Asbestos Part 3

A peculiarity here is the occurrence of a considerable quant.i.ty of mica in direct contact with the asbestos, a circ.u.mstance which has not hitherto been found to be the case anywhere else.

BROUGHTON.

The finest vein of asbestos ever yet worked in Canada was discovered at Broughton, when the Fraser Mine was first opened and worked by Dr. Reed; although doubtless the largest, most continuous, and consequently best paying veins have been found at Thetford, some of which, it has been stated, were over six inches in thickness. I confess I have not been fortunate enough to see anything like this, but I have seen many veins there, the produce of which was of surprising beauty, and specimens of which I have before me as I write, which are broad enough and good enough for any purpose to which the fibre can possibly be put.

It must, however, be borne in mind that the same rule obtains with many other things as is noted in the vegetable world--namely, that the largest specimens are not necessarily the best. The broader veins of asbestos do not, as I have already remarked, yield as a rule fibre of so fine a quality as those of a medium, or even of a small size. The length of the fibre, moreover, cannot be determined with any absolute certainty from the thickness of the vein. On the contrary, the broader veins are not seldom found to be separated at right angles to the length of fibre by minute bands of serpentine, chrome, or magnet.i.te, sometimes even by a separation without any perceptible layer of rock, the only indication of this being an irregular, scarcely visible line, readily detected by the expert.[9]

Under the hammer the big veins, in which the separation exists, are at once divided into two, or it may be into three lengths of fibre; but if the cotton be pure and clear, this is no very great detriment. Veins of an inch or an inch and a half extracted from compact rock seldom have these intersections. The veins, moreover, are extremely irregular in character, a small vein at the surface frequently developing into one of considerable size lower down, or breaking off altogether. This is the special characteristic of the veins in the Coleraine district--notably at Black Lake--at the mines of the Anglo-Canadian Company, and at Danville. At Thetford, on the other hand, where the ground is of a more uniform character, and at a lower level than at Black Lake, fine veins are frequently met with just below the surface, which continue for a considerable distance with very little change.

It will clearly be seen, therefore, that it is not possible properly to appreciate the value of such a mine as this without inspection and thorough examination by an expert. Fine specimens can at any time be obtained, and have before now been exhibited at a distance as being the produce of some particular mine for which a purchaser was wanted, when anyone visiting the spot would at once see the utter impossibility of such having been the case; and even if it were proved to be true that the specimens exhibited came from the place indicated, it would be important to know at what depth they were got, with the nature and general disposition of the mine, as well as the proportion of superinc.u.mbent rock requiring to be removed before the valuable veins could be worked. Without a knowledge of this it is self-evident that no practical estimate of expense to be incurred could possibly be made.

The discovery at Broughton made a great stir at the time; but the big vein there was to all appearance soon worked out, the supply thought to be exhausted, and work in consequence discontinued.

That, at any rate, was the view taken by the gentleman who then worked the mine. About 130 tons, I was told, were got out, which fetched from $100 to $120 a ton. It would now be worth a much better price.

The Scottish Asbestos Company have since then purchased this property, and from the extensive preparations they are making for work, and the great outlay they are incurring for machinery, buildings, and plant, it is clear that they do not by any means coincide in the view above expressed. The stratification at Broughton is peculiar, and different from anything that is found either in Thetford or Coleraine. It is quite possible, therefore, that the Company's advisers may be right, and that the surface deposits will be found to continue in richness and volume lower down. The developments at present consist of an open cut 15 to 20 feet deep by 8 feet wide following the vein and the serpentine reef is laid open for a length of about 900 feet.

When I last visited Broughton, in the autumn of 1886, I went over the ground in company with the late Mr. Fraser, who was then resident on the property, but was unable, from the quant.i.ty of water in the cut, to trace any of the big veins which had previously been worked. It was evident, however, that in consequence of a sudden dip downwards considerable expense would have to be incurred, and much very heavy work done, before the seam could be reached again. The belt of serpentine here is very narrow, and the veins of asbestos are closely pressed together. The strike is east and west, and the dip 30.

