Nickel.— This metal has become ofprac tical value only since 1889 and methods of reducing its ores are still somewhat in the experimental stage. The world's supply comes almost entirely from two regions, the Sudbury district in northern Ontario and the French penal colony of New Caledonia. In early years New Caledonia was somewhat in advance, but in 1903 Sudbury passed it in production and seems likely to hold its position in the future. The mines are all situated round the edge of a basin-shaped sheet of eruptive rock 37 miles long and 15 broad, and among them the Creigh ton is the greatest nickel mine in the world, supplying more than half of the total output. About half as much copper as nickel is pro duced in these mines and also small amounts of gold, palladium and platinum, the last metal occurring in the rare arsenide sperrylite, first found in the district. In 1915 matte smelted from the roasted ore contained 34,000 tons of nickel, mostly mined and treated by the Cana dian Copper Company, though the Mond Com pony of England was of some importance, also. The value of the nickel in the matte was placed at $10,352,344, while the refined metal was esti mated to be worth $20,423,348. The demand for nickel steel for war purposes has greatly helped the industry.
Copper has been mined in New foundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Que bec, Ontario and British Columbia, but only the last two provinces are important producers. The copper of Quebec is a by-product of the iron pyrites of the Eastern Townships; and most of the copper from Ontario is, as shown above, produced as an accompaniment of the Sudbury nickel ores, though mines of copper alone are worked on a small scale at Massey in western Ontario, not far from the once well known Bruce mines, north of Lake Huron, which were prosperous half a century ago but are no longer in operation. British Columbia supplies more than three-fourths of theopper mined in Canada, chiefly from the gold-copper ores of the Rossland region, the large low grade deposits of the boundary districts and of the Pacific Coast of the province, while a small amount comes from the White Horse district of Yukon territory. The total production of copper in the Dominion in 1915 was 51,306 tons, valued at $17,726,307. The demand for copper for war purposes has greatly increased the production.
Almost the whole of the lead mined in Canada comes from the silver-lead ores of southern British Columbia, which began to be opened up extensively in 1893 and furnished 31,500 tons in 1900. Since then there have been great fluctuations in the amount mined, which was 22,184 tons in 1915, the production depend ing largely on the prosperity of the silver min ing industry, since the two metals occur to gether.
The whole of the cobalt produced in Canada, and practically all that is used in the world, comes from the silver mines of Cobalt in northern Ontario, where the metal occurs in arsenides, especially smaltite. Though the metal is better suited for plating than nickel, very 'little is employed in this way. Its chief use is in the preparation of cobalt blue and in giving a blue color to glass or porcelain. In
1914 there was a production of 871,891 pounds of cobalt, mostly disposed of as the oxide, and the value is estimated at about $550,000.
Zinc ores, chiefly blende, have been mined in Quebec, Ontario and British Colum bia, and have been shipped to the United States or to Belgium for treatment, but the recent high price of zinc, due to the European War, has encouraged two companies, one at Welland, Ontario, the other at Trail, B. C., to produce the metal from its ores. In 1915 15,553 tons of ore were reported, mainly from British Colum bia, and the value is given as $636,204.
In regard to the most important of all metals, iron, Canada is backward, largely from the fact that the ore deposits and the fuel for treating them are generally widely sun dered. Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario have been producers of iron and steel, the first prov ince having the great advantage of supplies of coking coal on the seaboard, at Sydney in Cape Breton Island and other points, so that two large iron and steel plants are in operation there. Most of the ore smelted is, however, in a sense foreign, coming from Bell Island, off the coast of Newfoundland. The province of Que bec has for generations smelted a small amount of bog iron ore in charcoal furnaces near Three Rivers, the product being of high grade and used for special purposes, but since 1912 these furnaces have been shut down. Char coal iron furnaces were operated on a small scale in different parts of Ontario, also, from 50 to 100 years ago, but when railways began to bring in British iron the industry ceased. Within the last few years large furnaces using American fuel and in part American ore have sprung up at Hamilton, Midland and the Sault Sainte Marie.
Deposits containing millions of tons of fair grade ore have been found in Hutton township, and other points in northern. Ontario in rocks similar to those of the great iron regions of Michigan and Minnesota, so that iron production is likely to increase in the future. British Columbia also possesses large deposits of iron ore and excellent coking coal, so that an iron industry like that of Nova Scotia may be expected to grow up as the province becomes more populous. The amount of pig iron smelted in Canada in 1915 was 913, 719 tons, of which Ontario produced more than half, but of this amount only 158,598 tons came from Canadian ore, the rest coming from American or Newfoundland ore. The amount of steel produced was 1,020,335 tons.
Platinum and Among the rarer and more precious metals it is perhaps worth while to mention platinum, which has been obtained from placers in the Similkameen region, B. C., and which occurs also in the form of the arsenide, sperrylite, in the Sudbury nickel ores. A few hundred ounces of the metal have been obtained annually as residues after the separation of the nickel and copper in the Bes semer matte from Sudbury. The way in which palladium occurs in the nickel ore is unknown, but it is obtained in larger amounts than the platinum.