IRON ORES: MAGNETITE. 17 



The charcoal furnaces of the state are wholly supplied with 

 this ore. 



The Weisner Quart site : The deposits of this formation are 

 numerous and extensive, and are either the outcrops of one or 

 more stratified seams, or a pocket ore derived in part at least 

 from the weathering and breaking down of the stratified seams. 



The stratified ore outcrops near the crests of the mountains, 

 (Weisner), while the pocket deposits are mostly near the base 

 of the mountains or along fault lines. The former deposits 

 are very variable, attaining sometimes considerable size, being 

 as much as several hundred yards in length and forty to fifty 

 feet thick. The pocket ore comprises some of the most exten- 

 sive brown ore deposits in the state. The ore itself is some- 

 what variable, being in part a black waxy ore high in phos- 

 phorus, in part a mixture of very good ore with a highly silice- 

 ous or sandy ore. 



For this reason the mining is sometimes tedious and expen- 

 sive because of the necessity of separating the good from the 

 bad. These siliceous or sandy ores are in very large quanti- 

 ties and will no doubt some day be utilized after being concen- 

 trated by magnetic process. 



(3.) THE GRAY ORE OR MAGNETITE: This ore occurs in 

 the upper part of the Weisner Quartzite formation in Talla- 

 degt county. It is in several stratified seams, one to four, 

 varying in thickness from two to eight feet. 



While these seams of ore are generally highly siliceous and 

 hardly more than dark gray sandstone with sparingly dissem- 

 inated grains of magnetite, yet in places the ore carries as 

 much as 80 per cent of magnetite and only 17 to 18 per cent 

 of silica. 



The ore is sometimes massive in structure sometimes lami- 

 noted and almost fibrous, breaking up on weathering into 

 fragments that resemble chips of wood. The magnetite is also 

 sometimes in thin scales or plates making a kind of specular 

 ore high in titanium. 



The Talladega magnetite has been somewhat extensively in- 

 vestigated and considerable amounts have been raised and 

 furnace tests made, and it is probable that this desirable ore 

 will soon be added to the list of our commercially important 

 resources. 



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