of as a magnesite rock high in lime, occurs in large quantities close to many points of consumption. It is cheaper but less satisfactory than magnesite, and is not likely to be used on any large scale.
While the United States has undoubtedly sufficient reserves of magnesite to supply the domestic demands for many years, the mines are far from the centers of consumption and it is expensive to transport the material. Since the war, magnesite shipped from Canada and overseas has again replaced the American product in the eastern market to some extent. The Canadian magnesite is of lower grade than the domestic and European magnesite and is consequently less desirable. Deposits in Venezuela are also expected to furnish some material for the eastern furnaces, in competition with those of Austria and Greece. Austrian magnesite, however, will be likely to dominate the market in the future if delivered at anything like pre-war prices. This situation has led to agitation for a protective tariff on magnesite.
Geologic Features
Magnesite, as noted above, is the name of a mineral, the composition of which is magnesium carbonate. The principal magnesite deposits are of two types, of different modes of origin and of somewhat different physical characteristics.
The large magnesite deposits of Austria and of Washington, as well as those of Quebec, occur as lenses in beds of dolomite (calcium-magnesium carbonate). They are in fairly close proximity to igneous rocks, and magnesia-bearing solutions issuing from these rocks are believed to have dissolved out the calcium carbonate of the dolomite and replaced it with magnesium carbonate. In these deposits the material is coarsely crystalline and forms fairly large, continuous bodies, which are worked by quarrying. The