of wages paid for labor has been $22,829, or 60 per cent. The number of men employed in the industry last year was 191, and their average rate of wages $318.

ation and

The total quantity of salt produced in Ontario during the seven years was 336,948 Salt Produc- tons, valued at $1,349,878, and in the tion, Import-seven years ending June 30, 1898, Consumption there was imported for consumption in Canada 750,090 tons, valued at $2,522,973. The great bulk of the salt imported (about 95 per cent. of the whole) comes in free of duty, and there is enough salt rock underlying one square mile of western Ontario to supply the whole of Canada at the present rate of consumption for 2,400 years.

The total quantity of gypsum mined last year was about 3,000 tons. The mines were worked only part time, and gave Statistics of employment to an average of 15 men; wages $2,000. The value of products, including plaster, alabastine, etc., was $14,600.

Gypsum.

Graphite and Mica.

The graphite mine in Brougham township was worked during only six months of last year. In that time 300 tons of Graphite ore were raised, valued at $6,000. Ten workmen were employed.

Mica.

Mica has been discovered at a number of points during the last few years, chiefly in Muskoka and Frontenac. At most of the properties however operations have not got beyond the development stage, and the returns show that only one of them was a producer last year. The StonessKent mica mine, which is on lot 4 in the thirteenth concession of Bedford township, produced 34 tons of mica, valued at $7,500. From 12 to 18 men were employed. Only small lots were taken out at other locations. Mica for boiler covering is growing actively in demand.

Pig Iron and Iron Ore.

The following table gives the statistics of the Hamilton blast furnace for the three years it has been in operation :

Two

The proportion of Cntario ores used in the furnace last year was 27 per cent. of the whole, being 20,968 tons, whereas in 1897 it was only eight per cent. mining companies, whose operations were carried on chiefly in Hastings county, raised during the year 27,400 tons, nearly all of which was shipped to Hamilton. Its selling price at the mines is given in the returns as $48,875, or $1.78 per ton. At the furnace the value of Ontario ores smelted was $62,904.81, or $3.00 per ton, which is the same rate as for American ores. The value of mill cinder at the furnace was $17,229.22, of limestone for flux $11,039.44 and of coke for fuel $158,783.22. The total value of raw materials and labor at the furnace was $479,597.64, and the total value of pig iron product $530,789. At the iron mines an average

of 100 men were employed whose wage earn ings were $26,700, and the value of ore mined, computed at the selling price at the mines, was $48,875.

Prospecting

Copper and Nickel.

There has been a stir in the copper and nickel mines during the past year, and a Extension of number of new properties have Mining and been developed. Besides the mines Operations. in the Sudbury district, several locations north of lake Huron, in the vicinity of Bruce Mines, have been receiving the attention of prospectors and capitalists. The Joseph Powers Syndicate on the Mississaga river has sunk one or two shafts, the old mines at Bruce Mines have been unwatered with a view to the resuming of operations there, and a new company has been opening

up large showings of ore at Rock lake, in Coffin township (now called Aberdeen). This last venture has been acquired by a syndicate now organized as the Rock Lake Mining Company, with an authorized capital of $1,000,000. The locations are situated about 10 miles north of Bruce Mines station, and comprise an area of 1,400 acres. The vein has been traced on the property for a length of three miles, and samples of float ore may be picked up to the south of it a long distance. Work was commenced in April of last year upon an outcropping of ore about 300 feet above the level of Rock lake, and two adits 1,200 feet apart have been driven in from opposite sides of the ridge which holds the vein that prove its thickness to be 16 to 17 feet. A shaft is in course of being sunk, and test pits have been dug at various points which indicate that the vein is well mineralized throughout its whole length. Work has also been resumed on

Michipicoton island, where native copper occurs in amygdaloid trap and conglomerate, but although good samples are shown and rich outcroppings have been discovered enough work has not yet been done for a judgment to be formed of their extent and value. In the township of Garson, about ten miles north of Sudbury, a copper-nickel deposit was opened last year, and a furnace to. smelt the ore was in course of construction. North of Markstay station also active development work has been carried on and extensive bodies have been exposed, some of which carry gold as well as copper and nickel. The Canadian Copper Company, however, is the principal operator, and several new mines have been developed by this company.

The following table shows for the seven years 1892-98 the quantities of ore raised and smelted in the Sudbury district, and Smelted and the per cent. of metallic contents years 1892-98 in the ore smelted each year:

Ore Raised

in the seven

Gold and Silver.

