COPPER 



INDIAN COPPER AND BRASS AND BRASS 



COPPER AND BRASS: Cuprum, Its Ores, Salts, Alloys D.E.P., 

 id Manufactures; Hall. Mn,,. />., ','rol. Ind., 1881, Uoey, . 647-50. 



. Tr,i>l<-,ind Mannf. \. ///., l*>'<>, I ML'. l.",l. Mil, MIX L '(X) ; King and Copper. 

 >pe, (nil'l. CufijH'r, mi'/ Lnl in ( 'Imta Nagpur, 1891, 9f> 170; Holland, 

 1/i/nr Mine of the, Pat-Pat Gold Mining Co., Singhbhum ; Foote, Geol. 

 foliar i, in Mn. Geol. Surv. Ind., 18!).'). \.\vi., 197-9; R.E.P. , Rev. Min. Prod. 

 is-.. | ;. etc. : ///. .I/Y. ,i/ A7///, l'.)<>3, 16-7, 52-62, 475-6; Hayden, 

 kol. Surr. Ind., 1904, 1-4 ; Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., xxxi., 172-3, 291-4 ; 

 )ll;iinl. HIT. Mill. Prod., in Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1905, xxxii., pt. i., 

 The fanbdh, tdmd, tdmra, trambu, tdmbra, nohds, mis, shenbu, rdgi, 

 etc. (copper and copper-ore) ; pital (brass) ; kdnsa (bell-metal). 

 COPPER METAL: Occurrence and Production. For detailed in- Occurrence. 

 ination regarding the Indian mines and sources of copper ore, the reader 

 referred to the publications mentioned above. The indigenous industry 

 copper smelting may be said to have been dormant in India for many smelting. 



;. though some short time ago expectations of its revival were enter- 

 lined in connection with two localities in Bengal, viz. Singhbhum and 

 rbhum. More recently discoveries of some value have been made in 

 rjeeling, Chanda, Garhwal, Assam and Baluchistan, etc. An elaborate 

 storical account of the Chota Nagpur copper-fields is given by King and chief Localities. 

 >pe in the work cited above, and will repay perusal. Holland says 

 it copper was formerly smelted in considerable quantities in South 

 idia, Rajputana, and at various parts of the outer Himalaya, where a 

 alias-like rock persists along the w^hole range and is known to be copper- 

 iring in Kullu, Garhwal, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. He adds that all 

 jmpts by European companies to open up the deposits have proved 

 successful and the Natives no longer work the ore themselves. Never- 

 leless mining leases are still held and prospecting licenses are frequently 

 inted for copper-ore. It will be seen from the statistics of the imports 

 foreign copper and brass that if a paying deposit could be opened there 

 s a large annual demand in India which might be contested. It may be 

 iid of the ancient workings that they very rarely reached the pyritic ore 

 cause with their simple and inefficient appliances they were unable to 

 spe with the flow of water which followed their mining operations. Hence 

 le ore smelted was principally oxides and carbonates. 

 Indian Copper and Brass Workers. There may be said to be three 

 sses of operatives concerned in the copper and brass trade, viz. smelters, 

 )undrymen, and coppersmiths. Every village has its trade in copper 

 sels, and most have, in addition, their coppersmiths. The iron and 

 iss foundries are often treated conjointly, so that separate statistical 

 i-tunis cannot be furnished. Thus in the Moral and Material Progress 

 India (1905-6, 178) the number of workers for 1905 is stated to have 

 sn 24,300. It has been repeatedly pointed out that there is a tendency 

 jr the copper and brass industry to become more and more concentrated 

 the towns, a movement which must contribute to its better organisation. 

 it, tin centres having become famous for their copper and brass manu- chief Centres, 

 tures are securing a large proportion of the total trade and drawing the 

 st workers away from the villages. Nevertheless the industry as a whole 

 is said to be in a secure state compared with many of the other indigenous 

 crafts, and this result is largely a consequence of the essentially hand-labour Hand-iboar. 

 character of much of the goods turned out. 



Statistics of the Indian outturn of copper are not available, but in the 



401 26 



Mining Leases. 



Ancient 

 Workings. 



Works. 



Smelters ; 

 Foundrymen ; 

 Coppersmiths. 