There are prospects here to the north-east, apparently of as valuable a character as those of the mine already opened. A few days after my visit, I was shown some fine samples from the surface work of this place, where the ground had just been stripped, and these bore the precise characteristics of the fine vein already spoken of. The Broughton ore has a pale yellowish hue, as distinguished from the greenish metallic l.u.s.tre which distinguishes the finer samples from Thetford. This does not, it must be observed, in any way deteriorate or injuriously affect the clear whiteness of the fibre when crushed out, although it at once identifies the locality of its production. There are, in fact, as I have already mentioned, certain peculiarities, even of colour, attaching to the ore of each locality of so marked a character that an expert can at once tell, on inspection, from what locality it was obtained.

There is great abundance of soapstone (steat.i.te) at Broughton; much of it of good quality, and some of it is remarkably pure. I brought away a singular specimen, having all the grain and even the fibrous markings of asbestos, which was nevertheless pure and unmistakable unfibred steat.i.te.

At present no use is being made of this material at Broughton, but at Wolfestown, in the same province, there is a manufactory for its use, and here slabs of very fine quality can be procured. A workable bed of very superior quality has been found also at Potton, and there is another at South Ham, near the antimony mines on the Lake Nicolet estate. Reduced to powder, the softness and unctuosity of steat.i.te have caused it to be used, in the same manner as plumbago, for lubricating purposes, and when finely ground it is employed for giving a surface to some kinds of paperhangings.

The substance called Venetian or French chalk, used by tailors and others, is nothing more than steat.i.te. It can be readily cut with a knife, and is infusible in any ordinary furnace heat.

Slaty varieties, of which there are many, are comparatively useless.

DANVILLE.

There is a mine at s.h.i.+pton, about four miles from the village of Danville, contiguous to the line of the Grand Trunk Railway, which has been for some time worked by Mr. Jeffery, whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of making in Montreal, but I much regret that time did not permit of a visit to this mine, so I can give no details of my own personal knowledge.

The outcrop of the serpentine here, I am told, is quite limited, with steep sides till round it. It however contains numerous veins of asbestos which, though mostly of small size, are of good quality. Faults are numerous, and these considerably affect the value of the property, some of the good veins, with a thickness of two inches, for instance, being cut off completely at a distance of fifty feet from the surface.

In a pamphlet published at Ottawa, by the Department of Agriculture of the Dominion Government, I find it stated that the whole output of this mine has been contracted for the next ten years. This is said to amount to 100 tons per annum, and its value is given as $60 per ton.

SOUTH HAM.

This mine, the property of Dr. Reed of Reedsdale, Megantic, is situate on the Nicolet Estate, in the towns.h.i.+p of South Ham, 7- miles from the Garthby Station on the line of the Quebec Central Railway. It was first described as being situate on Big Island, in the centre of Lake Nicolet, where the serpentine rocks rise very abruptly to the height of seventy feet, forming precipitous cliffs on the western side of the island. Recent exploration, however, has shown that the main body of asbestos is on the hill-side, and is of such extent as altogether to eclipse that proved to exist on the island, which was at first thought to be the chief source of supply.

The mine on the island is not being worked, but has been fully proved by numerous openings which have been made at the most promising points, revealing in every case veins of asbestos of remarkably good quality and in great abundance. These, as mentioned, are now known to pa.s.s under the lake, and can be seen cropping out in many places on the sh.o.r.e and the hill-side.

The mineral as seen on the island presents many points of difference from that at Thetford and Coleraine; and in the Geological Survey of Canada, I find it is stated to consist of four varieties, viz.:--

1st. Small veins, rarely exceeding half an inch in width, the fibres not easily separable. This, however, does not detract from its commercial value.

2nd. Apparently occupying a position at right angles to the veins above noticed, is a coa.r.s.e fibrous mineral, resembling rope, and evidently derived from the a.s.sociated picrolite. The extreme length which these fibres may attain could not be determined, but judging from exposed portions, it cannot be less than three feet.

