATURE 



[September 13, 191 7 



which should be represented Great Britain, the 

 Dominions, India, and other parts of the Empire," 

 and no doubt both the recommendation of the 

 War Conference and the later action of the 

 Ministry of Munitions were powerfully influenced 

 by the memorandum to this effect drawn up by 

 the technical institutes that are most closely in 

 touch with the exploitation of oiir mineral deposits 

 and the utilisation of their products. The Minis- 

 try of Munitions cannot fairly be accused of 

 undue haste, seeing^ that it is nearly a twelve- 

 month since the institutes directed attention to this 

 important matter, which was commented on in 

 the columns of Nature of October 5, 1916; it 

 is to be hoped that effect will be given promptly 

 and energetically to the findings of the committee, 

 although it is perhajps even more important that 

 the scheme put forward shall be a thoroughly 

 sound one and that it shall deal with every aspect 

 of this very large subject. 



The importance of the subject may best be 

 gauged by considering that the number of workers 

 employed in the mines and quarries of the British 

 Empire was at least 2\ millions in 191 3, and that 

 the value of the mineral products at the point of 

 their production was about 150,000,000?. sterling 

 in the same year. This vast sum represents the 

 value of minerals extracted from Imperial minerai 

 deposits, and this means that the assets of the 

 Empire are diminished by this .amount every year ; 

 it cannot be too often insisted upon that it is this 

 fact, in respect of which the mineral industry is 

 unique amongst all others — namely, that minerals 

 constitute a wasting asset, which, once taken from 

 the ground, can never be renewed or recovered — 

 that renders the establishment of a bureau to watch 

 over the proper development and utilisation of our 

 mineral resources an imperative necessity. The 

 figure given above refers only to the value of the 

 crude minerals at the mine ; it need scarcely be said 

 that the products obtained from, and depending 

 upon, the mineral output are worth many times as 

 much, in the same way that the number of workers 

 engaged in the treatment of mineral products and 

 depending also upon them is far greater than the 

 number above stated, even when only the industries 

 directly connected with the mineral production, 

 such as the metallurgical industries, are considered. 



It must, however, not be forgotten that the in- 

 dustries indirectly connected with the exploitation 

 of minerals are very widely ramified, and are so 

 complex that it is not easy to foresee all the results 

 that may arise from any change in the direct treat- 

 ment of the minerals themselves, and no doubt 

 these considerations will need the most careful 

 study by the bureau. To take an example, it is 

 quite possible that one of the first questions that 

 the bureau will have to consider is the extent to 

 which metalliferous minerals should be smelted 

 in the country of their origin, or alternatively 

 imported as such to be smelted in this 

 country; it may surely be taken for granted that 

 the old blunder of allowing other nations to import 

 our crude minerals and to reap the advantage of 

 treating them outside the Empire will never be 

 NO. 2498, VOL. 100] 



repeated. At first sight, having regard to the fact 

 that for some time after the termination of the 

 war there must be a shortage of tonnage, it might 

 seem preferable to smelt, for example, Australian 

 zinc concentrates in Australia, and to ship the 

 smelted spelter to this country ; if, however, this 

 principle were carried too far, we might find that 

 the diminished importation of sulphide ores might 

 bring about a scarcity of sulphuric acid in this 

 country, which might easily cripple our chemical 

 industries, or, by affecting the output of sulphate 

 of ammonia, might influence our agricultural pro- 

 duction very adversely. 



Obviously, if the Mineral Resources Bureau is 

 to be of real value, it must be able to dispose of 

 the fullest possible technical and scientific informa- 

 tion, and it ought for this purpose to work in the 

 closest possible co-operation, not only with the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research 

 (which is already doing useful work in encourag- 

 ing such researches as that now being conducted 

 upon the dressing of ores of tin and wolfram), 

 but above all with the technical institutions 

 devoted to the advance of the mining and 

 metallurgical industries. No doubt the ideal 

 arrangement would be for the bureau and these 

 various institutions all to be housed in one build- 

 ing, so as to be able to communicate with each 

 other with the utmost readiness, and, above all, 

 to have one common library, in which all books, 

 papers, statistics, and inform.ation of any kind 

 concerning mineral production should be housed. 

 Such a joint library should be second to none in 

 the world, and given its indispensable adjunct — a 

 competent librarians-all information concerning 

 any aspect of any mineral question should be 

 readily available to anyone interested. Such a 

 collection of all existing information should be one 

 of the first cares of a Mineral Resources Bureau; 

 only those who have been actually engaged in such 

 work know how much time and money are being 

 continually wasted in doing over again work that 

 has already been done, merely because the records 

 are not readily available to any inquirer. 



Again, there is probably no industry that is so 



many-sided as the mineral industry, and therefore 



none in which there are so many specialists ; it 



is safe to say that such specialists are best known 



to the secretaries of the technical institutions, who 



are necessarily in close touch with them, and an 



I intimate co-operation between the bureau and 



I these institutions would enable the former to get 



j the benefit of the assistance of the best specialists 



i in any problem that may arise in the readiest and 



I most effective manner. Finally, it may fairly be 



hoped that close connection with the institutions, 



and through them with the men actually engaged 



in the mineral industries, may save the activities 



of the bureau from being strangled by official 



red-tape. The proper development of our mineral 



resources is of such importance to the future 



of the Empire that the organisation of this 



bureau, which could do so much for them if 



it is properly constituted, will be watched with the 



greatest anxiety. Henry Louis. 



