CAB129-36 — Page 44

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Page 44

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TABLE VIII::::.

Page 4PRODUCTION OF BARYTES IN GREAT BRITAIN662

(tons)

1938

66,404

1939

84,930

1940

111,370

1941

.

91,828

1942

-85,914

1943

89,274

1944

87,997

1945

1946

1947.

82,449. janm ER 96,54941. 80,019 m

aliiqı

79. The relative importance of the various producing districts in England and Wales in the past may be judged from the table below which is based largely on statistics compiled by the Geological Survey.

?

TABLE IX

BARYTES—RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCING DISTRICTS IN

ENGLAND AND WALES (1850-1946) inonim odr winas widow wh: i voley

Estimated on al mi

eros Kevdtuli kupat si se

total bebiso).

ar District to nohtubong insrozi Jocromod Production ind Appleton & Agballe eshte inorem wet

(tons) batentes at sidawh50 ni bureveuen ai, toubour Weage Anoise to

Shropshire and Montgomery

Northern Pennines

q

650,000 650,00000000

550,000

examub.

bist dry

Durham (including the Coalfield), Westmor-

land, East Cumberland, North Yorkshire Jo..zumini. q0% OT Devonshire wa k 1.and hear 300,000 W na

...

*250,000 gigoloso)

100,000 Negligible

Derbyshire

Lake District

Other Districts

...

Al sesd ear

1,850,000

Hin 0% The

80. To complete the statistical position for the U.K., the total production from Scottish sources from 1850 onwards, estimated at 400,000 tons, should be added to the above, making a grand total of about 2,250,000 tons. 1947 rate of production in Scotland was about 18,500 tons (page 59).

21841 would be no immor, wh act taieren

ing wit m tra

Resources

81. At present the bulk of production in England and Wales comes from two districts, the Northern Pennines (including the Durham Coalfield) and Devonshire. Derbyshire production is also important as regards tonnages, but much of the barytes produced is discoloured and hence has a restricted use. Shropshire and Montgomeryshire, formerly large producers, appear to be approaching exhaustion and present evidence does not suggest that substantial new sources are likely to be proved. Devonshire production comes from a group of veins near Christow, the southern extensions of which were previously worked for lead, and it now seems likely that the present rate of production from this district can be maintained for many years. From the long-term point of view, the barytes industry in England and Wales, will be dependent mainly upon the remaining Devonshire resources and upon new resources found and which can be c Pennines and the Durham Coalfield. It is true that new deposits may be discoveregant 5ther districts; for instance in Derbyshire 4 the Lake District, or elsewhere, but as stated later, the prospects are uncertain. we

20

remadeveloped in the Northern

no Page 46SHROPSHIRE AND MONTGOMERYSHIRE Page 46 of 662

noth 82. At present Huglith mine and certain small mines in the same area near Sallies are producing small quantities of barytes. Proved reserves are negligible from the long-term point of view and there is no evidence to suggest that any significant tonnage of ore which can be classified either as“ probable "nor possible" is known. Geological evidence suggests that one or two abandoned mines in this area might contain further ore bodies, but to confirm this would need heavy expenditure on re-opening mines and on exploration, the prospects of which must be classed as highly speculative.

NORTHERN PENNINES

83. (a) Closehouse. Reserves are reported to be 80,000 tons of which 50,000 tons are proved. The mine has considerable unexplored possibilities and so far working has only extended to 100 ft in depth. 1squeno) rat (b) Cowgreen. Proved reserves in this mine together with the adjoining Dubby Sike amount to about 150,000 tons (40 per cent. BaSO,) with an equal quantity of probable reserves. Other veins in the vicinity are at

can be

present being explored and 4 with confidence that at least

AU

another 100,000 tons of barytes, the grade of which has not yet been ascertained, can be classed as probable. There is evidence to s suggest that prospects generally on a number of veins in this vicinity are favourable and that cases at least in some further exploration would be likely to give promising results.

(c) Silverband. Probable reserves amount to about 150,000 tons of which of this tonnage being increased are favourable and exploration is in hand, but there are difficulties to be overcome in mining and in securing a satisfactory recovery of high- grade barytes from the ore bodies, which are of the replacement type with a content of barium sulphate not in excess of 50 per cent.

roughly half can be regarded as proved. Prospects but

2

SPY

(d) Hartside. This mine is still in the exploration stage, and although an important tonnage of barytes has been proved, its long-term importance cannot yet be said to be established.

