MERCURY AND THE WAR.
Quicksilver has risen from £>" to £2O or more a flask (751b). According to the " Mining World," that is by far the highest price for mercury in modern times. The annual production is about 4200 metric tons. Tin United States and Austria-Hungary produces each about one-sixth of this amount, Italy a iittle more, and Spain nearly one-third. The war in Europe has shut off the Austrian supply, and mad© it difficult to transport the product of Italy and Spain. It has also caused a greatly increased demand for mercury, Which h now principally used in the uianufacturc of fulminate for explore caps. Merc i**y is also used extensively in drugs and medicaments, and in thermometers and instruments of precision. Formerly a cons'derabla amount of (juicksilv.?,- was consumed in silv-jring mirrois and in the amalgamation process of extracting gold and silver from their ores; but mirrors are now silvered with nittate of silver, and the cyanide process has virtually supplanted the amalgamation pa-ocess m metallurgy.
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Issue 11511, 6 October 1915, Page 1
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167MERCURY AND THE WAR. Star (Christchurch), Issue 11511, 6 October 1915, Page 1
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