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frequently lead and copper sulphides; and replacement deposits, chiefly yielding gold associated with pyrites. Intermediate deposits lie between these extreme types and really make them only end terms of a series. The fissure-vein deposits are much the most numerous, being of the prevailing Appalachian type.

There was no production of gold, silver, copper, lead, or zinc reported from the Calais, Dorn, Douglas, or other mines of Abbeville County in 1908, and there was but a small placer output in Cherokee County. The Brewer mine, of Chesterfield County, was also idle during the year.

In Lancaster County the Blackmon and the Davis mines were also idle in 1908. The Haile mine, however, for several years past the largest producer of gold east of the Black Hills, continued its important output until August 10, 1908, when an explosion of boilers in the mill killed the superintendent, E. A. Thies, injured several others, and caused a temporary shut down.

The loss of Mr. Thies, not only to the Haile mine but to mining in the Eastern States as a whole, where problems are almost uniformly difficult and where successes of late years in mining and treating ores from below water level are relatively few, is very great. The name has been long and honorably connected with Southern mining and metallurgy, and since the retirement from active management of Adolph Thies-who improvised economical methods of mining large bodies of low-grade ore, originated the Thies chlorination process, and made the Haile mine pay-his son, the late Ernest Thies, has been in charge.

The Haile mine is now developed by a vertical shaft 200 feet deep and by levels, drifts, and great open cuts and the equipment for treatment of the ore includes a 60-stamp mill with Wilfley concentrators and a chlorination plant. There are several large ore bodies, of which the most important are the Beguelin, Bumalo, and Haile. These are described by Graton as lens-shaped replacement bodies in altered porphyry tuff. Diabase dikes cut the ore bodies, as frequently elsewhere they cut the typical lenticular fissure veins of the Appalachians, but are not thought by Graton to have enriched. the ore. The present writer has already expressed the opinion that such dikes have no bearing on the genesis or relative richness of different portions of the ore deposits of the Franklin mine in Georgia. Sloan, however, apparently holds otherwise with respect to the Haile mine. The gold of the Haile mine occurs both free, either originally or from the oxidation of pyrite, and in pyrite. The gangue is silicified schist. There are numerous recent references upon this important and interesting mine.

a Graton, L. C., op. cit., p. 61.

b Graton, L. C., op. cit., p. 80.

e Graton, L. C., op. cit., pp. 70-72, 86-87.

d Sloan, Earle, op. cit., pp. 64-66.

eSpilsbury, E. G., Gold mining in South Carolina: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 12, 1884, pp. 99-106. Thies, A., and Mezger, A., The geology of the Haile mine, South Carolina: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 19, 1891, pp. 595-601.

Becker, G. F., op. cit., pp. 300-208.

Nitze, H. B. C., and Wilkens, H. A. J. (with Thies, A.), The present conditions of mining in the southern Appalachian States: Trans. Am Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 25, 1896, pp. 767-787, also discussion by A. Thies, H. B. C. Nitze, and William B. Phillips, pp. 1016-1027. Also, Gold mining in North Carolina and adjacent southern Appalachian regions: Bull. North Carolina Geol. Survey No. 10, 1897, pp. 125–143.

Nitze, II. B. C., The genesis of the gold ores in the central slate belt of the Carolínas: Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 63, 1897, pp. 628-629.

Graton, L. C., op. cit., pp. 77-87.

Sloan, Earle, op. cit., pp. 59-74

In Pickens County there was no output reported for 1908, and in Spartanburg County there was but a small production of placer gold. In Union County the West mine was idle. A small quantity of gold was produced from surface work near Pacolet.

There was considerable development work in 1908 reported from the Darwin mine in York County; and there were a number of shipments of ore to West Norfolk in 1906 and 1907, but there was no output in 1908. There was no production from the Ferguson or Wilson mines, but the Ginemore Mining Company, the Cherokee Mining Company, and F. W. Aldrich reported production from shipments of ore from this county resulting from prospecting and development work.

TENNESSEE.

Mine production of gold, silver, copper, and zinc in Tennessee in 1907 and 1908.

