61 



which are uicluded in the above^percentage of nickel, The nickel is 

 usually spoken of as replacing an equal quantity of iron in the pyrrhotitc 

 but the discovery of undoubted crystals of niillerite or sulphide of nickel 

 150 feet below the surface at Copper Cliff Mine, as well as the more 

 recent recognition of polydymite, a ferriferous sulphide of nickel, at the 

 Vermilion Mine, in the Township of Denison, seems to justify the 

 assumption that in the more highly nickeliferous deposits of the region 

 at least, the nickel is also present as a sulphide, disseminated through 

 the ore mass like the iron and copper. 



This view is also borne out by Dr. Hunt's analysis of the ore of 

 the old Wallace mine which seems precisely analogous to some of the 

 richer deposits nearer the Canadian Pacific Railway. Traces of gold 

 and silver, as also platinum are also usually found in these ores, and in 

 this connection it was thought advisable to call your attention to the 

 detection of what Messrs. Clarke & Catlett call a " platiniferous nickel 

 ore from Canada." They say (see article xxxix, page 372, American 

 Journal of Science, 1889.) During the autumn of 1888 we received, 

 through two different channels, samples of nickel ores taken from the 

 mines of the Canadian Copper Company at Sudbury, Ont. From one 

 source we obtained two masses of sulphides to be examined for nickel 

 and copper, from the other came similar sulphides together with a 

 series of soil and gravel-like material (gossan), 7 samples in all. In 

 the latter case an examination for platinum was requested, and in 5 

 of the samples above mentioned it was found the gravel yielded 74.85 

 ozs. of metals of the platinum group to the ton of 2,000 lbs. The 

 sulphide ores submitted to us from Sudbury were all of a smiilar char- 

 acter. They consisted of mixed masses in which a grey readily tarn- 

 ishing substance was predominant with some chalcopyrite, possibly 

 some pyrite and a very little quartz, Two samples were examined in 

 mass: one gave 31.41 % nickel with a litde copper, and the other gave 

 35.39 % nickel and 5.2 % copper. The nickel mineral itself proved to 

 be a sulphide of nickel and iron, and as ores of that composition are 

 not common, it was thought advisable to examine the substance further. 

 It is steel-grey, massive and exceedingly alterable in the air with a Sp. 

 Gr. of 4.5. An analysis of carefully selected material gave : — 



