Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1896 — Some Rare Minerals. [ARTICLE]

Some Rare Minerals.

“Once in a while,” remarked a mining man last evening, “you hear of a man who claims to have found a mine of bismuth, and basing Ids calculations upon a price of say $2 a pound, he heralds his find and thinks he has a fortune within his grasp. The t fact Is, there is no bismuth produced iu this country and there are only about thirty tons imported. So if any one could put 100 tons on the market dt would bring the price down to 25 cents, at least. “Of cobalt not more than 200 tons are used annually in the world. “In regard to mica—l am speaking now of the uses it is put to In electrical appliances—the East Indian product is driving the Canadian product out of the market. Mica that is iu the least associated with iron is useless for this purpose. It is much the saine with some of the rarer minerals. Were tellurium found in large quantities its value woulil lessen, bnt, as pniy a few ounces are found each year, not enough towsupply the demand, why the value ia enhanced.” Three-fifths of the nickel produced in the world comes from Canada. The. production in other portions of the world is so small as to cut no figure iu the statistics of mineral productions.— Spokane Review.