Rostov Ident

(e) Longfell. Probable reserves amount to about 100,000 tons of which a quarter is proved. Future prospects are uncertain, and although new ore- shoots are liable to be pockety, a considerable area favourably situated on geological grounds still remains to be explored.miline su in wan

(f) New Brancepeth Colliery. Probable reserves amount to 300,000 tons of which over 100,000 tons are proved. A large part of this tonnage will average 90 per cent. grade. prospects that development of the present ore-shoots both laterally and in depth would reveal a much larger tonnage, possibly at least equal to that already proved and probable. Other ore-shoots of barytes have been found in the same vein in the ground opened up and worked by an adjacent colliery. These deposits are now inaccessible but they could be approached through the New Brancepeth Colliery workings where barytes is being worked as a subsidiary undertaking to that of coal-mining, with only the higher grade barytes being extracted. This is clearly uneconomical and wasteful, and if the fullest advantage is to be taken of this large deposit (which has probably as great a potential importance as any barytes occurrence in the U.K.), steps should be taken to ensure that the development of the barytes is undertaken as a separate project from coal-mining as soon as possible.

In addition there are good Will

DEVONSHIRE -

..

84. Bridford Mine. We have been informed that recent estimates made after a a re-examination of the property on behalf of the Management how

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W

22

**

in the mine possible ore reserves are of the order of one million tons

:

in the mine and in adjacent land where the existence of other vems has been deduced from mining records and geological evidence. Present rate of pro- duction is about 12,500 tons per annum, but an output of over 23,000 tons was attained in 1940. The Management are now (1949) planning to raise the output to a figure between 25,000 and 40,000 tons per annum in two year's time. It is reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the mine should be able to operate at the planned rate of output for many years. Diamond drilling is now in hand to strengthen knowledge of reserves.

DERBYSHIRE

85. Some of the old lead mine dumps in Middleton Dale are extensive and contain upwards of a million tons of material with a BaSO content averaging 35-40 per cent. The material which is obtained by the treat- ment of these dumps, however, is "off-colour and has restricted indus- trial use. From the point of view of the main uses of barytes, therefore, these dumps are of limited importance although there is no doubt that they contain sufficient mineral to enable them to continue to be worked on the present scale, perhaps for 20 years. So far as is known, reserves of barytes in mines in Derbyshire are small and while there is evidence suggesting that new deposits may well be discovered, the prospects must be regarded as

uncertain.

J

:

LAKE DISTRICT MA

86. Potts Ghyll Mine. So far as is known, proved and probable reserves do not amount to much more than would support one or two year's operation on the present scale of output. Future prospects generally in this mine must be regarded as uncertain from the long-term, point of view, until a great deal more exploration has been undertaken, both laterally and in depth.

Future Prospects

87. It would be reasonable to assume that the known life of many of the present producing mines will be further extended in the ordinary course of development beyond that indicated by existing reserves. Furthermore a number of the smaller mines now in the early stages of development will no doubt prove in course of time to contain more extensive deposits than could be inferred from available evidence.

4

88. There is a strong probability, therefore, that given the right incentives and providing the present level of profitability is at least maintained, the industry, by its own efforts, will show in the course of time that resources exist which will considerably extend the period of its life, though there can be no certainty about this.

89. If an attempt is made to carry this conclusion further the history of the industry, supported by existing geological evidence, suggests that new occurrences of barytes are likely to be discovered within existing producing areas. It must be emphasised, however, that from the nature of the mineral occurrences and their irregularity, it by no means follows that such new discoveries would enable the present production level of the industry to be kept up when the resources now known become exhausted.

90. The intensive search which has been carried out in recent years for new pecurrencesf of barytes has in many cases beep undertaken by companies with adequate financial resources to carry the risks involved and who have

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#

had every intention of developing any new source discovered. This suggests

Fage that the field in which new discoveries might be made is becoming much more restricted and that any future exploratory schemes, if they are to have any chance of success, will demand substantial expenditure and will have to be planned on a thoroughly scientific basis. It must be added that they will also carry a correspondingly greater risk of failure than in the past. m od biode ignord quis set ng vai gacho // shert W. 20.00 Torby by bobymanie vhsdorg, ed et saa vald winds to Petugasn 91. From the foregoing it would be reasonable to assume that the industry can continue as at present, so far as resources are concerned, up to twenty years with a fair probability of a decade or so thereafter. A condition attaching to the last part of this statement would be that it will be necessary in the future to initiate new exploratory schemes with the object of replacing resources which are rapidly becoming exhausted.

