248 



NATURE 



[July i6, 1908 



THE MINES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.' 



THE aim of Mr. Stokes's work on the mines of the 

 Empire is to supply the non-technical reader with 

 a description of the historical, physical, and industrial 

 features of the principal centres of mineral production 

 in the British Dominions beyond the seas. The bulk of 

 the volume is based upon information collected during 

 a tour of the Empire extending from January, 1906, to 

 the beginning of 190S; and the author, who is an 

 experienced technical journalist, has produced a' book 

 of conspicuous literary merit that cannot fail to prove 

 of service as a work of reference. The illustrations, 

 sixty-eight in number, are excellent reproductions of 

 photographs, and have been carefuU}' chosen to illus- 

 trate the importance of the mineral industry of the 

 Empire. 



The value of the annual mineral yield of the Empire 

 now exceeds 200,708,000/. The quantity and value of 

 the mineral products form a good barometer of indus- 

 trial prosperity, and such statistics bear expressive 

 testimonv to the influence of the Empire as a factor 

 in the mineral industry. Statistics for 1906 show that 

 the Empire produced of the world's total yield the 

 following jjercentages : — Gold, 

 60; silver, 12; tin, 73; copper, 9; 

 lead, 15; iron, 18; nickel 60; 

 manganese, 40 ; coal, 30 ; asbes- 

 tos, 90 ; graphite, 45 ; mica, 90 ; 

 and diamonds, gS. Similarly the 

 influence of the mining industry 

 upon the growth and welfare of 

 the Empire is exhibited by the 

 statistical historv of the several 

 colonial mineral territories. Thus 

 the aggregate yield to the end of 

 1906 of Ballarat and Bendigo, 

 Australia, discovered 1851, was 

 276,500,000!. ; of the Witwaters- 

 rand, since 1885, was 

 162,000,000/.; of Kimberlev, since 

 1869, was 85,000,000/. ; of Broken 

 Hill, New South Wales, since 

 1883, was 42,000,000/. ; of Kal- 

 goorlie, Australia, since 1893, was 

 37,000,000/. ; of Mysore, India, 

 since iSSo, was 26,000,000/. ; of 

 Klondike, Canada, since 1896, 

 was 24,500,000/. ; of Charters 

 Towers, .Xustralia, since 1872, 

 was 23,000,000/. ; and of Mount 

 Morgan, Australia, since 1882, 



land ; mineral production of South Africa ; Cape 

 Colony, Orange River Colony, and Transvaal dia- 

 monds ; mining in Rhodesia ; Transvaal gold ; Rand 

 ore extraction and treatment ; administration, labour, 

 and working costs in the Transvaal ; progress of the 

 mineral industry of Canada ; silver at Cobalt, 

 Ontario; nickel at Sudbury, Canada; asbestos fields 

 of Quebec; gold and copper at Rossland, British 

 Columbia ; Boundary copper district, British Colum- 

 bia ; Klondike alluvial gold ; West Africa and the 

 Sudan; and other British dependencies (British North 

 Borneo, Labuan, and Sarawak, Fiji Islands, British 

 New Guinea, Cyprus, Nigeria, British Central 

 .\frica, Uganda Protectorate, Newfoundland, British 

 Honduras, Leeward Islands, Barbados, British Guiana, 

 and Trinidad). From this enumeration it will be 

 gathered that the chief mineral products of the 

 Empire dealt with include gold, tin, copper, silver, 

 lead, zinc, nickel, manganese, iron, antimony, bis- 

 muth, molybdenum, tungsten, coal, oil shale, petro- 

 leum, mica, graphite, asbestos, diamonds and other 

 precious stones. So vast is the subject as a whole 

 that congratulations are due to the author for the 



Fig. 1. — Premier (Iransvaai) Mint in 1905. From " Mines anj Minerals ui the llriliih iinii-iic 



Although the mines of the United Kingdom are 

 excluded from the scope of the volume, the vast field 

 covered will be evident from the following enumera- 

 tion of the thirty-six chapters into which the work is 

 divided: — Mine labour; mica and manganese in 

 India; Burma rubies and petroleum; the Kolar gold- 

 field; gems and graphite in Ceylon; industrial and 

 geological conditions of the Malay States ; Chinese 

 and European mining methods in the Malay States; 

 Bendigo and Ballarat, Victoria; gold and copper in 

 Queensland ; New South Wales mineral production ; 

 silver, lead, and zinc at Broken Hill, New .South 

 Wales; methods of extraction at Broken Hill; Mount 

 Lyell copper mine, Tasmania ; Mount Bischoff tin 

 mine, Tasmania; gold, silver, and lead in Tasmania; 

 north-eastern tinfields, Tasmania; growth of the gold 

 industry of Western Australia; ore treatment at Kal- 

 goorlie. Western .'\ustr<'dia ; Wallaroo and Moonta 

 copper mines. South .Australia ; chief mineral locali- 

 ties of New Zealand ; Waihi gold mine, New Zea- 



1 "Mines and Minerals of the British Empire." By Ralph .S. G. Stokes. 

 Pp. ,\x+403. (London : Edward .Arnold, 1908.) Price 15J. net. 



NO. 2020, VOL. 78] 



able and concise manner in which he has described 

 the manifold characteristics of mineral occurrence and 

 of methods of working in a form as lightly technical 

 as is consistent with accuracy. 



A perusal of the author's well-filled pages shows 

 that the old established mining fields are constantly 

 presenting fresh features, but that new discoveries 

 attracting universal attention can be recorded but twice 

 or thrice in a decade. Compared with preceding 

 periods, and notably with the decade 1S82-1S91, which 

 saw the discovery of the Witwatersrand, ISIount 

 Morgan, Sudbury, \X'aihi, and Broken Hill, the past 

 ten years have not been marked by many new dis- 

 coveries, the Premier diamond deposit in the Trans- 

 vaal, which since 1402 has vielded 3.300,000/., and the 

 silver veins of Cobalt, Ontario, which since 1903 have 

 vielded 1,100,000/., having been the most brilfiant 

 discoveries. The Premier mine, which produced the 

 diamond weighing 3025 carats now in the King's pos- 

 .session, is shown in the accompanying illustration 

 (Fig. i) ; and the character of the narrow rich veins, 

 averaging 4 inches in width, at Cobalt is shown in 



