Section IV., 1884. 



[ 7 ] 



Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada. 



II. — Notes on the Manganese Ores of Nova Scotia. 



By Edwin Gilpin, Jïiu., A.M., F.G.S. 



(Read May 22, 1884.) 



In the followiug sketch I have endeavoured to bring together the information relative 

 to the manganese ores of Nova Scotia. The only previous note now accessible, beyond 

 the references in Dr. Dawson's " Acadian Greology," is one by the late Dr. How, of King's 

 College, Windsor, published in the Transactions of the Nova Scotia Institute of Natural 

 Science. The exceptional purity of some of the ores makes them interesting to the 

 mineralogist, and valuable in certain operations of the manufacturer. The attention paid 

 in Nova Scotia to the working of these ores is by no means proportionate to their value, 

 and to the great extent of the geological formation to which they appear to be chiefly con- 

 fined. The object of these notes will be obtained, if they serve to indicate that the ores 

 of manganese may prove in the future an important addition to the mining resources of 

 this province. 



The least valuable but certainly the most common of the Nova Scotia manganese 

 ores is wad. This ore is found as a superficial deposit in connection with every geological 

 formation known in the province. Among the localities yielding it may be mentioned 

 Jeddore, Ship Harbour, St. Margaret's Bay, Shelburne, La Have, Chester, Parrsborough, 

 Springhill, Pictou, and Antigonishe. These ores exhibit the varying composition which 

 characterizes their class, and have in some cases been used to a limited extent as paints. 

 On Boularderie Island, Cape Breton, a bed of wad, several feet thick, was examined some 

 years ago. The following analyses show this want of iiniformity of composition: two 

 analyses by Mr. Hoffman, of the Canadian Greological Survey, gave : — 



I. II. 



Manganese peroxide 25-42 11-04 



Iron sesquioxide — 12-49 



Insoluble matter — .57-76 



Water 33-o2 — 



also, in the case of analysis II, traces of copper, cobalt, and nickel. 



An analysis, by the writer, of a sample from a different part of the bed, gave : — 



Manganese peroxide 44-33 



Iron sesquioxide 35-50 



Insoluble matter 10-00 



At the Londonderry Iron Mines, Colchester County, in the great vein of brown 

 hematite, associated with ochre, ankerite, sideroplesite, and calcite, in strata of Lower 

 Silurian age, secondary changes have at some points enriched the iron ore with manganese 



