TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C, 509 
tons in 1905) is derived from the so-called minette beds of Jurassic brown iron 
ore. The seams yield on an average 36 per cent. of iron and 1-7 per cent. of 
phosphoric acid. Owing to the high percentage of phosphorus the ore was of 
little value until 1879, when the basic method of making steel was brought into 
practical use by Thomas and Gilchrist. The amount of ore still available in 
Germany is estimated at 2,200,000,000 tons. 
In Spain the chief deposits are near Bilbao; the ores, which are of great 
purity, occurring in beds of Cretaceous age. Up to the present time the Bilbao 
district has yielded about 115,000,000 tons of ore, and for many years pessimistic 
estimates have been made of the quantity of ore remaining. ‘Twenty years ago it 
was thought that by the year 1900 there would be no ore left. Nevertheless, in 
that year Bilbao exported 5,000,000 tons of ore, and Don Julio de Lazurtegui, 
the most competent authority, estimated that there were still over 57,000,000 tons 
left. The richest red hematite ores are, it is true, now exhausted, and brown 
heematites and spathic ores have taken their place, with the result that more 
attention has to be paid to calcination and to the washing of ores to enable them 
to satisfy market requirements. Toérnebohm’s estimate of the quantity of ore still 
available in Spain is 500,000,000 tons, 
In Sweden deposits of magnetite of great purity occurring in gneiss supply 
material for the charcoal blast-furnaces, and ores rich in phosphorus are mined 
for export at Griingesberg, in Central Sweden, and within the Arctic Circle at 
Gellivare, Kirunavaara, and Luossavara, where there are ample supplies to meet 
the increased demand that is likely to arise. These deposits have been described 
in great detail by Dr. Stutzer in a paper submitted at the last meeting of the 
Tron and Steel Institute. The export of iron ore from Sweden in 1905 amounted 
to 3} million tons. In Northern Norway important discoveries of similar iron- 
ore deposits have of late been made. The amount of ore still available in Sweden 
is estimated at 1,200,000,000 tons. 
In France the most important deposits are the beds of Oolitic iron ore in the 
department of the Meurthe-et-Moselle ; and in Russia the greater portion of the 
iron ore produced is obtained from the Ural region, where, on the western side, 
the ores are chiefly limonite and spathic ores of a stratified character, and, on the 
east, masses of magnetite associated with igneous rocks. The amount of ore 
available in France is estimated at 1,500,000,000 tons, and in Russia at the same 
amount. The available resources of other countries are estimated by Térnebohm 
at 1,200,000,000 tons. Including 1,000,000,000 tons for Great Br.tain, he 
estimates the known available resources of the world at 10,000,000,000 tons. 
The outlook for the British industry is not altogether a depressing one; for, 
whilst the rich ores of Bilbao and Elba are becoming scarce, there are still vast 
quantities of ore available in the north of Scandinavia, in the south of Spain, in 
Algeria, Canada, Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Chili, India, China (notably in the 
Shansi district), Australia, and South Africa. The high cost of carriage is, of 
course, an important factor; but the great economies which have, and will be,’ 
effected in transport will reduce this item. The future of the home demand is 
likely to be affected by the development of the basic open-hearth process of steel- 
making which enables phosphoric ores to be utilised. In the course of time such 
phosphoric ores will doubtless oecupy a very prominent place in the manufacture 
of high-class steel. The development of magnetic concentration and of the 
briquetting of pulverulent ores for furnace use will render possible greater 
utilisation of poorer ores, while the development of the electric furnace will 
doubtless render it possible to utilise black sands and other titaniferous iron ores 
which, although met with in abundance, cannot at present be treated profitably in 
the blast-furnace. There need therefore be no immediate anxiety regarding the 
supply of the more impure iron ores, the application of which cannot fail rapidly 
to increase, 
(ii) The Iron-ore Supply of the Scandinavian Peninsula. 
By Hj. Sségren.—See Reports, p. 332. 
