ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. ] 03 



CHAFTEK IX.— ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 



The circumstances of the case unfortunately compel the admission 

 that the mineral resources of the area described in the foregoing 

 pages are very small as regards all the really valuable and important 

 minerals. It is only in the matter of building and road materials 

 that the country is well off; and even in this matter it is no better 

 off than the average districts further to the south. Of metallic ores, 

 there is certainly an abundance of good iron ; but as unfortunately no 

 coal or other mineral fuel accompanies it, it must for the present remain 

 unused and uncared for. Whether this state of things will remain so or 

 T „ c ,, not remains to be seen. The opening of the new 



Influence of the new * =" 



canal on a possible iron east coast, or Buckingham Canal, may possibly 



render the magnetic iron of the Ongole beds valu- 

 able enough to be carried to Madras, or to some other point where 

 sea-borne coal might be used to smelt it. Canal carriage being 

 extremely cheap as compared with all other methods, it may be worth the 

 while of those interested in the matter to look into it. The Napier 

 Iron Foundry in Madras is said to use indigenous iron ore from Nellore 

 district, but there is no magnetic iron in the southern part of the dis- 

 trict, so they are probably using a lateritic ore greatly inferior in wealth 

 and quality of iron. Should the Ongole iron beds be made available to 

 supply ore, it might lead, later on, to the working of some of the other 

 beds that are close to the Gundlakamma or the Man-eru rivers, as they 

 could be placed in direct communication with the canal for a few days in 

 the rainy seasons. No iron smelting industry seems to be followed by 

 the natives at present in the parts described in this Memoir, though it 

 formerly existed, and is mentioned by Dr. Heyne. 



The only other metallic ore met with was copper, but merely in 



very minute traces, as malachite, or green carbo- 

 Copper ores. ... 



nate, occurring in tiny cavities, and those very 



scarce indeed. This was found at the northern end of the Gogulapalle 



quartzite ridge (see page 13). The indications were not at all promising 



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