MINERAL RESOURCESi 93 



being in a very depressed condition. All these mines are in the Cum- 

 berland, Pictou, and Cape Breton Coal areas. In New Brunswick, 

 according to the report on the exhibits at the Centennial Exhibition, 

 the only coal-mine in operation was that at Grand Lake, Queen's Co., 

 the annual production being only 3000 chaldrons. Beside this, there 

 is the remarkable Albertite of the Albert Mines, Albert County, a 

 vein of altered bitumen in the Lower Carhoniferous rather than a Coal 

 deposit. This yielded in 1874, the latest report I have seen, 7000 tons. 

 A new mining enterprise (the Belivcau mine) has recently been com- ' 

 menced near the Petitcodiac River, in search of this valuable mineral. 



There are, in the Carboniferous of New Brunswick and also of Nova 

 Scotia, immense deposits of pyroschist or bituminous shale, capable 

 of yielding as much as 63 gallons of oil, or 7500 feet of illuminating 

 gas, per ton. Owing to the great cheapness of petroleum, little atten- 

 tion has been paid to these shales for some years, but it is likely that 

 they will before long again be in demand. 



The Coal areas now worked in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick arc 

 undoubtedly those most accessible and promising, and the question of o 

 Avorking those beds of less thickness, or less accessible, or those con- 

 cealed under the beds of the newer Coal formation, is not likely to 

 be raised for some time. That large available areas of these kinds 

 exist there can be no doubt ; but should present commercial relations 

 with the United States continue, the first great stimulus to the coal 

 industry must arise from the development of the iron ores, so abundant 

 in the vicinity of the principal Coal-fields. 



Devonian Anthracite. — At Point Lepreau in New Brunswick, a 

 remarkable discovery has been made of anthracite in a horizon 

 referred by Mr Matthew to the upper part of the Dadoxylon sand- . 

 stone. I am informed by Mr Matthew that it occurs in a vertical bed 

 from G to 10 feet in thickness, in olive-coloured sandy shales. It is 

 of a granular texture, and may be regarded as an anthracite, as it con- 

 tains only about 5 per cent, of volatile matter. A specimen analysed 

 by Dr Harrington gave 35 '8 per cent, of ashes ; but possibly this may 

 not represent the general quality of the deposit. Whether of eco- 

 nomical value or not, it is of interest as the only example of Devonian 

 coal in North America, except the little bed, 2 inches thick, occurring 

 in the Gaspe sandstone.* 



J ron , — The only extensive works at present in operation in Nova 



Scotia are those of the Steel Company of Canada at Londonderry — 



formerly the Acadia Company. These works depend on the great 



veins of iron ore on the south side of the Cobequid Mountains (Ac. 



* Report on Fossil Plants of Devonian, pp. 7,8. 



