STEEL MAKING IN. NOVA SCOTIA—GILPIN. ae 
some of which reach a thickness of 20 feet. Some of these 
beds are stated to have been traced for a distance of six miles. 
Still further to the south, beyond the township line, specular ore 
is said to occur in a vein 6 feet wide. 
While the work done in this district has shown the presence 
of numerous beds of iron ore, much is still needed to trace their 
relative positions, their continuity and their economic value. The 
continuous extension of all the beds in an unbroken line from 
end to end of the district can hardly be hoped for, as there are 
evident dislocations at several points, and flexures of the strata. 
As to the quantity of ore there can be no question. The 
amounts available above the water levels of the Torbrock and 
Nictaux Rivers must be enormous. 
The question of the economic values of the ores must be the 
subject of extended investigation. Practical working has 
shown that the red hematites can furnish a foundry and forge 
pig The magnetites are with some exceptions too phosphoric 
for this purpose. The percentages of this element vary between 
°5 and 2.00 in the different beds. The ores are as a rule silicious, 
and in some cases manganiferous, but low in sulphur. They are 
not to be compared in purity with the magnetites of the North 
Mountain on the opposite side of the Annapolis Valley. Here 
the ores are as arule of unusual purity, but they have not as 
yet been found to occur in amounts of economic value. They 
are presented as veins in the trappean rocks, highly crystallised 
and often showing banded structure, with layers or crystals of 
amethyst, quartz, ete. 
The ores of the district run high enough in iron and _phos- 
phorus and low enough in sulphur to answer for the basic 
process, and their large silica contents would prove the principal 
obstacle to their use for this process. I believe, however, that 
on the continent furnace managers have been able to successfully 
meet this trouble when smelting for the basic process. No 
doubt further search will show ores running lower in silicious 
matter, and the large deposits of bog ore in this district can be 
also utilized in this connection. 
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