Mineral
Brazil's mineral re sources have from the first been questioned, doubted. Amerigo Vespucci navigated, in the course of his third voyage, from 5° below the equator to a region well south of the Tropic of Capricorn, practically from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande do Sul, as the regions are now called. He wrote as follows: "On this coast we saw nothing of value except an in finite number of dye-wood and cassia trees, and those which beget myrrh and other wonders of nature which cannot be recounted. . . . And seeing that in this land we found nothing whatever of mineral wealth, we decided to hasten away." Better luck in this respect at tended the efforts of the 18th century explorers; but such thorough exploration and exploitation as took place in the Spanish South American holdings was impossible in the Portuguese; and regions suspected of concealing mineral treas ure have remained in a measure mineral regions "of doubt." D. A. Vindin (in Denis's
the ore is in some cases found in actual moun tains, the analyses of which have yielded extraor dinarily high percentages. Coal exists in Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul at various places? Deposits of talc and kaolin are of fre quent occurrence in crystalline rocks, which are of wide distribution in Brazil. Some of these, more favorably situated in relation to transpor tation and markets, are now being worked. Of these are the following: (1) Near Rezende, state of Rio de Janeiro, a pure white talc, re quiring little treatment before being available as a cosmetic. (2). Near Lorena, state of Sao Paulo. (3) Near Santo Amaro, state of Sao Paulo, not far from the city of Sao Paulo. Massive talc, or steatite, occurs in different parts of the country, as near Itaberaba, muni cipio de Ouro Preto, Varzea near Dores de Boa Esperanca, and near Jacuhy in the western part of Minas Geraes. At these places its principal use is in the manufacture of cooking utensils, which are turned out on the lathe from the solid block of soapstone. Pans and pots of this material are specially prized in Brazil for cooking rice. It also occurs in Ceara and Goyaz.
Classed between common bituminous and the lignite of Germany, Brazilian coal contains ash and impurities (20 per cent) and in specimens examined, sulphur. °Reports on different sam ples show that this coal, when made into bri quettes, is little inferior to Cardiff coal in the same form." In the Jacuhy district, in the state of Rio Grande are vast deposits of coal. In August 1917 the Central Railway of Brazil a ru large crushing plant at Barra do Pi at a cost of more than $500,000, with a view to reducing this native coal to a commercial com modity. As the experiment was a success, it is expected to give an added impetus to coal mining in Brazil. In addition to the large coal mine at Jacuhy, which is in part owned by the government, there is another large mine at Sao Jeronymo. The latter mine, which is only 12 miles from river transportation, has its own railway to bridge the distance; and the gov ernment was constructing, in 1917, a railway 37 miles long to Five similar facilities to the Jacuhy coal district, which was producing 12,000 tons a month toward the close of 1917, with the prospect of a very considerable increase of this output in 1918.
By an executive decree of 23 May 1917 the Brazilian government authorized the Minister of Transportation and Public Works to enter into a contract with the Sao Paulo—Rio Grande Railway Company for the construction and lease of a railway line from some point on the branch line Paranapanema to the coal fields in the valley of the Peixe River, tapping on the way the coal fields of Barra Bonita, in the state of Parana. The contract called for the completion of the road in one year. • When completed it is to be under the control of the government. In the same month the govern ment also made a contract with the same com pany for the construction and lease of a rail way 50 miles long from Port Tubarao to the Ararangui in the state of Santa Catharina. The contract provides that the road shall also be in operation in one year from date of contract.
The high price of coal in Brazil has helped to retard industries of various kinds and forced the railroads for the most part to burn wood wherever available, because the native coal, in lump, does not burn well in the engines; but the recent experiences in crushing it have proven that, in its crushed state, it answers all the purposes of foreign coal; so other crushing plants were being planned in the fall of 1917. Since the development of the Kim berley mines in South Africa, diamond-mining in Brazil has received comparatively little at tention; nevertheless valuable stones are often found and it must be borne in mind that Bra zilian diamonds are considered to be of much finer grade than those from South Africa? Brazil produces some of the finest specimens of beryl; amethysts and agates are also plentiful. Consult 'Brazilian Year Book' (Rio de Janeiro) and Denis, P., 'Brazil) (trans. Miall, London 1911). See general bibliography under HISTORY.