20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



Two years ago corundum was found in a property that was being worked as 

 a mica mine in the township of Methuen, in Peterborough county, about 45 miles 

 southwest from the original discovery in Carlow. This locality has also been 

 explored by Professor Miller this year, and the corundiferous band of syenite has 

 been traced in a northeast and southwest direction about six miles, with a width 

 of two miles. The range of hills over which it extends is known locally as the 

 Blue mountains, and at its southwest end it reaches the shore of Stony lake. 



I spent the last week of September with Professor Miller in going over the 

 more northerly band, from the easterly end of it, on Clear lake, in Sebastopol, 

 to the 'village of Bancroft, on the Hastings road, on the line between Dungannon 

 and Faraday. Only a few of the principal properties were visited, including the 

 Block location in Brudenell. the Robillard location in Raglan, the Armstrong 

 location in Carlow, and a recent discovery in Dungannon, not far from the York 

 river. All these are large deposits, easy of access, and favorably situated for mining 

 operations. 



Where the exposure occurs on the Block farm the crystals are in syenite, and 

 ere thickly studded in the face of the rock. Outcroppings of nepheline-syenite 

 occur near by; and, owing to its resemblance to limestone, an attempt was made 

 by the owner to burn it for lime. The crystals of corundum have a bronze lustre, 

 and vary in size from half an inch to an inch in diameter. Numerous boulders 

 are strewn over the face of the ground which carry a high percentage of the min- 

 eral : and in some cases the crystals are nearly pure white in color. 



On the Robillard hill corundum may be traced for a mile or more along its 

 southern face, wherever the syenite is exposed. The corundum crystals are fre- 

 quently observed to run in strings several inches wide along the surface of the 

 rock, and are of all sizes froin half an inch to two or three inches in diameter, 

 usually barrel-shaped, and ranging from an inch to four or five inches in length. 

 On the western shoulder of the hill there is an outcrop of nepheline-syenite; and 

 in this rock the crystals are finely shaped, but of small size — about a third of an 

 inch in diameter and an inch or an inch and a half in length. An expert who has 

 examined this hill estimates the corundum in sight at several millions of tons. 

 There is certainly a large quantity, and in some places it amounts to from 30 to 

 40 per cent, of the rock mass. Along the foot of the hill are numerous large 

 boulders of syenite, speckled over with crystals like plums in a pudding. 



The Robillard hill is cut off by a stream upon its west side from a range of 

 high hills that extends westward five miles into Carlow. Professor Miller has 

 carefully examined this range, and has discovered corundum in it at a number of 

 points. The largest showing, however, is on the Armstrong lot, where another 

 stream cuts through, on its way to join York river. The rock has scaled off so as 

 to show a perpendicular face about ,300 feet in length and 30 feet in height, expos- 

 ing a mass of syenite which has been thrust up through the gneiss, and which, in 

 its turn, has been cut by a dyke of pegmatite. The gneiss has been thrown up to 

 form an anticlinal arch over the syenite, but is cut through along the north side, 

 where the syenite dyke is well exposed with a thickness of ten or twelve feet. 

 According to Mr. Ferrier, it has been traced along the strike about 700 feet Crys- 

 tals of corundum are numerous on the exposed face of the syenite, and are also 

 found in the pegmatite nearest the syenite, which is composed chiefly of felspar. 

 But where quartz comes in with the felspar, the corundum disappears. A lot of 

 several tons, taken without selection from this location last year and treated at the 

 Kingston School of Mining, yielded from 12.75 to 15.5 per cent, of corundum. 



The last location I examined is in the township of Dungannon. It is in a 

 ridge of nephehne syenite, having a width of 90 to 100 feet, and rising upon one 

 side to a height of about 60 feet. My time only permitted me to follow it for a 

 length of about 150 yards, but Professor Miller informed me that he had traced it 



