No. 5,] HARRINGTON — CANADIAN MINERALS. 307 



II. Pyrrhotite or Magnetic Iron Pyrites. 



In 1875 a vein containing considerable quantities of copper 

 pyrites was discovered near Polson'g Lake, in Antigonish County, 

 Nova Scotia. Loose masses of the ore had Ions; before been found 

 scattered over the surface, and although it was evident that they 

 had not travelled far, a number of attempts to discover their 

 source proved failures. 



Among the minerals associated with the copper pyrites are 

 spathic iron ore, iron pyrites, pyrrhotite and more rarely native 

 copper. Pyrrhotite, as is well known, frequently contains nickel, 

 or both nickel and cobalt, replacing a portion of the iron, and 

 much of the nickel of commerce has been derived from this source. 

 On account of this fact it was deemed worth while to analyse 

 the mineral from Poison's Lake. The specimen examined — for 

 which I am indebted to Dr. Dawson — was paler in colour than 

 ordinary pyrrhotite and had a very high lustre. It contained a 

 good deal of spathic iron ore (or ankerite) which was difficult to 

 separate completely from the pyrrhotite. An analysis gave the 

 following results : 



Iron 58 . 976 



Copper 0.181 



Manganese traces. 



Nickel . 773 



Cobalt traces. 



Sulphur 38 . 580 



Calcium Carbonate . 786 



Magnesium Carbonate 0.216 



99.512 



The carbonates must be due to a small quantity of intermixed 

 gangue, and a little of the iron was no doubt also present as car- 

 bonate. The mineral was strongly attracted by the magnet. 



It should be stated here that the late Professor Howe, of 

 Windsor, Nova Scotia, detected nickel and cobalt several years 

 ago in specimens of pyrrhotite from both Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick. ^^ Specimens from Cape Breton Island gave 0.50 

 per cent, of oxides of nickel and cobalt, the amount of metallic 

 nickel being "at least 0.36 percent." A specimen from Nictaux 

 in Annapolis County, gave " nickel, with a little cobalt, 0.10 p.c. 



* 



Mineralogical Magazine, April, 1877, p. 124. 



