Document wD9OObKMNa82jnd9mk1vvBVVd

PRODUCTION--IMPORTS--EXPORTS Canada--Producers' shipments of asbestos during February 1971 totaled 98,311 short tons (75,855 tons from Quebec plants and 22,456 tons from plants in Newfoundland, Ontario, British Columbia and the Yukon). The total for February 1970 was 98,209 tons. The cumulative total for Jamiary-Fcbruary 1971 reached 197,874 tons, compared to 182,398 tons during the same two months of 1970. [Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa] Canada--Production of vinyl-asbestos tile during the First Quar ter 1971 totaled 41,492,725 square feet (20,109 short tons), compared to 36,164,799 square feet (17,128 tons) for the same period in 1970. Imports of vinyl-asbestos floor and wall tiles reached 1,061,955 square feet, valued at $104,000, for the Year 1970, compared with 1,929,897 square feet, valued at $126,000, for the previous year. [Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa] IRAZU. TO INCREASE PRODUCTION Included in the objectives of the Goals and Bases Program of "Metas e Bases," Brazil, by 1973 the value of Brazilian mineral pro duction is to be doubled from a slated CR$2150 million (U.S. $480 million) in 1969 to CR$4300 million in 1973, and an increase in value of minerals exported is projected from U.S.$200 million in 1969 to U.S.$450 million in 1973. As part of the program, an investment of Cimi million will be made in a priority asbestos mining project Selfsufficiency and a 24,800 ton per year production rate have been pro jected by 1973. This information is taken from a report from the American Embassy at Rio de Janeiro to the U.S. Department of Stnte. The writer of the report included the following comment: "In 1969 some 23,000 tons of asbestos fiber were imported by Brazil to augment domestic output of this mineral in short supply. Brazil's principal pro ducer has stated that output of fiber will 'be above 12,000 tons in 1971. There is not much doubt that total Brazilian consumption of fiber by 1973 will be on the order of 40,000 tons annually. How the above estimated production rate for 1973 spells self-sufficiency is a good question." Next Issue ... Chapter XI: American Asbestos Company American Asbestos Textile Corporation Page 30 / ASBESTOS --June 1971