390 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 



been the first produced on a commercial scale in the United States, and owing to the 

 liniiteil market for the same the price dropped over 50 per cent. 



Frue vanners were then introduced into the mill, and the product obtained from 

 them, amounting to about 1 ton per 100 tons of ore crushed, contained from 5 to 6 

 per cent vanadic acid and $40 to |80 per ton in gold and silver. The Kalion Chem- 

 ical Company offered to buy this product according to the following sliding scale: 

 With the market price of ammonium vanadate $5 per pound, $100 per ton for the 

 concentrates; vanadate of ammonium $4.50 j^er pound, concentrates $92; vanadate of 

 ammonium $4 per pound, concentrates $82; vanadate of ammonium $3.50 per pound, 

 concentrates $72; vanadate of ammonium $3 per pound, concentrates $64. Only a 

 few tons of these concentrates were shipped to Philadelphia, the remainder being 

 sold to the Denver smelters for their gold, silver, and lead value. ^ 



Uses. — The only uses thus far developed for the mineral are as a 

 source for vanadium salts used as a pigment for porcelain; in the man- 

 ufacture of ink and in textile dyeing and printing, both vanadate of 

 ammonium and vanadic oxide being used for the latter purpose, pro- 

 ducing an intense black color with a slight greenish cast. 



5. Amblygonite. 



This is a fluo-phosphate of aluminum and lithium, of the formula 

 Li (Al F) P O^. Analysis of a sample from Paris, Maine, as given 

 by Dana, shows: Phosphoric acid, 48.31 per cent; alumina, 33.68 

 per cent; lithia, 9.82 per cent; soda, 0.34 per cent; potash, 0.03 

 per cent; water, 4,89 per cent; fluorine, 4.82 per cent; hardness, 6; 

 specific gravity, 3.01 to 3.09. Luster vitreous to greasy, color white 

 to pale greenish, bluish, yellowish to brownish, streak white. On 

 casual inspection the mineral somewhat resembles potash feldspar 

 (orthoclase), but when finely pulverized is soluble in sulphuric acid, 

 and less readily so in hydrochloric acid. The Hebron variety, when 

 pulverized and moistened with sulphuric acid, gives the characteristic 

 lithia red color to the flame. 



Mode of occurrence. — Amblygonite occurs in the form of coarse 

 crystals, or compact and columnar forms in pegmatic veins associated 

 with lepidolite, tourmalines, and other minerals so characteristic of this 

 class of veins. In the United States it occurs at Hebron (Specimen 

 No. 62576, U.S.N.M.); Mount Mica, in Paris (Specimen No. 53694, 

 U.S.N.M.); Auburn and Peru, Maine, at the latter place associated 

 with spodumene, petalite, and lepidolite. In Saxony the mineral is 

 found at Chursdorf and Arnsdorf , near Penig, and near Geier. Also 

 found at Arendal, Norway, and at Montebras and Creuze, France. 



Uses. — Since 1886 the mineral has been utilized as a source of lithia 

 salts, in place of the lithia mica. The chief commercial source is at 

 present Montebras, France, where it occurs in a coarse granitic vein 

 yielding also cassiterite and kaolin in commercial quantities. 



' The Mineral Industry, II, 1893, p. 574. 



