40 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 
The highest grade which is shipped rarely averages over 85 per cent, 
tribasic phosphate of liine, and none of the mines ship much phosphate 
which does not average at least 70 per cent. Eighty per cent, apatite 
is considered first quality and sells for 11 to 12 pence a unit. 1 The prin- 
cipal market for the Canada apatite is Europe. Great Britain and 
Germany consume over three-fourths of the total product, which, in 
1885, amounted to 23,908 tons. The market is unlimited and the out- 
put is yearly increasing, so that phosphate mining bids fair, in a few 
years, to be one of the most important industries of Canada. The an- 
nexed tables will show the output of the mines in past years, as well as 
the present markets. 
According to the Canadian Mining Review, January, 1886, the prod- 
uct for the past five years has been : 
Tons. 
1881 15,601 
1882 17,181 
1883 17,840 
1884 22,143 
1885 23,908 
Total for five years.' 96.673 
Shipments to different ports (same authority) : 
Tons, 1884. Tons, 1885. 
Liverpool 8,557 9,563 
London „ 4,389 7,683 
Hamburg 2,970 3,524 
Bristol 1,824 2,056 
Glasgow 3,083 482 
Barrow 350 
Penarth Roads 100 100 
Cardiff 65 
Sharpness 45 
Hull 40 
Dublin 210 
Sunderland 60 
Bristol Channel 50 
United States 200 
Consumed in Canada 700 
Total 22,143 23,908 
From Ontario district, 1885 1,500 
From Quebec district, 1885 22, 408 
The origin or chemical history of these Laurentian phosphates has 
been a matter of considerable dispute. Dr. T. S. Hunt says that 
phosphates, like silica and iron oxide, were doubtless constituents of 
the primitive earth's crust, and that the production of apatite crystals 
in granite veins or in crystalline schists is a process as independent 
1 The expression 11 to 12 pence a unit is the commercial method of signifying the 
value of the apatite. It means 11 to 12 pence for each per cent. Thus 80 per cent, 
phosphate at 11 to 12 pence per unit would be worth f 17.60 to $19.20 per ton 
(514) 
