Iron.The iron-mines of France are more numerous than its coalmines, but they do not yield a sufficient quantity of ore for the needs of the metallurgical industries of the country; as will be seen in the table below the production of iron in France gradually increased during the 19th century; on the other hand, a decline in prices operated against a correspondingly marked increase in its annual value.
It possesses large cotton mills, and quarries and coalmines are worked in the immediate neighbourhood.
There are coalmines, several ironworks - one is among the largest in Scotland - and, on the sandhills along the shore, the works of Nobel's Explosives Company, which cover an area of a mile, the separatehut principle being adopted to minimize the risks attendant upon so dangerous an occupation.
This district, which comprises the coalmines of Lisichansk and the anthracite mines of Gorodishche, occupies about 110,000 acres on the banks of the Donets river.
The coalmines of the country are capable of producing some 15 million tons of black coal and 24 millions of brown coal (lignite).
