10 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 



means; that during the above denned period, India fur- 

 nished over 60 per cent, of the world's sheet mica, 

 amounting to practically three-fourths of the world's 

 sheet muscovite, as against a coincident and relative pro- 

 duction in the United States of less than 20 per cent. 

 When it is remembered, however, that the average labor 

 cost for men, women and children in the East Indian 

 mica district averages less than 30 cents per diem, 

 and that the product of this field, re-shipped from Eng- 

 land, has benefited by the further advantage of ruling 

 and favorable exchange rates, the above stated relative 

 percentages become more understandable. Of the total 

 sheet mica output, Bengal has supplied about three- 

 fourths, the remainder being drawn from Madras, with 

 the exception of very small amounts from Rajputana. 



Prior to the war, although considerably over half of 

 the sheet mica exported from India w r ent uniformly to the 

 United Kingdom, its ultimate consumption after re-ship- 

 ment, is difficult to trace. It is stated, and seems prob- 

 able, that Germany at that time absorbed the larger 

 part of it, the United States, by direct and indirect ship- 

 ments, receiving not much more than one-fourth of such 

 exports. 



Systematic study, given to the mica industry by the 

 India Geological Survey during the war, with a view to 

 pointing out and opening up new occurrences, and to the 

 re-working of the old mines by new and more efficient 

 methods, tends to show that the future of mica mining in 

 India is very promising, and would seem to indicate that 

 if the present preferential conditions as to mine cost and 

 available markets continues, that country may easily sus- 

 tain its present lead in production. 



As regards American consumption, Canada is practic- 

 ally the only commercial source of phlogopite, although 

 small amounts have at various times been recovered from 

 Ceylon, Madagascar and South Africa. 



Expressed in terms of sheet mica, inclusive of split- 

 tings, its precise quota of world's production is difficult 

 to estimate, owing to the form of the statistical informa- 

 tion available as published by the Canadian government. 

 Assuming how r ever, one-half of the total production re- 



