Among the important Australian iron-ore deposits are the hematite ores of Coombing Park, near Carcoar, and of Cadia, near Millthorpe, both in New South Wales, estimated to contain reserves of 42 million tons of ore; the hematite deposits of the Murchison district, about 400 miles northeast of Perth, western Australia, where one single deposit--that of Wilgi Mia--has been estimated to contain more than 25 million tons; the Iron Monarch manganiferous iron-ore deposit, estimated to contain 20 million tons of ore, and the neighboring Iron Knob hematite deposit of one million tons, both about 40 miles from Port Augusta, at the head of Spencer Bay, South Australia; and the hematite deposits of Mt. Leviathan, estimated at 10 million tons, located about 250 miles from Normanton, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland. Numerous smaller and less important ore bodies are found in all the provinces. The Coombing Park ores have been used at the Eskbank Iron Works, 90,200 tons being produced in 1916. The ore averages about 55 per cent. iron. The Iron Monarch deposit is being developed by the Broken Hills Proprietary Co., and the ore is to be used in the furnaces at Newcastle. An important iron-ore deposit, estimated to contain 23 million tons of minable ore, is reported to occur on Blythe River, in the northwestern part of Tasmania, about 6¹⁄₂ miles from the coast. There have been rumors recently of a possible exploitation of this deposit. In New Zealand large deposits of limonite occur in the Nelson district, in the northern part of South Island. The principal group of deposits, known as Parapara, is estimated to contain about 64 million tons. Titaniferous magnetite sands, measurable in millions of tons, are reported to occur in the southwestern part of North Island near New Plymouth. POSITION OF LEADING COMMERCIAL NATIONS =General Statement.=--The world’s chief iron- and steel-producing countries are, in the order of their importance: United States, Germany, Great Britain, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Belgium. The annual pig-iron production of these countries ranged in 1913 from 2,300,000 tons in Belgium to 30,900,000 tons in the United States. The normal consumption of iron ore by these countries in the last years preceding the war and their recent maximum annual production are given below: TABLE 21.--MAXIMUM ANNUAL OUTPUT AND NORMAL CONSUMPTION OF IRON ORE BY CHIEF IRON- AND STEEL-MAKING COUNTRIES ---------------+-----------+-------------- |Consumption| Production Countries |(long tons)| (long tons) ---------------+-----------+-------------- United States | 62,000,000| 75,288,851 Germany | 40,600,000|[48]33,987,112 Great Britain | 19,000,000| 15,997,328 France | 12,300,000| 21,572,835 Russia | 8,900,000| 9,362,746 Belgium | 6,800,000| 164,734 Austria-Hungary| 5,200,000| 5,233,055 ---------------+-----------+--------------