The Products of Rhodesia 



Rhodesia should before another ten years have 

 passed stand third in the world's producing 

 countries; to-day it is about seventh. Anyone 

 visiting Mashonaland and Matabeleland at the 

 present time cannot fail to see how the gold mining 

 industry is expanding. 



Up to 1898 upwards of one hundred and fifty-six 

 thousand claims had been located and many mining 

 companies have been formed. But out of this 

 number in December 1909 only two hundred and 

 eight separate properties were shown as actually 

 producing gold. For the last thirteen years the total 

 output of gold for Southern Rhodesia was 4,442,134 

 ounces, which was valued at ^17,023,432 (of this 

 ;^2,623,7o9 was for 1909). During the same period 

 silver weighed 1,208,868 ounces, copper 359 tons, 

 lead 5341 tons, coal 937,690 tons, chrome iron 

 94,644 tons, asbestos 659 tons, diamonds seven 

 thousand and twenty carats, and other minerals 

 — wolframite, scheelite, and antimony — in smaller 

 amounts.^ 



CoaL — Coalfields are extensive, but at present 

 coal is not much in demand. The seams are thick 

 and of good quality, and appear to extend at 

 intervals all through north of Matabeleland and 

 south towards the Sabi river. The Wankie district, 



^ The return for the year ending* 31st December 1910 

 shows the output of gold to be worth ;^2,568,i98, silver 

 two hundred and seventeen thousand six hundred and thirty- 

 three ounces, lead seven hundred and forty-five tons, coal 

 one hundred and eighty thousand and sixty-eight tons, 

 chrome iron forty-four thousand and two tons. 



271 