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In 1908 the production of gold, silver, copper, and zinc in Tennessee was valued at $2,635,275. As compared with the corresponding figures for 1907, this shows a decrease in value of $1,198,589. The gold production was 178.94 fine ounces, valued at $3,699; the silver production, 57,696 fine ounces, valued at $30,579; the copper production, 19,459,501 pounds, valued at $2,568,654; and the spelter production, 688,149 pounds, valued at $32,343. The gold output, which has been very small in Tennessee, was slightly lower than in 1907. The production of silver was decreased by only 662 fine ounces in quantity, but by $7,937 in value, owing to the decreased market price of this metal. The copper output showed an increase of over 500,000 pounds in quantity, but, owing to the difference in price of copper in 1907 and 1908 the value of the output in the latter year showed a decrease of $1,209,969. The zinc output in 1908 was over three times as large as that of 1907 in quantity, but the lower price of the metal in 1908 reduced the value to but a little more than twice that of 1907.

The production of placer gold in 1908, all from Monroe County, was 29.61 fine ounces, and of gold from deep mines, all from the copper ores of Ducktown in Polk County, was 149.33 fine ounces. There was no silver reported from placer or zinc mines in 1908, but the output from copper ores was 57,696 fine ounces. Four deep mines produced 638,033 tons of ore, of which 618,806 tons were of copper ore and 19,227 tons were zinc ore. The copper ore yielded an average of 31.4 pounds of copper, and a value of $0.05 in precious metals per ton. The gold and silver is recovered from but a part of Ducktown ore, however, as some of the casting copper produced is shipped abroad unrefined. The zinc ores yielded no precious metals, but an average of 35.8 pounds of spelter per ton of crude ore mined.

Along the boundary line between Tennessee and North Carolina extend the Cambrian or pre-Cambrian rocks, including the gold and copper deposits of Monroe and Polk counties. Bordering these rocks on the northwest, and extending from Alabama to Canada are the Paleozoic rocks, including the Cambro-Ordovician Knox dolomite in which are found the lead-zinc deposits of eastern Tennessee and western Virginia. Some useful references recently published on the ore deposits and mining in Tennessee are given in the footnote."

In

From Bradley and Claiborne counties there was no production of lead or zince reported in 1908. In Claiborne County is the Straight Creek mine in a lead-zinc sulphide replacement ore body in brecciated Knox dolomite. In Blount County, south of Knoxville, and in Bradley County, east of Chattanooga, galena has been found in a number of localities in the Knox dolomite. Watson considers the prospects encouraging, particularly at the Cedar Ridge mine. Jefferson County the Newmarket Zinc Company reported production in 1908. Their mines near Newmarket have produced considerable ore in the past. The deposits are of the breccia-replacement type, the ores being carbonates and silicates in weathered portions of the ore bodies and sphalerite in the unaltered limestone. The mines are worked by open cuts and shafts, and the ores are dressed by washers, crushers, rolls, jigs, and tables. The mines were operated but four months in 1908. The Mossy Creek mines in this county, where zinc ores were first discovered in Tennessee, are of the same type as those of Newmarket. These mines, and the Loy mine, near Newmarket, were idle in 1908. In Knox County the Mascot mine, of the Roseberry Zinc Company, was also idle during the year, but the Kewanee Zinc Company, successor to the Holston Zinc Company, operated the mines near Mascot from July to the end of 1908, and reported an important production of zinc concentrates. In Monroe County the gravels of Coker Creek were worked to a slight extent by two companies and a small amount of placer gold was produced.

a Brewer, William M., The Ducktown, Tenn., copper-mining district: Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 59, 1895, p. 271. Also Mineral resources along the line of the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia divisions of the Southern Railway: Eng. and Min Jour., vol. 61, 1896, pp. 65-66.

Heinrich, Carl, The Ducktown ore deposits and the treatment of the Ducktown copper ores (Tenn.): Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 25, 1896, pp. 173-245.

Blake, William P., Notes and recollections concerning the mineral resources of Northern Georgia and western North Carolina: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 25, 1896, pp. 796-811.

