MINERAL RESOURCES AND ..‘11 IN IN G. Ca na da 'iris long supposed to possess great mineral wealth. but only in recent years has the great yari• ety, extent. and richness of its mineral resources been ascertained. The geological provinces which have been so productive of mineral in the United States, viz. the Appalachians ice the east, the Cordilleras in the west, and the Lake Superior region between the two. extend northward into Canada. A combination of ad verse circumstances, however, has prevented the extensive development of the mining industr% among these are the sparse population, its dis persion over a very wide area, the isolation of the mining lands, and the lack of means of transportation. In addition to this is the sever ity of the climate. Moreover, the coal-supply. so necessary in the smelting of metallic ores. while present in enormous deposits. is located at the two extremes of the country (Nova Scotia and British Colmnbia), leaving the middle region at a great disadvantage. That these disadvantages will not permanently cheek the development of the industry, however, has been elearly demon strated by its recent growth. During the last decade of the last century the value of the total mineral product increased from 818.700,(01 to $63.775,000, most markedly in the case of gold.
Gold has long been mined in moderate quanti ties in Nova Scotia, where it is found in the quartzites and slates of the Cambrian rocks, hut larger quantities were secured from the placer mines of British Columbia, in which work began about 1857, and whose output by 1563 had reached an annual value of over 84,000,000. but subsequently declined until in 1890 it was less than 81,000,000. The great revival of the in dustry eame in 1897, when the placer mines of the Klondike and other Yukon re gions were opened, the output of the Yukon district alone reaching the phentanenal figure of 822.000,000 (estimated) in 11(00. :See Yr (.oLn-FiEtn.) Quartz and hydraulic mining has lately been undertaken in southern British Columbia (the Kootenay region) with a conse quent divided increase in the output of that sec tion. Gold exists at other points, notably ou the north shore of Lake Superior, but mining operations there are still on a small scale.
Another decided increase is that of cocci, which ranks next to gold in value of output, which latter about doubled during the last decade, being 812,608.000 in 1000. (If this, Nova sem tin produced about three-fifths and British Co lumbia the greater part of the remainder, the main production in the latter province being on Vancouver Island. Most of the of British Columbia. and Nova Scotia is bituminous. of good quality, while the vast fields of the interior plain, extending from southwestern _Manitoba westward to the mountains contain riell drpccs its of serviceable lignite, and anthracite is found on Queen Charlotte's Island and near Calgary, Alberta. Altogether the coal-fields cover 97.000 square miles, not including certain to areas in the far north.
The copper product increased in value during the decade from less than one to more than three million dollars. most of it being mined in British Columbia and and smaller quantities in Quebec. In British Columbia it is found in com bination with gold and silver, and is mined chiefly as a by-product. None of the Canadian copper ore is refined in Canada, but the ore is shipped into the United States for that purpose.
8/trey- and /cad have likewise increased great ly, the latter from almost nothing, the former from a few hundred thousand dollars annually to about $2,700.000 each in 1900. British Co lumbia produees the greater portion of these, the two metals being united in the smile ore, which is found in the clay schist and intrusive granites occurring in the Kootenay region.
Canada holds a position of special advantage in the production of two minerals, nickel and having excelled her only rival New Caledonia) in the production of the former. and having the field almost wholly to herself in the production of the latter. The nickel is mined in the Sudbury district, northeast of Lake Huron, where mining began in ItiSs. and in 1891 the output amounted to $2,700,000. after which it decreased somewhat until 1900, when it rose to $3,227.000. The asbestos is mined in the eastern townships of Quebec, where it is found in veins which run through rocks of massive serpentine; the annual output averages about $300,000.