3rd. Veins somewhat resembling the latter in aspect, but much finer in texture. The fibre can be separated with great facility, though firmly attached at one end to the parent rock.

4th. A steat.i.tic asbestos rock, resembling "Mountain leather," forming important ma.s.ses, which enclose small concretionary pellets of asbestos, the centres of which contain a nucleus of serpentine.

Very little (the report says) has yet been done on the island to develop these asbestos veins, perhaps owing to the difficulty of transport across the lake. This, however, would probably be more than counterbalanced by the magnificent returns which this locality promises to afford.

Dr. Reed at present is altogether neglecting the asbestos and devoting his attention to the development of a very promising antimony mine on the sh.o.r.e of the lake.

Indeed this estate might very justly be termed a typical Canadian mineral estate, and is, in its way, unique, for comprised within its 2,000 acres, there are found to exist not only rich veins of antimony and asbestos, and, as was stated in the notice of Broughton, enormous quant.i.ties of soapstone, but there are also immense deposits of iron, magnetic, chromic, and bog ore, as well as copper and sulphur. Silver to the value of $4 per ton of ore is found with the antimony, and reefs of auriferous quartz run through the entire property, from which a practical miner from Australia, who was examined before the committee appointed in 1887 by the Dominion Government to investigate the gold-fields of Canada, stated that he had taken samples which on a.s.say gave 2- ozs. gold to the ton. Nickel also is found on the property, and cobalt.

Everything necessary for the working of those valuable deposits already exists on the ground--unlimited water supply, and timber for building and mining purposes, as well as for charcoal for any furnaces that may presently be erected: sufficient, if judiciously managed according to the rules of forestry such as obtain in Germany, Austria, and Russia, to last until a new growth matures. In regard to transport, the roads are good, and a line of rail connecting the Grand Trunk with the Intercolonial will touch the property next summer, and will, it is expected, have a station there just below the antimony mine. In regard to steat.i.te, the quant.i.ty here is so enormous that an expert (Captain A. M. Evans, of the firm of Blakemore and Evans, the well-known civil and mining engineers of Cardiff), who was lately sent by me to report on this property, speaking of steat.i.te, says, "All I can say is, there are mountains of it."

This mineral is a more or less pure and compact talc. When pure and of close hard grain it is used as a refractory for lining furnaces, especially those designed for anthracite. It is in demand also for gas burners, not being liable to rust or corrosion, and also for the construction of small portable furnaces and open stoves. It is used also in the manufacture of paints. When very strongly heated, steat.i.te loses the small portion of combined water contained in it, and then in consequence becomes much harder.

WOLFESTOWN.

The description of the asbestos area of Wolfestown is given by Mr. Ells.

It is situate on the north-east extremity of a serpentine ridge which extends south-westerly, with many interruptions, from the road leading from Coleraine Station to Wolfestown, in the vicinity of Lake Nicolet.

It belongs to Mr. John Bell (John Bell & Co., asbestos manufacturers, London), and considerable sums have been expended on the property in the way of exploration. The surface indications are said not to be equal to those at Black Lake, but show at several points numbers of veins, some of which are from one and a half to two inches thick.

A very fair showing of workable veins has been exposed on the upper part of a deep cut, which it is proposed to intersect at a considerably lower level. Should the same rule of increase which holds good at Thetford and Coleraine obtain here, there should be good paying ground exposed when the lower level is driven in past the cap of barren rock, provided the veins already disclosed are not cut off by faults, whose presence is noted here as at other points.

The total amount of asbestos taken from the Belmina district Mr. Ells puts at about twenty-five tons.

Considerable quant.i.ties of chromic iron are found on the hills in this area, which embraces about six hundred acres.

The foregoing are all the Canadian mines now in work, as far as I have been able to learn, certainly all of any importance. There can be no doubt, however, that as the demand increases further explorations will be made, and new mines discovered, as well as that increased capital will be put in to further develop those already at work. At the present time the supply scarcely keeps pace with the demand, and capitalists are beginning to wake up to the importance of this industry; _it having been now conclusively proved that mining for asbestos, properly conducted, shows a more steady return for the money invested, with less elements of risk, than mining for any other known mineral_.

