The Undeveloped Mineral Resources of Canada

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,--It is a great pleasure for me to be able to accept the invitation extended to me by your Secretary, to speak to you for a few minutes this afternoon, more especially as Toronto has become such a very important centre for mining. But it seems to me that your Secretary was endeavouring to "carry coals to Newcastle " in inviting me to speak, when you have so many eminent gentlemen here in Toronto who are able to speak on this subject quite as well as, or better than I. When we consider the mineral output of the Dominion at the present time, and that which it had some few years ago, we cannot but be struck by the remarkable increase which has been made in this source of income to the country. In 1886 the total value of the mineral output of the Dominion was $10,221,000; in 1905, which was the last year for which we have really accurate reports, it was $68,574,000. Last year, 1906, it certainly exceeded $70,000,000, so that in the last twenty years we have an increase sevenfold in the mineral output of the Dominion.

Now, I think that as a general rule Canadians hardly recognize how very important the mineral output of the Dominion is, as compared with the agricultural output: We regard ourselves as an agricultural country; the exports of cattle, grain, etc., figure very largely; but when we come to consider what the total value of the mineral output is, as compared with the export of agricultural produce, we find that it is very large indeed. As a matter of fact, at the present our mineral output amounts to about two-thirds of the total agricultural exports of Canada, including in agricultural exports, the value of the cattle exported. While this very large growth has taken place within the last twenty years, the question sometimes arises, "Shall we continue to have this increased growth, or are we exhausting our mineral deposits? Shall we continue to find mineral deposits in the future, on the same great scale as we have in the past few years, and shall we be able to develop them as we have of late years, so that the next twenty years may show corresponding growth?

In endeavouring to predict what mineral deposits we have, it becomes more or less speculative, and when a person undertakes to address an audience on the subject of the undeveloped mineral resources of the Dominion, they are apt to think he is drawing the long bow. But we have in such case to fall back on that very interesting science Geology, and we find that Geology teaches us very many wonderful things, and enables us to make certain definite predictions, and to assure ourselves that in the future the growth of the mineral industry, if not as rapid as it has been in the past few years, at any rate will continue. I would like, therefore, in my few remarks, to take some half dozen of the principal minerals, and inquire where they are to be found, as indicated by the geology of the Dominion as it has been mapped out for us by the Geological Survey of the Dominion, and by the various Provincial Bureaus, and whether the geological structure of Canada warrants us in concluding that we have great undeveloped resources; in fact, in some cases perhaps great unknown resources.

Now, the principal item in the mineral output which we have is coal. The value of the coal in 1905 was nearly $18,000,000, and represents one-quarter of the output. Gold about $14,500,000. Nickel and copper about equal to each other, $7,500,000. Silver $3,600,000. Before silver we might put in iron, or iron ore, giving rise to pig-iron valued at over $6,000,000, which, however, was largely smelted from imported ore. There are various other mineral products which have not the same value, but which have a value which will increase more and more; among these Portland cement, which is needed in the manufacture of reinforced concrete, which is coming to be the great building material of the Dominion. And we have a variety of other things; but we might inquire with regard to what we have in the way of undeveloped resources. I have here a geological map which takes in the Dominion, the United States, and also Mexico. It serves, in the first place, to show that the Dominion is a much bigger place than the United States, not to say more important.

If we take the coal fields of the Dominion we find that coal occurs in two formations or in two systems. In the first place it occurs in the carboniferous system, the great coalbearing system of the Paleozoic. It takes in a great part of New Brunswick and certain spots or areas in Nova Scotia; and another great coal-bearing system which we call the cretaceous and the tertiary in the mountain valleys of British Columbia. These are the two great coal-bearing formations of the Dominion. We have certain areas in Nova Scotia-the coal fields of Sydney, at the extreme end of Cape Breton, are being worked very extensively at the present time, and they have been estimated to contain about 1,000,000,000 tons of coal, according to the most recent estimate given. That estimate probably is not over-stated, so that when we consider that they are mining coal at the rate of 3,000,000 or 4,000,0000 tons a year, the coal which we have will last us for a very long time, until times longer than those in which we have any interest.

If we come to other parts of Nova Scotia, we have to remember that the Sydney coal field is by no means the greatest coal field or the only coal field. We have the Pictou coal field, the thickest in the world; also the Cumberland coal field. While this has 1,000,000,000 tons, these other ones have much more; therefore, although the fields are now being developed, we can count on undeveloped mineral resources here; enormous areas of coal large enough to supply the world for very many decades. Mention is never made of the New Brunswick coal except in the reports of the Geological Survey, because although we have in New Brunswick coal areas, very extensive, the coal bed is very thin; but nevertheless it has been estimated that we have there in New Brunswick about 150,000,000 tons of coal in a comparatively thin seam very near the surface, and which could be worked if it were not that in the adjacent Province of Nova Scotia the beds are thicker and mined with greater ease. Nevertheless, in New Brunswick we have undeveloped coal fields which will come to be of great importance.

