The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-06-05
THE STATES
PHOSPHATE.
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE CONDI.
TiON OF THE INDUSTRY.
Ahe brotherhood Company Ceases to
M'he-How tho Algerian Product
Has Driven Down the Price.

The following concerning tho States
phosphate industry is from the pen of
State Phosphate Inspector Jones':
He says that although the Brother
hood company-tho Carolina Mining
Company-has closed, leaving ONLY
three large companies now at work, he
expects that the. amount of the bond
guarantee money will be raised by the
royalty. Last year the mines turned
out l47,OcO tons, against 249,3 tons
the year which terminated with the
great hurricane. He sees no reason
now, he says, why the present compa-
MES ut work cannot run the total to
$50, 900 tons by the close OF the pres.
ent phosphate year.
The companies now at work in the
territory are the Coosaw, the Beaufort
and the Farmers Mining companies.
Tho Brotherhood has suspended for
good, and has advertised its machinery
for sale. There has been no improve
ment atall in the price of tho rock re-
Gently, the prices remaining very low.
The price obtainad for the rock shipped
abroad is about 1925 ton. Very
little rock is now being shipped. The
South Carolina rock, while it does not
analyz" as high rs some of the Florida
products, is preferred by foreign bny-
ers, owing to its uniformity. It's per-
centage of available material never
varies, while the Florida stuff varies very
greatly. Mr.. Jones does NOT think that
Florida miners can successfully compete
with tho South Carolina miners at
present prices, because of the fact that
the Floridians have to pay rail freights
to get their product to port, whereas,
our miners ore right at the ports. The
only thing that the South Carolina in
dustry has to fear is combination be-
tween the Tennessee miners with some
railroad line which would result in
putting the Tennessee product on the
docks ready for shipment as cheap as
our product. thirds of the mines
in Florida have already ceased work
owing to the heavy full in prices.
The Tennessee production has had
tendency to lower the prices of the
rock, but otherwise it has not yet hurt
the South Carolina mines. The South
Carolina mines during tho month of
April reported l. ,5S5 tons mined and
l1,546 tons shipped.
An English authority says that this
has been one of the worst years known
for tho phosphate industry. This au-
thority says: 1.-The prices of sd per
unit for Carolina river phosphate and
cd per unit for Florida high grade
rock, which had to be accepted to eff
feet sales, are record prices never
known before, and it seems evident
that they do not cover the cost
OF the phosphate. A large num-
Der of miners, therefore, preferred
to stop work rather than con-
tinue mt n loss, and consequently pri-
ccs have improved from l d to Il
per unit. The primary cause of this
unprecedented fall in prices has no
doubt been shrinkagc in the con-
sumption of phosphate mnnures, il
consequence of the distressed state of
agriculture i'll Europe as well as in
America. But other causes have n;so
contributed TO the depression of prices,
namely, increased shipments of phos-
phatc from Algeria and the reckless
speculation in Florida high grade phos-
phatc.'
The shipment of phosphate rock
from Algeria has grown ut an enormous
rate, and that seems to be the real
trouble. Extra charges, it is under
stood, are to be put on for mining in
Algeria, which will likely restore the
price. The mines in this country are
now producing over 200, 600 tons an.
nually. Algeria has shipped this year
100000 tons, as against 6,l5O tons
in 1893.