APPENDICES. 145 



decrepitate, and the large amount of ash that it contains, led him to 

 condemn its use in a blast furnace. The coal is evidently unfit to reduce 

 hard refractory ores like those of Lohara and Pipalgaon ; with the softer 

 ores of Bengal and Deha Chauri (Kumaon) it will probably answer. 



After the completion of his preliminary trials with the blast furnace, 



Mr. Ness put up roughly a small reverberatory 

 Reverberatory furnace. 



furnace, to see the action of the coal when burned 



on a separate grate, whether it was capable of melting and boiling grey cast 

 iron. Although the trial furnace was of a rude description, and without 

 a proper reverberatory arch, the time taken, and the quantity of coal 

 used, did not appear to be much in excess of what is commonly required 

 for such purposes. This result convinced Mr. Ness " that, with a rege- 

 nerative furnace, both quantity and intensity of heat can readily be 

 obtained from Warora coal for the reduction of the iron ores by a direct 

 process/' 



The last experiment has been to pulverise the ore, mix it with milk 



Ore mixed with milk of lime ' make into balls > and expose to the heat 

 of lime# of the reverberatory furnace. This plan answered 



very well. {Mining Journal, 26th February 1876.) 



Section XXII. — Bandae Coal-field. 



In a paper contributed by me to the Records of our Survey in 1873, 

 I pointed out the vicinity of the village of Bandar in the Chanda dis- 

 trict as a probable coal-bearing area, and I suggested that a few trial 

 borings should be carried down to a small depth in order to prove the 

 correctness of my anticipation. 



It is gratifying to find that the practical conclusion based on geo- 

 logical evidence as to the existence of coal has been fully confirmed by 

 borings commenced under orders from the Chief Commissioner of the 

 Central Provinces, a seam several feet in thickness having been struck 

 in various holes, and thus another item added to the list of the mineral 

 resources of India. 



( H-5 ) 



