Page 523 - us_mineralresources1885

PYRITES. : 507

increased its output, aud the Orford Copper and Sulphur Company's
mine has yielded about its usual yearly quantity. The output of these
two mines in 1885 was about 35,000 tons. This ore was first burned for
making sulphuric acid, aud the cinder smelted into copper matte, the
greater part of which was shipped to England for refining. These ores
carry about an ounce of silver for each per cent, of copper which is ex-
tracted from the matte. Both of these mines are in a flourishing condi-
tion and are in the midst of large ore bodies. Their capacity to produce
merchantable ore is only limited by the number of men they employ.
Messrs. G. H. Nichols & Co. have built an elevated tramway from their
mine to the station at Capelton. This will give them a carry-ing capac-
ity of nearly 400 tons daily, at a minimum cost. The Orford company
runs its ore in the same cars in which it is raised from the mine, through
an adit of about 1,000 feet in length, thence to the cobbing shed and
Passumpsic liiver railway at Eustis, half a mile below Capelton. These
ores, while carrying workable quantities of copper, burn with great free-
dom. The Albert and Orford mines are on the same deposit, aud ad-
joining, and while, the ore differs slightly in some respects, the main
part of the ore mined is practically the same in both mines. The analy-
sis, taken from an average of several, is as follows

Analysis of pyrites from Capelton, Canada.

Per cent.

Salphur 40.21
Iron 35 20
Silica J9.43
Copper (wet assay) 5.10
Total 99.94
Copper (dry assay) 3.80

Newfoundland.—There have been several offers of pyrites from IS'ew-
foundland mines during the past season. About 2,500 tons were re-
ceived, but did not give satisfaction, the user returning to his former
source of supply. There are unquestionably some good deposits of iron
pyrites in Newfoundland, but they are all on the northeastern coast,
nearly 400 miles from Saint John, and inaccessible for the greater part

of the year.
S;pain and Portugal.—The enormous deposits of pyrites of Spain and
Portugal have beeu the subject of several exhaustive and able articles,
which have been published from time to time during the past two or
three years, in nearly all the scientific and technical journals of Europe
and America. It will only be necessary to repeat their general bearing
upon this country.