56 



had to be developed for milling the rock and a market had 

 to be made for the material. Other instances could be cited, 

 but the examples given show that the characteristic of the 

 minerals mined in Ontario's pre-Cambrian rocks is unique- 

 ness. 



It is gratifying to know that within the comparatively 

 few years that mining has been prosecuted at Cobalt, plants 

 capable of refining all of the constituents of the ore have 

 been erected in Ontario, the processes employed being either 

 improvements on those in use elsewhere or invented espec- 

 ially for these ores, such as that employed at the Nipissing 

 mine for the extraction and refining of silver. This metal 

 is refined at several other plants, and white arsenic and 

 cobalt and nickel oxides are produced. The plants for re- 

 fining cobalt oxide in Ontario are of capacity sufficient to 

 supply the world's demand for the material. The white 

 arsenic produced from Cobalt ores represents about 20 per 

 cent of the world's output. Cobalt is the world's greatest 

 producer of silver, its output representing about 13 per cent 

 of the whole. 



In 1904, the year in which the first shipments were made, 

 there were produced 158 tons of ore. The average percent- 

 ages of the four metals in this ore were : 



Silver 5.34 per cent., or 1,309.33 ounces per ton. 



Cobalt 10.21 " " 



Nickel 8.86 " " 



Arsenic 45-56 " " 



In 1905 there were shipped 2,144 tons of ore of the 

 following composition : 



Silver 3.90 percent., or 1,138.72 ounces per ton. 



Cobalt 5.50 " " 



Nickel 3.49 " " 



Arsenic 25.60 " " 



The ore shipped till near the end of 1907 was sorted by 

 hand, or with crude mechanical appliances. Since then 

 extensive concentrating plants have been erected. 