Kemp, J. F., Minerals of the copper mines at Ducktown, Tenn: Science, new ser., vol. 8, 1898, pp. 839940. Also, The deposits of copper ores at Ducktown, Tenn.: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 31, 1902, pp. 244-265. Also, Ore deposits of the United States and Canada, 5th ed., New York, 1903, pp. 190-194. McCallie, S. W., The Ducktown copper mining district: Eng, and Min. Jour., vol. 74, 1902, pp. 439-441. Weed, W. H., Types of copper deposits in the southeastern United States; Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 30, 1901, pp. 449-504. Also, Copper deposits of the Appalachian States; Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 213, 1903, pp. 181-185. Also, The copper deposits of the eastern United States: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 260, 1905, pp. 211-216. Also, The copper mines of the United States in 1905: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 285, 1906, pp. 93-124. Also, The copper mines of the world, New York, 1907, pp. 348-351. Ingalls, W. R., Production and properties of zinc, New York, 1902, pp. 197-203.

Keith, A., Recent zinc mining in East Tennessee: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 225, 1904, pp. 208-213. Watson, T. L., Lead and zinc deposits of the Virginia-Tennessee region: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 36, 1906, pp. 681-737.

Clark, W. C., Zinc in eastern Tennessee: Mines and Minerals, vol. 27, 1907, p. 395. Also, The zinc belt of Claiborne and Union counties, Tenn.: Mines and Minerals, vol. 27, 1907, p. 567.

Higgins, E., Mining and smelting in the Ducktown district: Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 86, 1908, pp. 12371241.

Channing, J. P., Copper smelting in Tennessee: Min. and Sci. Press, vol. 96, 1908, p. 97.

Gottsberger, B. B., Mines and works of the Tennessee Copper Company: Mining World, vol. 29, 1908, pp.

911-914.

b Watson, T. L., op. cit., pp. 725–730.

c Watson, T. L., op. cit., pp. 734-735.

d Watson, T. L., op. cit., p. 732.

e Keith, A., Morristown folio (No. 27), Geol. Atlas U. S., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1896, p. 5.

/ Keith, A., Maynardsville folio (No. 75), Geol. Atlas U. S., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1901.

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In Polk County the mines of the Ducktown district made their usual important copper output, with an incidental production of silver and gold. The Mary and East Tennessee mines of the Ducktown Sulphur, Copper, and Iron Company, and the Polk County, Burra Burra, and London mines of the Tennessee Copper Company were operated almost continuously throughout the year, and the two smelting plants were also actively operated. The vertical shafts of the Mary, the East Tennessee, and the Polk County mines are, respectively, 550, 700, and 385 feet deep; and the inclined shafts of the Burra Burra and the London mines are, respectively, 812 and 570 feet deep. The Ducktown Company plant includes a 500-ton smelter; and the Tennessee plant includes a rock-crushing plant at each mine and a 2,000-ton smelter containing 7 blast furnaces and 4 converter stands, in which the ore is pyritically smelted, and from which the Bessemer copper is exported to Europe. The new sulphuric acid plant of the Tennessee Copper Company, built in 1906-1907 to prevent escape of gases that were both injurious to the surrounding country and at the same time valuable for their acid content, was in full operation in 1908, and a large quantity of sulphuric acid was recovered as a by-product. The ore deposits at Ducktown, fully described by Heinrich, Weed, and Kemp, and more recently by Higgins and Gottsberger, in the references given, are fissure and replacement fillings in pre-Cambrian schists thought to be of sedimentary origin. The outcrops of gossan, formed to a depth of 60 to 75 feet by leaching processes forming secondary enrichment below, have been extensively worked for iron ore, and the greater part of the rich black copper ores just above the unaltered primary ore bodies have also been mined. The principal ore now worked is chalcopyrite disseminated through great masses of pyrrhotite. The ore is of low grade and can be successfully worked only by the highly developed methods of mining and metallurgy characterizing the practice now in force.

In Sullivan County the Fall Branch lead-zinc mine, just across the Sullivan-Washington County line from Fall Branch, reported no production in 1908, although there was considerable development work done and the construction of a 100-ton concentrating mill was nearly completed. A vertical shaft is now 180 feet deep. The deposit is of calamine and blende in a 5-foot vein in brecciated Knox dolomite near the fault contact with the overlying shale."

