ALABAMA MICA DEPOSITS 9 



The comparatively small increment realized in world 

 production of sheet mica, however, under the heavy pres- 

 sure brought to bear on this industry by reason of exist- 

 ing war necessities and conditions, may in some measure 

 indicate, with due and proper consideration of the diffi- 

 culties and obstacles incident to such a sudden and wholly 

 unexpected demand for heavily augmented output of ex- 

 isting mines, possible definite limitations in the sum to- 

 tal of mica reserves as at present known. 



World production of sheet mica, averaging at the pres- 

 ent time about 3,000 short tons annually, is derived from 

 the following definite sources as to its distribution na- 

 tionally. 



North America: United States, Canada, Guatemala, 

 and Mexico. South and Central America: Brazil, Argen- 

 tina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru. Europe: one source 

 only, Norway. Africa: German East Africa, Union of 

 South Africa, Madagascar, Nyassaland Protectorate, 

 Rhodesia, Protectorate of Southwest Africa, and Kame- 

 run. Asia: India, Ceylon, Chosen, China, Japan and Si- 

 beria. Australasia: Australia and New Zealand. 



The chief source of the world's supply of sheet mica 

 is now and always has been India, where the industry 

 originated several centuries ago, and where there are at 

 the present time over 15,000 men, women and children 

 employed in mica mining and handling. 



The continuous and steady growth of the industry in 

 India has been due to the outstanding facts, that from 

 its long and regular period of operation, the difficulties 

 and obstacles in the way of successful mica mining are 

 there better understood and more competently dealt with, 

 low cost labor is abundant, satisfactory, and sufficiently 

 skilled, and the necessary processes of preparing and of 

 grading mica stocks prior to shipment, are properly made 

 use of; a vital condition for successful operation, singu- 

 larly lacking in very many attempted mica recoveries else- 

 where. Beginning with the first reliably recorded out- 

 put in 1890, of 346 short tons, the average annual pro- 

 duction from 1901 to 1917 was 1823 short tons, reaching 

 a maximum of 2579 short tons in 1918, confined largely 

 to the Bihar and Orissa Fields, which in final analysis 



