lEOlSr-OEE RESERVES. 211 



great region, counting even ores of low grade, does not equal the 

 reserves of one of the older Lake Superior districts, such as the Mar- 

 quette, but the country still to be explored is so vast that it is not 

 unreasonable to suppose that important iron ranges such as those of 

 the Lake Superior region may be found. Nevertheless, it is true 

 that nowhere in the Lake Superior country where an equivalent 

 II mount of exploration has been done have the results been so disap- 

 pointing. 



Wlien the joresent high-grade deposits of this and other countries 

 are exhausted, the future demand for iron ore is likely to be met by 

 the use of far lower grades than are now considered commercially 

 profitable. The term " ore " is a relative one. With the conditions 

 in Alabama a rock containing 36 per cent metallic iron may be mined 

 as ore, while in the Lake Superior country such rock is now of no 

 value as an ore. The ferruginous cherts and jaspilites, making up 

 95 per cent or more of the iron formations of the Lake Superior 

 region, average between 25 and 35 per cent in metallic iron, and show 

 all gradations into the iron ores. At the present time ores running 

 below 45 per cent are but rarely shipped. If the time should come 

 when 30 per cent ore could be used under the Lake Superior condi- 

 tions, the tonnage available would be something enormous, perhaps 

 twenty or more times as great as the present supply. It should be 

 remembered that these ores are high in silica, and therefore not as 

 desirable as ores of the same metallic content containing calcium 

 carbonate in the gangue as do the Alabama ores. Moreover, the 

 great distances from blast-furnace centers, on the assumption that 

 these remain approximatel}^ fixed, will put the low-grade Lake Supe- 

 rior ores to a disadvantage in the matter of the cost of transportation. 



Tornebohm estimates the amount of ore now available in the south- 

 ern Appalachians at 60,000,000 tons. The Clinton red hematites 

 make up the bulk of this tonnage. Drilling has shown that the 

 presently worked deposits extend with slightly leaner but uniform 

 composition in thin even beds over enormous areas, and it is alto- 

 gether likely that the tonnage of these ores is many fold the figure 

 given." The ores are low grade, and the cost of mining will greatl}'^ 

 increase when the larger reserves are tapped. 



The Clinton ores extend along the Appalachians into New York 

 and appear again in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In each of 

 these localities extensions are likely to be found. At Belle Isle, 

 Newfoundland, approximately 30,000,000 tons of iron ore are avail- 

 able. This body is known to extend under the ocean, and if it can 



a E. C. Eckel estimates 1.000,000.000 tons of red ore above the thousand-foot 

 level in Alabama alone. (Engineering Magazine, Vol. XXX, 1906, p. 521.) 