Gold was produced last year at 17 locations, but as only four of these have reported an Statistics of output in excess of $20,000 it will seven years. be readily understood that a large majority of them are yet only in the early prospecting stage. The leading ones are the Sultana, the Mikado, the Regina and the Belmont. The Regina however was closed down for five months, during reconstruction of the mill. The Foley was also idle for the greater part of the year, pending a sale of the

property in England. In the eastern part of the Province the Belmont and Deloro mines promised well at the beginning of the year, but unfortunately the mill of the Deloro was destroyed by fire early in spring, and a new one erected in its stead was not completed until the close of the year. Both of these mines give assurance of good results for the present year, and in the west the outlook is very hopeful. The following table gives the statistics of gold mines and mills in the Province for the seven years 1892-98 :

Low grade Ores.

The total quantity of ore milled during the seven years has been 116,974 tons, and the value of gold product was $740,587, being an average of $6.33 per ton. This is proof of the low grade character of the ore, but as nearly all of it is free milling, it is high enough to earn a good margin of profit when development is sufficiently advanced to provide an ample quantity to keep the mills running steadily. It will then be possible to select the ore, instead of treating all that comes from the mines. Therefore an increase of average may reasonably enough be looked for, unless, as seems likely, some extensive low grade deposits are worked on a large scale. Two of these are the Hammond Reef and the Alice A., where enormous bodies are known to occur, and on which mills of large capacity are likely to be erected

Wood burned at pump

..lb

6,400

89.9

$1,510.00 837.26

Concentrates produced.
Bullion produced......

Mint value less express charges and
charges of treatment
Wages and supplies

The time was about 18 days of 24 hours, and although the value of the ore was only $3.81 per ton the net profit after deducting wages and supplies was $672.74, being $1.70 per ton or $36.86 per day. At the same averages a mill of forty stamps working 300 days in the year should produce $99,288 of gold and earn a profit of $44,232. But with the larger mill the cost of production might be very considerably reduced, while a higher average of bullion per ton might be obtained by proper selection of the ore raised from the mine. In this estimate however no allowance has been made for interest of capital invested, or for the wear and tear of machinery.

Statistics having another kind of value have been placed at the disposal of the Bureau by the managers of the Mikado the Mikado mine. They show the number of days of mill runs, the total quantity

Record of

Mine.

The total quantity of ore milled was 18,464 short tons, the weight of gold saved by amalgamation 9,009 ounces, and the value of bullion by mint returns $132,460 83. A cyanide plant for treating tailings was completed early in November of last year, and from that time until the end of March last the quantity treated was 2,099 short tons, which yielded 566 ounces of bullion, with a mint value of $5,072.37. Adding this product to the product obtained by amalgamation the total is 9,575 ounces, worth at the mint $137,533.20, being an average of $7.44 short ton or $8.34 per long ton of bullion per won from all the ore treated.

Two of the working mines in the county Mines in of Hastings are deserving of men

Hastings.

tion here for the skill and energy with which operations have been carried on. The Deloro mine, five miles east of the

village of Marmora, is one of the oldest gold mines in the Province. The record of the numerous attempts which have been made to treat its refractory arsenical ores is an interesting chapter in the history of metallurgy. After lying idle for a number of years the property was purchased about two years ago by a company known as the Canadian Goldfields, Limited. Since then development work has been carried on vigorously at the mine. The shaft on the main lead is nearly 300 feet deep, and three other veins have been opened up by crosscutting. The new mill is built upon a knoll 500 feet southwest from the shaft, and is thoroughly modern and efficient in its design. The ore is crushed in a ten stamp battery, and passes over five-stepped plates to two Frue vanners. The tailings from these are sized hydraulically and pass to another set of vanners where a second concentration is effected, after which the tailings are discarded. The concentrates are wheeled to the leaching house and treated in vats by the bromocyanide process under the patents of Messrs. Sulman and Teed. When the extraction is complete the residues are withdrawn and stored in order that the arsenic may be extracted at some future time. A well-equipped laboratory adjoins the mill, and careful control over all the operations is maintained. A building close to the mill contains a 20-drill Rand compressor, which supplies power underground for the drills and pumps.

Ten miles northwest from Marmora lies the Belmont mine, at present the property of the Cordova Exploration Co., Limited. During the last two years great changes have been made here, and the mine can rank with the best in Ontario. At the time of the purchase in 1897 a small shaft represented the development work, and now three shaft houses with their dumps of waste rock give an indication of the activity below. A ten-stamp mill crushes the ore, which is concentrated on Frue vanners, the tailings being created again on a large gyrating vanner. Every part is of the latest design and appears to work most efficiently. A 20-drill Rand compressor is being installed at a point convenient to the several shafts, and this promises a vigorous