450 B. H. Brough—TIron Ore Supplies. 
over 800,000,000 tons of iron ore. The average percentage of iron in 
the ore is 55, the 60 per cent. ores produced ten years ago having been 
exhausted by wasteful mining methods. The amount of ore still 
available in the United States is estimated by Tornebohm at 
1,100,000,000 tons. 
In Germany and Luxemburg two-thirds of the iron ore raised 
(2833 million 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 17 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 
creat 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 hematites 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. Tornebohm’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 Grangesberg, 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 Iron and Steel Institute. The export of iron ore from 
Sweden in 1905 amounted to 33 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 Tornebohm at 1,200,000,000 tons. Including 1,000,000,000 tons 
for Great Britain, 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 
