REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I917 189 



would be afforded by the iron minerals of the Wabana deposits of 

 New Foundland, described by Hayes. 1 



Here again the main ore is hematite, occurring in vast bodies, 

 with subsidiary chamosite and siderite. In the same section there 

 are sharply defined beds of oolitic chamosite which, as is the case 

 with the gray oolite at Clinton, have been subjected to all the 

 vicissitudes that have affected the ore but have retained what is 

 clearly their original constitution. In both the Wabana and the 

 Clinton cases, which are closely parallel, except in the matter of 

 scale, it seems perfectly clear that the chamosite and hematite 

 beds are distinct in character now, not because of secondary changes, 

 but because they were originally distinct and have in both cases 

 preserved their original characteristics with little modification. 



It is on these purely empirical grounds that the derivation of the 

 ores from silicates is rejected, for not only is there no theoretical 

 obstacle to the hypothesis, but the cases of the Mesabi ores, the 

 Minette ores of Lorraine, and many others, are evidence of the 

 possibility of such derivation on a large scale. The field relations 

 of the Clinton ores, however, (and the same is true of the Wabana 

 ores) seem to preclude the possibility of such origin. Should further 

 deep exploitation of the Clinton ores show a general passage into 

 beds of chamosite, this conclusion would of course have to be aban- 

 doned; but in view of the depth to which they have already been 

 worked, without change of character, it is deemed most improbable 

 that any such change will appear. Even the occasional occurrence 

 of chamosite varieties of the ore would not be sufficient evidence to 

 establish the silicate hypothesis, -for if, as shown above, chamosite is 

 a widespread and presumably primary constituent of the ores, it is 

 quite conceivable that it would sometimes surpass the hematite in 

 quantity without at all indicating that this is a general relation. 



As to the precise method of formation of the ferrous silicate, 

 little can be said with certainty. 



In the case of the gray oolite, the silicate is of very shallow water 

 origin, having been deposited on a cracked mud surface. The 

 silicate was deposited in concentric shells, coating rounded quartz 

 grains, the deposition beginning around isolated grains but gradually 

 cementing these together so that, in a late stage of the process,, 

 there was some blending of the shells of adjacent spherules (plate 3, 

 figures 1 and 2). That the iron was first precipitated as hydrated 



1 Hayes, A. O., Wabana Iron Ore of New Foundland. Geol. Survey of 

 Canada, Mem. 78, p. 17 and 19, 191 5. 