Unfortunately, from this point directly across the country until we come to Winnipeg, we have no coal. There is a coal material in the Sudbury District, but it is not workable, and then in the Missanabie region there are interpolated bands of good quality of peat; that, however, we hardly can count as coal. The fact remains that there is no coal in Canada, using the term Canada as it was originally used as applying to the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. From time to time we have reports of coal, but the coal is never of a quality which can be burned, consisting of minerals such as tourmaline and iron ore. In one case I found a very good tourmaline mine, and the man would not believe that it was not coal. He blasted at it for an hour, and tried it in the forge, but it would not burn. He said it was undoubtedly coal, but they could not use it at present. It was too hard. One great coal deposit is at Bowmanville, Quebec. In the time of Sir William Logan they found the coal and a gentleman in Montreal who was interested in this venture, came to Sir William Logan and said, "You say there is no coal in Canada?" "Yes." "What would you say if I were to take you to Bowmanville and show you that the people were getting coal out of a boring?." Sir William said, "If you had been there a little earlier you would have seen them putting it down." And that proved to be the case, for they brought up an old bread crust which had also tumbled down the boring.

There are great coal fields in our new provinces in the great West and in British Columbia. We have enormous supplies of coal there. The people are living on top of coal, although they are freezing to death. That is a matter of transportation. They are not freezing to death because there is no coal, If we take strips of country we find vast deposits of coal. The Lethbridge Mines expose coal for an area 6o miles long, and a mile wide. There is in one seam something like 330,000,000 tons of coal. When we come to the Crows' Nest Pass field it has been estimated by Mr. McEvoy, who worked up that area for the Geological Survey, that there are 22,595,000,000 tons of coal. So that you see we have a great undeveloped mineral area which is being developed, but in which the development, as compared with the resources, is so small that we may consider it as undeveloped. And all through this district they are discovering new coal areas. Mr. Dowling, of the Geological Survey, has just, in the past year, discovered a new coal area on the flank of the Big Horn range, where he has forty principal coal seams with a thickness of from eight to fifteen feet, for the most part very good. Every time that we cut across British Columbia we find additional supplies of coal. So this whole Western country is full of coal, and we have great mineral resources in our Western Provinces.

If we pass from coal to the next mineral, gold, we find gold in every province in the Dominion. In some cases the mines have not proved very profitable, but we have in Nova Scotia a field which has had an output of about $1,000,000 a year, for a great many years. In Quebec, on the Chaudiere River, they have one which produces good and coarse gold. It is a field which will probably be developed, although the gold is irregularly distributed. Gold is found in Hastings and Lake of the Woods district, and then in Saskatchewan and British Columbia and along this latter range until we get to the great Klondike fields, which are producing gold, although not now attracting so much attention because the coarse gold has, for the most part been taken out, and it requires to be now worked with capital and by large companies. Are the gold fields going to be further opened up? When we consider the enormous number of gold camps located in this Pacific district as the country became thoroughly opened up; and when we remember how very inaccessible the interior of British Columbia is at the present time; there is every reason to expect that we shall find other great deposits of gold in that locality. In the White Norse district (Yukon), recently, Mr. Cairns has found heavy leads containing gold, heavy prominent leads which indicate that in that region we shall have another great gold field. And the islands up along the North shore-some conditions there enable me to look forward to finding gold in them. In gold, our resources are by no means known. We have great undiscovered gold fields yet awaiting the careful and thorough prospector.

If we come to the subject of nickel we have, as your Provincial Mineralogist can tell you, great deposits in the Huronian belt. When Sir William Logan was making the original survey he called this the Laurentian formation, and when he continued his explorations he found this great formation which he called the Huronian, because it belted the North shore of Lake Huron, and when that formation is traced to the north we see it running to the interior of the great north country. Wherever those are found they show indications of mineral; I therefore look forward to the discovery of great deposits of various minerals in these belts as this north country comes to be more thoroughly opened up and more accessible. In Sudbury we have great nickel deposits. They were unknown until the Canadian Pacific Railway went across. When the C. P. R. opened up a strip through that wild country and made it easily accessible--they at once discovered nickel at the Copper Cliff and Murray mines, and when the new railway ran up-to the northwest side of Lake Temiskaming, then Cobalt was discovered on the very roadbed, and wherever we find in that way that these Huronian belts are cut across by railways, so that people can get at and study the belts, there we find that something is always discovered in the way of valuable minerals, and the Geological Survey has rendered great service to the country by tracing out the areas of these belts. They have always endeavoured in advance of settlement to keep these Huronian areas mapped, in order that, as they become accessible, maps could be supplied to prospectors going in, showing them the topography of the country and where they might most profitably ply their trade. We find, then, that we have in these great Huronian areas undoubtedly additional deposits of nickel and copper similar to Sudbury, and as we get to the north there will be, in all likelihood, a whole crop of Cobalts as time goes on.

