AmNovU,ri9Pi8arm*}     Talc  Resources  and  Production.  819 
ing  molds  in  brass  foundries,  and  for  treating  the  wounds  and  skin 
diseases  of  cattle. 
Manufacturing  Lower  Grade  Talc — Talc  for  Paper  and 
Rubber  Making. — The  lower  grade  of  talc  ore  is  sent  through  a 
five-stamp  battery,  in  which  any  gold  present  is  recovered,  while  the 
talc  tailing,  after  being  passed  over  a  Wilfley  table,  is  dried  and 
screened.  The  talc  thus  obtained  is  used  by  boot  manufacturers  for 
leather  dressing  and  finishing  in  the  manufacture  of  paints  and  dis- 
tempers, by  garages  and  rubber  manufacturers,  in  the  preservation 
of  eggs  and  fruits,  and  for  making  imitation  stone  and  tiles.  Part 
of  the  talc  mined  is  cut  into  slabs  for  the  manufacture  of  acetylene- 
gas  burners,  into  square  and  round  slate  pencils,  and  into  thicker  en- 
gineer's pencils,  which  are  used  in  large  quantities  by  the  South 
African  railways. 
The  better  grades  of  ground  talc  have  been  found  well  adapted 
to  the  manufacture  of  paper  and  rubber,  and  as  the  talc  can  be 
cheaply  mined  and  railage  from  Noordkaap  Siding  to  Delagon  Bay 
is  only  3s.  6d.  per  ton,  it  is  confidently  enticipated  that  a  big  export 
trade  will  be  established  in  it  when  shipping  space  for  this  purpose 
is  once  more  available. 
Production  Outside  of  Barberton  District — Total  Produc- 
tion.— Ground  talc  is  also  being  prepared  in  Johannesburg  from  a 
talcose  schist,  said  to  occur  in  the  old  granite  to  the  north  of  Krugers- 
dorp,  Transvaal.  No  information  regarding  the  deposit  is  available. 
Ground  talc  suitable  for  covering  boilers  and  steam  pipes  is  being 
obtained  from  a  talc-tremolite  rock  near  Pomeroy,  on  the  Maceheko 
River,  in  Zululand.  Massive  talc  or  soapstone  is  a  common  mineral 
in  southern  Rhodesia,  occurring  in  the  Baesment  Complex  in  large 
bodies  in  a  more  or  less  pure  form.  The  fibrous  variety  used  in 
paper  making  also  occurs ;  the  writer  has  seen  some  very  fine  speci- 
mens of  foliated  talc  from  this  territory.  A  number  of  talc  claims 
have  been  pegged  in  different  localities,  but  as  yet  no  attempt  has 
been  made  to  work  any  of  the  deposits. 
The  production  of  talc  in  the  Union  of  South  Africa  has  been  as 
follows  in  the  last  three  calendar  years  :  191 5 — 44  short  tons,  valued 
at  £218;  1916 — 132  tons,  valued  at  £586;  and  1917 — 785  tons,  valued 
at  £1,962. 
