BY W. FRYAR, ESQ. 133 
it may fairly be hoped that we have here another pledge 
of the future prosperity of the mining industry in a district 
which has already given promise of reward to legitimate 
enterprise in various classes of mining. 
I have found great difficulty in obtaining any statistical 
information touching the quantity of cobalt used, or its 
value either in the raw state as ore, or at any of the stages 
through which it may have to pass in process of extraction 
and purification, and the value of the product of a 
chemical operation is often only a poor guide to an estimate 
of the value of the raw material employed. Conse- 
quently little can be known here of the actual value of the 
ore in the mine. It may be safely assumed, however, that 
whether operations be confined to mining the ore and 
shipping it, for sale abroad, or it be chemically reduced 
on the spot; the discovery and working of another mineral 
not hitherto produced by the colony, and one which is found 
richer in metal and in larger quantities of ore than is usual, 
is a not unimportant step in our onward progress ; for on the 
percentage composition of the ore, the quantity of ore in the 
vein, the thickness of the lode, and all the other incidentals of 
locality, cost of labour, carriage, and the like, the profit- 
able working of a mine principally depends. 
The statistics of quantity and value which I have seen, 
in most cases, put the ore as of nickel and cobalt. In the 
United States of America in 1882, the value was £3000, 
but the quantity is not stated. In Germany in 1881, 191 
tons value £13,005, equal to £68 per ton. In Spain in 
1882, 4o tons value £1046, equal to £26 per ton. In 
Norway in 1878, 108 tons value £11,112, or £103 per ton. 
Sweden produced an average of 153 tons per annum during 
10 years, but the value is not stated. The value of ore of 
nickel and cobalt is given variously at from £40 down to 
£4, according to quality and locality. 
There is no definite information obtainable touching the 
value of any specific quality of ore with which to test the 
value of the ore now mentioned as having been recently 
discovered. 
These points are referred to because, although not new 
or scientific, and therefore perhaps not quite within the 
scope of the Society, they very materially affect the 
