REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I916 285 



more sulphur. The Laidlaw farm, i mile east of Oxbow, on the 

 north end of the belt, has been prospected in a small way by trench- 

 ing across the body in one or two places. The ore shown in the 

 principal pit consists of 4 feet of pyrrhotite on the footwall with 

 15 to 20 feet of pyrite overlying it. A composite sample of the 

 latter gave the following results on analysis : Sulphur, 29.06 per 

 cent ; arsenic, 0.22 per cent ; iron, 33.77 per cent. A sample of the 

 pyrrhotite from the same place yielded 27.78 per cent sulphur. 



In the vicinity of Sylvia lake is a belt of pyrite schist on which 

 some prospecting has been done. The Kilburn place is one of the 

 localities that has been tested. In the average the ore is lower 

 grade than that of the other belts described. The belt is also rather 

 inaccessible, lying several miles distant from the nearest station on 

 the Edwards branch railroad. A very similar grade of ore occurs, 

 south of Talcville, near Pleasant Valley school. 



Altogether the St Lawrence- Jefferson county region contains 

 enormous resources of ore of low-grade character. All of the 

 material requires concentration to bring it up to marketable standard. 

 The ratio of concentration and tenor of the product obtainable 

 under practical conditions can be determined of course only by 

 actual tests conducted for each deposit. But the experience that 

 has been obtained in the past at the several mines under operation 

 may be taken as a useful guide in a general way. It would appear 

 that the practical limit to which concentration may be carried with 

 the ores is to produce a product with 45 to 47 per cent sulphur. 

 This requires from 2.5 to 3 tons of the crude 20 to 25 per cent ore 

 to each ton of concentrates. Mining conditions in the region on the 

 whole are favorable. The costs for mining and milling may be taken 

 as about on the same level as in the iron mines in the eastern 

 Adirondacks, or a little below the latter if anything, due allowance 

 being made for local conditions and surroundings of the ccurrences. 



SALT 



The salt industry experienced a remarkable expansion of activity 

 in 1916. Although no new mines or evaporating plants entered the 

 list of producers during the year, the output increased by about 2J 

 per cent in quantity and 23 per cent in value as compared with the 

 totals reported for 191 5. This shows the great reserve of pro- 

 ductive capacity available that was not hitherto brought into use. 



The total product, inclusive of rock and evaporated salt and the 

 salt contents of brine employed for the manufacture of soda prod- 

 ucts, amounted to 14,087,750 barrels, as compared with 11,095,301 

 barrels for the preceding year, also a record output. It is noticeable 



