18 T HE CD B A R E V I E W 



length along the strike of 45 feet. The upper edge crops ou1 aboul 32o feet above 

 Saltadero Creek and about GOO feet above sea level. Below this outcrop the ore 

 body has been prospected by two drifts, stalled respectively 50 and 100 feet below 

 the outcrop, and by a crosscut around the hillside about 80 feet distant from and a 

 little lower than the upper drift. All these openings reach the ore body within short 

 distances, but do not intersect it in such a way as to show definitely its dimensions. 



The ore is medium to coarse grained. Some of the material in the drifts is 

 spotted, hut most of the outcropping and float ore is black and of good appearance. 

 According to analyses that accompany the report of G. W. Maynard, an engineer 

 who prospected the deposit in 1903, the representative ore contains 35 to 41 per 

 cent, of chromic oxide, 1.4 to 15 per cent, of iron, 1.5 to 5 per cent, of silica, 5 to 17.5 

 per cent, of magnesia, and 25 to 29 per cent, of alumina. The ore body contains small 

 masses of peridotite, which may reduce materially the quantity of serpentine and of 

 olivine. This deposit contains 10,000 to perhaps 20,000 tons. 



The work of getting this ore to the coast involves a difficult problem in trans- 

 portation. The gorge of Saltadero Creek is too narrow and winding and in places 

 too steep to permit the construction of any kind of road except at great expense, 

 and even if a road could be built clown to the mouth of Yamaniguey River it is 

 doubtful whether steamers of proper draft could enter Canete Bay. The only feasible 

 plan is that of constructing an aerial tramway, about three miles long, from the 

 deposit over the mountain and down to a point on the coast about two miles south- 

 east of Canete Bay, from which a cart road or light tramway may be built possibly 

 nine miles southeastward to Taco Bay, where there is fair anchorage for steamers. 



A small body of chrome ore occurs on the Constancia claim, three-quarters of a 

 mile south of Navas Bay, about 100 feet above sea level. The ore body appears 

 to extend about 50 feet along the face of a gently sloping hill and has been opened 

 by a cut 25 feet long and 5% feet deep. The ore is not of uniform quality. It is • 

 mostly "spotted" ore — that is, it is chromite mixed with much serpentine gangue, but 

 about six feet of better ore is exposed in the cut. A representative sample of the 

 poorer ore contained 27.0 per cent, of chromic oxide, and a sample of the better ore 

 contained 39.4 per cent, of chromic oxide, as indicated in the table given below: 



ANALYSES OF CHROME ORE FROM CONSTANCIA CLAIM, NEAR NAVAS BAY 



7 S 



Cr 2 O 3 27.6 39.4 



Fe 11.9 11.5 



Si ( >- 8.9 4.9 



AP O 3 25.3 20.5 



7. Mixed ore : 8, clean ore 



The ore might perhaps be concentrated. No estimate of the quantity of ore in 

 this deposit could he made. Very little float was seen near it and there are no 

 indications of the occurrence of a large deposit. Water for concentration is available 

 nearby in Navas River, and a road could easily be built to Navas Bay, which, how- 

 ever, is not deep enough for steamers, so that the ore would have to be lightered 

 four miles northwestward to Taco Bay, or ten miles southeastward to Baracoa. 



It is credibly reported that a body of at least 10,000 tons of ore similar to the 

 low-grade ore at the Constancia claim lies to the mountains eight miles north of 

 Navas Bay, but this deposit could not be examined within the time available. 



SUMMARY 



The reserves of marketable chrome ore in Cuba range from 92,5<K) long tons to 

 170.000 long tons, but only about 2,000 tons of ore can probably be shipped in 1918 

 unless greater efforts to exploit it are made. The large known deposits of chrome ore 