If we come to the next, copper, we find that up to the present time British Columbia has been the principal copper producing country. In the same way recent explorations in British Columbia have shown similar formations, and there is no reason whatever to suppose that we have discovered all the copper deposits. Also in the Huronian, as shown in the old Bruce mines, copper is being continually found in these belts, associated with nickel, and by itself. In the case of copper, we have good reason to suppose that we will have decided developments in the copper mining industry. The one curious thing with regard to copper is that the first river which runs into the Mackenzie River, is known as the Coppermine River. When the Hudson's Bay Co. opened up that destrict they found that the Indians had copper implements, although they had no knowledge of the smelting of copper. The Indians told them that the copper was found at the mouth of the Copper-mine River. One of the officers investigated and found large masses of pure copper scattered about on the surface of the; country. This section has the same formation as the Michigan Peninsula, where there are great deposits of copper. There is much copper in the Arctic section, and we have also great coal fields there, but they will probably not be available for some time.

With regard to silver, I can only say a few words, but we know that up to the present time British Columbia has been the great silver province, and silver mining there is still going on as vigorously as ever. We do not hear so much about the British Columbia mining stocks, but the mines are probably much more stable, and are actually producing more than ever before. One of the products of the lead mines is silver. All the galena in British Columbia, like that in California, runs high in silver. This is a peculiarity of these galenas in the West, quite different from the galenas in the Mississippi Valley. As exploration goes forward in the great limestone belts, additional silver mines will be discovered together with lead, precisely as we have in the South; and then, of course, the silver output is greatly increased now by the enormous amounts which are being exported from Cobalt, and with the development of the Cobalt field is undoubtedly the chief source of silver in the Dominion. We have it again in the Huronian belt, although silver has been a new development in the Huronian within the last few years.

If we pass on to iron, which, after all, is one of the chief sources of prosperity in any country in which it occurs, it must be confessed that with regard to iron our expectations have not been realized as fully as we could hope. In the South there is the great iron rang-e of Lake Superior, the greatest deposits in the world. There are six million tons in sight there, now. We have exactly these same areas to the north; areas of rocks of the same age, and we hope, by thorough and careful prospecting, to find great bodies of iron ore. By an exploration of these Huronian belts in which the United States iron ore occurs, we may expect to find additional supplies. I may say that Mr. Low, Director of the Geological Survey, found enormous deposits of iron ore a couple of hundred miles in from the Labrador Coast, which makes it somewhat inaccessible. All through to the north we note occurrences, but as to how great they are, is a matter which requires further exploration to decide, but we have hopes that we will find in the north and elsewhere in the more inaccessible portions of the country which will become more accessible, great discoveries of iron. With regard to Portland Cement, we have over great areas of the country excellent material for making Portland Cement and similar materials. We are very well supplied with building materials, and in the West, especially, they are starting great cement factories, because there is a lack of really first-class stone over large portions of the country. But this concrete and brick can be made almost everywhere in the West, and that will be a growing trade for which we have ample undeveloped resources.

Let us pass to the very last that we ought to consider, namely, such things as diamonds. We have heard about diamonds in Ontario. I think there are diamonds in Ontario. Without any doubt, Professor Coleman will be able to discover them whenever he puts his mind to it. And the evidence we have is that down in Michigan and Indiana and elsewhere in that portion of the United States we have great masses of surface stuff called "drift," and the older geologists call this drift because it did not originate from the decay of the underlying rock, but in the Glacial Period was carried down from the North. The greater portion of it has been drifted from Canada to the places where it is. The Americans have stolen their soil from us. As a matter of fact all this soil came from Canada and really belongs to it. I do not know whether we could make good our claim to it! However, in this drift soil they found diamonds in quite a number of places. These diamonds have evidently come from places whence the soil came. The soil was drifted over by the great ice sheet which covered Canada in the time just preceding the age of man. This drift is enormous in extent, very thick, and by chance washings they have found already a number of diamonds, which shows that there must be a considerable amount of value in the way of diamonds scattered through this dirt from the north.

In order to see where the diamonds came from, Kuntz, the mineral expert, from Tiffany's, was sent to investigate these diamond occurrences in Indiana and Michigan. He found that the rocks which were intimately associated with the diamonds were like jasper, often banded with a little iron ore, and a variety of other rocks, which I need not mention, but which are recognized as being associated with the iron ore. We have that kind of thing on Lake Temagami, and in a number of iron ranges which lie in the Huronian Belt to the north, so that there is, to my mind, no reasonable doubt but that these diamonds came from the Huronian belts in the north, and that the same Huronian belts, which are so full of minerals, which contain nickel and silver and copper and iron, also somewhere or other contain rock which holds these diamonds; so that it would be a great thing if one could only find two or three diamond fields up here in the nature of the Transvaal field. That would add materially to the benefits which we have derived from the discovery of Cobalt and other similar areas. In all the other intervening minerals between gold and diamonds, we have hopes and, perhaps, in the few words that I have said, we may conclude that we have not got to the bottom of our mineral resources; that we have great mineral resources which yet await the search of the prospector.