THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I913 43 



to the mill. The reduction at the shaft house will enable the mill 

 to handle half as much ore again as it now treats. The improve- 

 ments will provide an ultimate hoisting capacity of over 3000 tons 

 a day, but this can not be fully utilized until additional milling 

 capacity is provided. The ore bodies at Lyon Mountain are among 

 the largest in the State and are notable for their low content in 

 phosphorus and sulphur. They are lean, carrying only 30 to 35 

 per cent iron, but there has always been an active demand for the 

 concentrates which command prices above those paid for ordinary 

 ores. 



Cheever mine. This mine has continued in successful operation, 

 making an average of 500 tons of concentrating ore a day, taken in 

 part from the old slopes, but mainly from new ground developed by 

 the present management. 



Croton mine. Construction work was begun in 1912 with a view- 

 to reopening the Croton mine and to its operation on a large scale. 

 The plans for the new enterprise, as drawn up by the Croton Mag- 

 netic Iron Mines, call for a concentrating plant that will handle 

 1500 tons crude ore a day, with an outturn, it is expected, of about 

 500 tons concentrates. The mill is designed for the use of the 

 Grondal wet process, supplemented by sintering to reduce the sul- 

 phur content. Experiments with the ore are reported to have in- 

 dicated that concentrates averaging 64 per cent iron can be made 

 by crushing to 20 mesh ; the sulphur content of the sintered product 

 is .3 per cent and the phosphorus .03 per cent, well within the Besse- 

 mer limit. The foundations of the mill were completed within the 

 year. If the original plans are carried out this will be the first 

 plant of its kind in the State, and should afford some interesting 

 material for comparison with the magnetic concentrating plants of 

 the Adirondacks which are all based on dry methods. 



The Croton mine is opened on a large body of low-grade mag- 

 netite which is a part of an ore zone that extends some 5 miles in 

 a southwest direction from the village of Brewster. The mine is 

 about in the middle of the zone, while the Brewster mine lies at 

 the north and a third mine is near the south end and one-half mile 

 west of Croton Falls. Work has been carried on at different times, 

 the last period of previous activity beginning in 1899 and continuing 

 for a few years. Magnetic concentration was practised in the later 

 operations, but the sulphurous nature of the ore, and particularly 

 the presence of pyrrhotite, presented difficulties that could not then 

 be readily overcome. The magnetite body has been tested for a 



