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In the late 19th and early 20th century the production of specialist steels was revolutionised by the development of new hardening alloys, combinations of tungsten, nickel, chrome, molybdenum, et. al. However, the major steel producing countries had only limited resources for producing those metals. Great Britain was no exception and in times of conflict, with increased demand, it was hard-pressed to maintain supplies. British resources were pretty thin. Principally wolfram associated with tin deposits in Devon and Cornwall. The Castle an dinas Mine in Cornwall owed its development to the demand for tungsten during two world wars - see the recent book by Tony Brooke. Some chromite was produced in Shetland, on Unst. But Britain largely looked to the empire for supplies - a far flung, vunerable resource in times of conflict. I will shortly be visiting south-eastern parts of Australia and, having a mind to look at evidence for some of the sources tapped by Britain, would appreciate any leads the list can provide. I'm aware of the dominating role of Germany in the production of tungsten in the period up to the outbreak of the first world war, and the part Australia played as its major source of wolfram(ite) and scheelite - there is paper on the subject by Ruth Kerr which I have yet to see - and I have identified some papers in the National Australian Archives. Potentially of interest are documents in the NAA relating to nickel and chrome deposits in New Caledonia which came under threat from Japanese advances in the second world war. Details of any sites or documentary resources which might be accessed in a trip to Victoria and NSW would be appreciated. Peter ______________________________________________ Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE. Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599 University of Exeter - Department of History School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies E-mail: [log in to unmask] Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list. See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details. Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/ _____________________________________________