VERMONT.

There was no production of copper, silver, or gold reported from Vermont in 1908. The output of copper in 1907 had been important and promised increase, but the industrial depression and local difficulties shattered all hopes for 1908.

There has been considerable fruitless expenditure of money in attempts to mine gold, silver, and lead in Vermont, and the instances in which mining of these metals has yielded returns at all are only isolated.

In Bennington County, near Readsboro, there have been reported gold finds, but the results were wholly unprofitable. In Franklin County, near Richford, on the Canadian border, indications of copper

a Keith, A., Greeneville folio (No. 118), Geol. Atlas U. S., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1905, p. 8. Smith, G. O., Quartz veins in Maine and Vermont: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 225, 1904, p. 85.

ores are said by Hager a to be quite abundant. The Acton (Canada) copper belt seems here to cross the line into Vermont and to be traced as far south as Waterbury in Washington County. In Lamoille County, near Morristown, an unimportant lead-zinc deposit was known in the "talcose slate" of Hager, but it appears to have been but little developed.

In Orange County are the three well-known copper districts of the State: Corinth, Copperfield, and South Strafford. The ore bodies are described by Weed as overlapping lenses lying in the foliation of mica schists. According to Smyth and Smith & they are replacement deposits as well as fissure fillings, and so fall into a class well recognized in Appalachian geology. The ore is chalcopyrite disseminated through pyrrhotite, and the deposits are in general of the Ducktown type. The bodies are massive in the wider parts of the veins, and large quantities of ore have been extracted since mining first began for the making of copperas at the Elizabeth mine in 1793. The ores are of low grade and require the most skillful mining and treatment, as at Ducktown, to make them pay. The Elizabeth mine, near South Strafford now owned by the Vermont Copper Company, the oldest mine in the State and an important producer in the past, has been under recent renewed development. This is the most southern mine in the copper belt. A new 300-ton blast furnace was built in 1907 and 1908 and also a dam at Sharon on White River to furnish power for mine and smelter. During 1908 a disaster to the dam postponed production. The adit to the mine is 1,350 feet long. The old Union mine, the most northern of the copper belt, near Corinth, owned by the Corinth Copper Company, and idle in 1908, was also a producer for over twenty years, though less important in the matter of output than the Elizabeth or Ely mines. The Pike Hill mines, of the Pike Hill Mining Company, were not operated in 1908. These are developed by an adit 570 feet long, at the end of which is an incline 330 feet deep. The ore-dressing plant is a 30-ton magnetic concentrating mill. The Orange mine, near Westmoreland, developed by a 107-foot incline and 65 feet of work on the 100-foot level was idle in 1908; but the Manion prospect just north of this property was opened in 1908, and a good showing of chalcopyrite was reported. The famous old Ely (Copperfield or Vershire) mine was also idle in 1908. This is the deepest mine in Vermont and has produced considerable copper. It is now owned by the George Westinghouse interests. The equipment has been extensive and varied, including both concentrating and smelting plants, and at times the mine has paid well.

In Rutland County there have been reported deposits of lead at Chittenden and of silver at Wallingford, but Hager points out that the latter is purely mythical and the former of little value. In Windsor County, likewise, there are unimportant occurrences of lead and zinc sulphides at Norwich, Plymouth, and Bridgewater, and of gold at Springfield, Plymouth, and Bridgewater. The last two regions have been recently described by Smith, and appear to

a Hager, A. D., Economical geology of Vermont: Rept. on Geology of Vermont, vol. 2, Claremont, 1861, p. 850. b Hager, A. D., op. cit., p. 839.

e Weed, W. H., Notes on the copper mines of Vermont: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 225, pp. 190–199. d Smyth, H. L., and Smith, P. S., The copper deposits of Orange County, Vt.: Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 77, 1904, pp. 677-678.

e Hager, A. D., op. cit., pp. 841-842.

1 Smith, G. O., op. cit., pp. 86-88.

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