I am unable to say, with any degree of exactness, what is the amount of the aggregate output of the Canadian mines; but I saw it stated in a local paper that, in 1885, it was under 1,500 tons, and that in 1886 it had reached 2,000 tons, giving an increase of over 500 tons for the year. This is quite sufficient to show the rapid strides the business is making, and is probably near about correct, judging by the rate of progression in the imports to the States, for instance. The value of manufactured asbestos imported into the United States from Canada, in 1880, is given in the Government Returns as under 10,000 dollars. In 1884 it had risen to 48,755 dollars, and it has been increasing yearly ever since. That the demand is rapidly increasing is unquestionable, not only for the present articles of manufacture, but for the new purposes to which it is being daily applied. More capital will, doubtless, soon be put in, and then new lines, which almost indicate themselves, will prepare the way for continued success.

As regards the progressive output of crude asbestos at the mines, since its introduction in 1887, the following may no doubt be taken as authentic, being extracted from the "Statistical Report on the Production, Value, Exports, and Imports of Minerals in Canada during the year 1886 and previous years," by Eugene Coste, M.E., published by authority of the Dominion Parliament. In this Report the production and value is given as follows:--

Value at the Mines.

Tons. Dollars.

1879 300 19,500 1880 380 24,700 1881 540 35,100 1882 810 52,650 1883 955 68,750 1884 1,141 75,079 1885 2,440 142,441 1886 3,458 206,251

The mode of extraction in all Canadian asbestos mines is by open quarry work. Whether the drills are worked by compressed air, or by hand in the old-fas.h.i.+oned way, the effect is the same. When a sufficient number of holes of the proper depth are drilled and duly charged with dynamite or powder, they are linked together, and fired by a battery in such a way that the face of rock shall be thrown outward on to the floor of the pit. The asbestos is then picked out, the adhering rock roughly broken off, and the ore piled into boxes or tubs, which are loaded on to trolleys, and run off on tram-lines to the cobbing-sheds. The refuse rock, of which there is always an enormous quant.i.ty (probably as much as twenty tons of rock to one ton of asbestos), is loaded into cars, run off and shot over on to the dumping-ground.

Boys are employed in the cobbing-sheds to chip, or cob, the rock cleanly from the ore, an operation which is much more troublesome with thin veins than with those of the better sort to which, as I have already said, the waste rock is less firmly adherent. This cobbing is a very troublesome and expensive process, costing about 5 dollars a ton. After cobbing, great care is required in sorting the ore into the respective grades of Nos. 1, 2, and 3. It is then put up in bags of about 160 lbs.

each, marked, and stacked away in the bins ready for s.h.i.+pment. All this is done in a very rough and ready style, and the waste is simply enormous: there is no doubt, however, that as the ore increases in value more scientific appliances will be adopted with good results. At present thousands of tons of rock containing only thin veins of asbestos are dumped on the refuse heaps as waste which would all be crushed if a proper machine were at hand, and the valuable material saved.

In the cobbed state ready for market the ore is worth at the mines at the present time from 50 dollars to 55 dollars for No. 2, and from 80 dollars to 100 dollars for No. 1. It is evident, therefore, on a comparison of the cost of extraction with the price realised for the raw material, that there is ample margin for good profit.

Wages run from 1 dollar to 1 dollar 75 cents a day, according to the nature of the work performed, for men, and from 50 cents to 1 dollar for lads and cobbers. The comparison of the cost of production, therefore, with the value of the raw material, shows a very large margin of profit.

There is no scarcity of labour, a sufficient number of hands, mostly French-Canadians, being always forthcoming; but at those mines where there is an insufficiency of houses for married men, accommodation has to be found in the barrack-like building for single men; the married men, who cannot be accommodated, residing frequently at a long distance from their work, which causes them to be of a migratory disposition, and gives considerable additional trouble to the management.