2

*

92. We have considered the possibility that, as in the case of fluorspar, reserves of barytes might be more economically exploited for the benefit of the industry and of the Nation if central treatment plants could be established at suitable places in the different districts where barytes is mined. Generally speaking, however, the situation of the individual mines does not as yet suggest that any advantages would be obtained by the

KALIY man ashir and vol adoption of this proposition.

munnsei esl

"

Summaryba, tetanos odi jooler tucho art her griba

93. From an examination of the figures given above of proved and probable reserves, and taking into account those cases, e.g., New Brancepeth and Bridford, where an estimate of possible reserves can be made with some confidence, it appears:

(i) that resources of crude barytes in excess of 2,000,000 tons in England and Wales are reasonably assured in mines now operating,

་

(ii) that this tonnage, making an allowance for mining and concentra- tion losses is likely to be able to support an output equivalent in quality and quantity to that now being obtained for a period of up to about twenty years. AT CECA MONT

CHINA CLAY

94. China clay deposits of economic importance in the United Kingdom occur only in the granite masses of parts of Cornwall and Devon, the most important areas being those of St. Austell, Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor. China clay is also found near Land's End in the Carn Marth and St. Germoe granites but has not been worked for some years in those places.

1

95. The clay has been formed by the alteration (kaolinisation) of parts of the granite by solutions emanating from depths in the earth's crust, and thus it is probable that the china clay will persist to greater depths than have hitherto been reached in the deepest pits.

China Clay Industry

►

96. China clay has been worked, so far as is known, since 1755. The industry was built up largely by the growth of private and family concerns each operating a single pit. The rapid increase in the number of pits, especially in the St. Austell area during the last century, and particularly the growing importance of exports of china clay and of foreign competition, brought about the need for some of these separate concerns to amalgamate.

23

23

&

In 1932 this culminated in the formation of English Clays Lovering Pochin & Co. Hage 49 ofdertaking which now controls 75Page 49to566utput, and 20 out of a total of 29 operating firms in the industry. There are in existence about 117 china clay pit units and mica works of which E.C.L.P. owns 82. The formation of this Company has also resulted in the integra- tion of production into a fewer number of pits, a policy which the Board of Trade Working Party on china clay thought should be continued if the resources of china clay are to be properly safeguarded and their effective and economic development facilitated in the future. The total number of firms at present operating china clay pits is 25, and apart from E.C.L.P., 19 own a single unit and four own 2 to 4 units each.s diw zissy vidows of

Jonusia. Pls 30 drug 188 wd of amigoutte antibro 97. The most significant feature of the export trade at the present time is that a large proportion of it goes to the U.S.A. and Canada and earns dollars.

winigan va taer by grof od kain sarvud to sv15207

*

Production amig

98. The annual output attained in the 18th and 19th centuries, while increasing, did not much exceed the half million ton mark. In the present century, with its rapid world expansion in the paper and pottery industries. the output of china clay has risen from 552,000 tons in 1900 to maxima of 860,000 tons in 1921, 869,000 tons in 1927 and 831,000 tons in 1937. The interim periods of falling and rising output reflect the general trade cycles these peak years representing the incidence of highest export demands.

⠀

99. But for the war years 1918 and 1940-45 inclusive and the year 1946, exports have never been less than a quarter of a million tons and hin normal times have been between 400,000 and 650,000 tons or roughly 60-80 per cent. of the total output. bure to worcest red:

sed 100. The following table gives the “highs

highs and lows" of the trade:

je Mavinpo semper. Be noun

we zogun ni ekig ad ni yload at esexul vod

aolam „genood zidi asa? (U?

TABLE X

A Vilaup bae yusup si

PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN CHINA CLAY qui lo

(tons)

United

Year Output

Kingdom

Deliveriest NO BATMA

Exports

Per cent.

1912

860,649.

199,388

661,261

77.

1918

419,305

186,730

232,575

55

1920

777,511

281,709

495,802

1921

435,844

189,162

246,682

64 57

1927

896,232

213,3962.

655,836

75

1932

508,850

160,207

348,6430.

368 b

1937

830,946

Cajun 296,358 mi

534,588

64:

1942

175,000

75,745

...

99,255

57

1943

185,000

►

118,480

66,520

36

1944

220,000

158,073

61,927

28

1945

280,600 4

:164,646

d #115,954

Art 141 99

· 1946

502,137

291,241

210,896

42

1947

503,930.

254,930

249,000

49