CANADA
The mining of phosphate rock on the
North American continent started in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and
Ontario in 1828. (Blakey,A.F.
”The Florida Phosphate Industry’, Wertheim Committee, Harvard,
1973,pp.10-11,146)
Mining
began in 1863 when hard rock phosphate was found near the township of Burness, Lanark County, in the province of Ontario.
Extensive investments were made in lands in the township near the Rideau Canal,
and prices as high as 300 dollars were paid in some cases. Until 1880, when English
and American capitalists invested in the industry and brought in steam
industry, only hand labour was employed. Gradually mining systems shifted from
the early use of open trenches and quarries to the sinking of shafts. These
operations were difficult as the hard rock had to be drilled and blasted, with
steam the source of power. The phosphate was hand selected and yielded 70 to 85
% BPL. In 1885 about 29,000 tons were sold at 17 dollars per ton, but by 1892
the output fell to eight thousand at an average price of 15 dollars per ton.
The decrease in Canadian production was the result of competition from the
Florida mines which eventually caused their shutdown in 1893 (op.cit).
NORWEGIAN and CANADIAN
PHOSPHATES. - Under the name of apatite , we
import from Norway and Canada small quantities of phosphatic minerals, obtained
from veins in the primitive rocks. They are hard and crystalline, of vitreous
lustre, and of various shades of colour, white, yellowish white, and greenish
white. According to Voelcker the Norway apatite contains no flouride
of calcium, but the Canadian a great deal. Neither contain
any carbonate of lime, and only a little iron and alumina. Some parcels have
tested above 90 per cent phsophate of lime but on an
average they do not exceed 75 per cent. Norwegian c90 Canada 91
Canadian phosphate is a variety of
apatite, light green in colour with a glass like lustre, occurring in more or
less distinct crystalline masses, found in large quantities in Canada and
occurs in fissures of granitic rocks, generally associated with gneiss or
mica-shale. Usually it reaches this country in hard and heavy pieces, varying
in size, and
weighing from a quarter to three pounds and upwards. It was rather hard and
difficult to reduce to powder but, if care was taken to well ventilate the
mixing chamber to get rid of poisonous hydroflouric
acid gases, it was well adapted for the manufacture of concentrated
superphosphate. ”The expense of freight from Canada to England in a great
measure checks the development of the trade in Canadian phosphate, and in
consequence not many cargoes find their way into England in the course of the
year.” Voelcker,Dr.A. On
the Chemical Composition of Phosphatic Materials used for Agricultural Purposes,
Journ.Agric.Soc.1875,pp408-9
From apatites
alone it is difficult to make dry and powdery superphosphate; but, by mixture
with weaker phosphatic materials that contain more carbonate of lime, they work
very well indeed. Reid,W.C.Mineral Phosphates and
Superphosphate of Lime, Chemical News Aug.11th 1876 p56