Quebec Bureau of Mines, Mining Industry and Statistics of the Province of Quebec for the Year 1937 (1938)

The Quebec Bureau of Mines' annual review of the province's mines and quarries for 1937, the first issued under the title "Mining Industry and Statistics," about 140 pages with production tables, company reports, employment and accident figures and a list of mining companies. Asbestos had its best year yet: "Sales of asbestos in 1937 were the highest in the history of the industry, with a total of 410,024 tons valued at $14,505,541." The asbestos chapter reports on each asbestos mine in the province and on the world trade, and the employment chapter counts 3,694 men working in Quebec's asbestos mines that year.

What it shows

The report shows the scale of the Quebec asbestos industry, whose fiber far outsold U.S. production (which, the report notes, met less than 4 percent of U.S. consumption), just as it recovered from the Depression. The mine-by-mine section describes new shafts, shovels and mills at the properties of Asbestos Corporation Limited, Bell Asbestos Mines and others around Thetford Mines, and notes of Canadian Johns-Manville's operation that "In the mill, a series of dust-elimination tests were made, using a Cottrell machine." Beyond that, the report says nothing about dust and the miners' and millers' health: asbestosis and silicosis are not mentioned. Tables compare Quebec's output with that of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, the United States and other countries.

About this copy

The copy carries the Quebec government document number GM 66990 and a library stamp from Rouyn, Quebec.