ALABAMA MICA DEPOSITS 15 



paratively small known present production indicates as 

 yet a limited development. 



Western Australia, in addition to valuable deposits of 

 muscovite sheet mica, carries also notable deposits of 

 lepidolite in the clear sheet, running to large sizes. South 

 Australia realized a production in 1917 of 38 tons, which 

 was however of indifferent grade, and of low value. 

 Queensland has had no stated figure of production, the de- 

 posits opened up and which carried good muscovite, lying 

 too remote from transportation to justify present devel- 

 opment. 



The mica produced and sold in the United States.* as 

 reported to the United States Geological Survey, amount- 

 ed in 1918 to 3114 short tons, and the sheet mica mar- 

 keted, to 1,644,200 pounds, an increase in quantity of 

 29 per cent, over 1917, but a decrease of nearly 3 per 

 cent, in estimated value. The quantity and value of scrap 

 mica produced 2,292 short tons were the smallest re- 

 ported since 1906. During the first nine months of 

 1920, the industry was prosperous, with corresponding 

 resultant production, but with the general industrial de- 

 cline during the last quarter, market demands rapidly 

 declined, and prices dropped from 10 to 20 per cent. Im- 

 portations for the first 10 months of 1920 were nearly 

 double those of the preceding year, amounting to 1,375,- 

 927 pounds of uncut mica valued at $1,206,443, and of 

 cut mica to the estimated value of $1,656,182. Exports 

 of mica for the same period mainly in the form of manu- 

 factured products, were valued at $242,381, or about 10 

 per cent, of the value of imports. As a result of these 

 heavy importations, at prices largely eliminating domes- 

 tic competition, production during the closing months of 

 1920 declined heavily, North Carolina mines furnishing 

 the bulk of the American output, being at present largely 

 idle, and hundreds of men and women dependent alto- 

 gether on the mica industry for the means of subsistence 

 have been thrown out of employment. It has been esti- 

 mated from reliable sources that the South alone, pos- 

 sessing mica resources largely undeveloped and favorably 



*U. S. Geological Survey Mica in 1918. 



