THE WORLD'S IRON ORE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2109, 28 March 1914, Page 7

THE WORLD'S IRON ORE.

200 YEARS' SUPPLY.

In 1912 the world's output of iron ore. was about 152. million tons, tho principal producers being the United States,' Germany, i'rance, the United Kingdom! anci bpain iii the order given; trheso live countries produce about six-sevenths of the worlds output. Since 1896 the outP. ut has outstripped that of' United Kingdom, and since 1902, with the exception of t'ho years 1904 1908, and Wiethe outpuoof the United cl t S • considerably exceeded that of the United .Kingdom and Germany combined, Tijo maximum output in.this country "was reached in 1882, when it amounted to over 18 million .tons; The average output in the years 1908-12 was about 15 million tons, per annum.- 5 • It is interesting to noto that Canada, Australia, Newfoundland, and India arc all producing iron; Newfoundland's output is over a million tons .and that of. India in 1912 was '580,000. . Spain exports nearly tho whole of her' iron- Belgium imports almost the whole of the iron oro she requires. The United. Kingdom, France, Germany, and tlio United States are all' importing • countries,. though in 'different degrees. Our exports are trifling, and we derive about three-tenths of the ore we utilise'from abroad. The United .States is nearly independent of foreign supplies. The total quantity of pig-iron pro duced in the world in 1912 was abouo 72 million tons, the United States, Germany, and tho United Kingdom, in the order named,. accounting for sevenninths of tho total. '

Steel was produced in 1912 to the extent of about 72 million tons, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom being responsible for over 55 million tons. The folowing interesting estimates'of tho principal-ore resources of the world are given:— Million tons. United States 4,258 . Germany .. 3878 United Kingdom . 1300 France 3300 Spain 711 The total for the world was estimated In 1910 at 22,403 million tons of ore, representing 10,192 million tons of iron. This would supply the world for considerably less than two centuries.