MINERALS FOR THE PARIS EXHIBITION. GILPIN. 261 



the Strait of Northumberland. The deposits near Pictou and 

 River John have received some attention and will probably prove 

 sources of this metal. At Dalhousie Mountain a good deal of 

 surface exploration has been done on a vein from 2 to 3 feet 

 wide carrying copper pyrites. Samples have shown up to 15 

 per cent, of copper and about $2G.OO of gold per ton. 



It may be anticipated that where the Devonian strata of 

 this district are intersected by dioritic and granitic dykes oppor- 

 tunity v/ill be afforded for copper ores, in some cases, of 

 commercial value. The rocks referred to appear again in the 

 southern part of New Annan, and indications cf copper ore are 

 wide -spread in quartzites and felsites associated with dioritic 

 dykes, etc. 



Developments have been made at New Annan, on the East 

 Branch of the French River, about five miles from Tatarnagouche 

 Station. The property being developed presents a bed about 

 four feet thick, carrying stringers of black sulphide and carbonate 

 with nodules of various copper sulphides in a fine sandstone 

 conglomerate resting on a blue clay floor. Similar deposits also 

 occur at the Palmer mine, near Wentworth. Here the bed is 

 about ten feet thick and much mixed with clay, The quality of 

 these ores varies very much, according to the state of concen- 

 tration reached in the process of formation. Samples can be 

 had running up to 50 per cent of copper, with gold and silver 

 in varying amounts. It is expected that these deposits and 

 others of a similar character scattered from Amherst to Pictou 

 will furnish material for the smelter at Pictou. More extended 

 development will be required to determine this point. It is, 

 however, extremely probably that the older rocks lying to the 

 south of the carboniferous will yield deposits of ore larger and 

 more uniform in quality. 



Copper pyrites also occurs on the Portapique River, Col- 

 chester Co., in a stratum, presumably of Devonian age, over a 

 tract several hundred feet wide and a mile in length. Samples 

 show up to 20 per cent, copper, with traces of gold. 



