482 R. H. Rastall — The Iron-fields of Lorraine. 



deeper towards tlie west in French territory. On the east and south 

 the thickness is from 50 to 70 feet, but this increases to about 

 200 feet westwards and in Luxemburg, with a corresponding falling 

 off in quality. The ferruginous series consists of an alternation of beds 

 of oolitic iron-ores of various colours with limestones and occasional 

 marls. The iron-ores, which are locally known as Minette, have 

 been formed by metasomatic replacement of calcareous oolitic grains, 

 probably consisting originally of aragonite, while the cement has 

 chiefly remained calcareous. As before stated, the percentage of iron 

 varies regularly from north to south, and this has a most important 

 economic bearing. In Luxemburg the average iron-content is 30 

 per cent or less, while in the south of the Briey plateau it rises to as 

 much as 40 per cent, with 9 to 14 per cent of lime and 4 to 7 per 

 cent of silica. In the Longwy and Crusnes fields the ores contain 

 less lime, while the silica rises to 20 per cent in some cases ; the 

 proportion of phosphorus remains very constant throughout, averaging 

 about 1'8 per cent. 



Hence the ores must be regarded as distinctly phosphatic, and it 

 was the introduction of the Thomas-Gilchrist process in 1882 that led 

 to the vast industrial development of this area. 



Several careful computations of reserves have been made, and the 

 following figures are estimates of ore still available in the different 

 districts and workable under present economic conditions : — 



Tons. 

 Briey . . . . . , , 2,000,000,000 



Longwy ...... 275,000,000 



Crusnes 500,000,000 



German Lorraine and Luxemburg . 2,000,000,000 



Total . . 4,775,000,000 



Of this total considerably more than half was in French territory, 

 including practically the whole of the higher-grade portion. The 

 potentialities of the western portion of the Briey plateau were not 

 known to the German authorities when peace was concluded in 1870, 

 and an endeavour to rectify the mistake then made must certainly be 

 regarded as one of the causes of the present War. The whole of 

 the Briey field as well as those of Longwy and Crusnes are 

 occupied by the Germans, and it is of interest to consider what 

 is now going on there. Lately published statistics relating to 

 Luxemburg throw some indirect light on the matter. In 1912 

 the output of Luxemburg was 6,511,000 tons, and in 1916 

 6,752,000 tons. In 1917 the output fell suddenly to 4,502,000 tons, 

 and in August, 1918, some450,000 tons still remained unsold in that 

 country, owing to excess of supply over demand. The consumption 

 of iron-ore in Germany at the present time is undoubtedly very 

 great, and the natural inference is that Germany is now exploiting 

 as largely as possible the richer ores of the Briey plateau and 

 neglecting the poorer ones of German Lorraine and Luxemburg. 

 It is also stated that there is an active demand for siliceous ores, 

 as opposed to the more calcareous varieties, and it is a natural 

 inference that ore of this kind is being obtained from the Longwy 



