﻿REPORT OS THE PHOSPHATE FIELDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. II 



Contrary to general opinion, however, the South Carolina fields are 

 far from exhausted. Thousands of acres of good phosphate land 

 still remain unearned, and though the overburden on much of this 

 property is rather heavy, improvements in mining methods will some 

 day render it all available for fertilizer purposes. 



An estimate of the actual quantity of phosphate still remaining in 

 South Carolina is necessarily rough, for, though some of the lands have 

 been thoroughly prospected, large areas have not been touched. 

 Chazal, 1 in 1904, estimated the quantity of South Carolina phosphate 

 still available at from 9,000,000 to 11,000,000 tons. Since that time 

 less than 2,000,000 tons of rock have been marketed, which would 

 leave between 7,000,000 and 9,000,000 tons. ChazaPs estimate 

 seems quite conservative, and the author is inclined to place the 

 available tonnage somewhat higher. Suffice it to say, however, that 

 these South Carolina fields can continue to produce rock at the 

 present rate for many years to come. 



SUMMARY. 



The South Carolina phosphates were the first important deposits 

 discovered hi this country. They have been worked since 1868, 

 and for many years produced most of our supply of phosphatic 

 fertilizer. 



The phosphate region lies along the coast in a belt extending from 

 the Wando Kiver, in Charleston County, to the Broad River, in 

 Beaufort County. The rock is of Tertiary age and is usually divided 

 into two classes, namely, the land deposits and the river deposits. 

 These classes, however, are practically identical, the latter being 

 merely the former washed into the river beds. 



The rock is mined by first removing the overburden, either by 

 hand or by steam shovels, and then digging oat the phosphate 

 stratum thus exposed. The rock is embedded in a matrix of sand and 

 clay, which is removed by a washing process. During this washing 

 much phosphate is discharged and lost in the detritus. The washed 

 rock is afterwards dried by burning on ricks of wood. 



With the exhaustion of the more accessible deposits and the dis- 

 covery of higher grade phosphates hi Florida and Tennessee, the 

 output from South Carolina has fallen off considerably. River min- 

 ing has entirely ceased, and only two companies are mining the Land 

 Rock. The total output in 1911 was 169,156 tons. 



The average cost of producing South Carolina phosphate for the 

 market is about $3.46 per ton. This is so little below the present sell- 

 ing price of rock that the rock can not be profitably shipped. Most 

 of it is therefore used locally in the manufacture of acid phosphate. 



1 Sketch of the South Carolina Phosphate Industry, p. IS (1904). 



