Some enterprising medieval merchants even sold asbestos crosses, citing their resistance to fire as evidence that they were made from wood from 'the true cross'. Until the 19th Century, asbestos remained little more than a curiosity. This changed, however, with the advent of the Industrial Age in the 1800's when industry realised its potential uses. Before long, asbestos supported a flourishing global industry. In the early 1900's, doctors in Europe knew that asbestos workers were dying from respiratory ailments.
Asbestos is a term applied to some mineral silicates present in a fibre form.
Other forms of asbestos include anthophyllite, used mainly in Finland, and tremolite, present in some commercial talcs. It is the only natural mineral that can be spun and woven like cotton or wool into useful fibres and fabrics. Large deposits of asbestos have been discovered in the Ural Mountains in the Soviet, in the Alps of northern Italy, Canada, USA, South Africa and Rhodesia. In Australia, large deposits of crocidolite were found in the north of Western Australia and Wittenoom Gorge in the Hammersley Ranges, and some deposits of white asbestos have been mined in Northern New South Wales. Asbestos is no longer mined in Australia.