MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 211 



outcrop between Antwerp and Keene the thickness averages in most 

 places between lo and 12 feet. 



Distribution. The report by Buddington, akeady referred to, 

 describes the pyrite deposits as occupying long belts of which seven 

 in all are noted in St Lawrence and Jefferson counties. The more 

 important of the belts form a single major belt or zone some 40 miles 

 long and from 3 to 4 miles wide extending in a northeast-southwest 

 direction from near Antwerp, Jefferson county, to near Canton, 

 St Lawrence county. This zone is practically conterminous with the 

 great belt of Grenville strata in that region. In fact, the gneisses 

 and schists in which the ores are usually found are part of the Gren- 

 ville series of metamorphosed sediments which include also crystal- 

 line limestone as an important member. Buddington defines the 

 principal belts as follows: Pyrites-Hermon belt on the northeast 

 end. A narrow belt of Grenville gneiss in the towns of De Kalb 

 and Gouvemeur, running northeast from the Cole mine. A belt of 

 gneiss occurring in the towns of Pierrepont, Hermon, Fowler, Rossie, 

 Antwerp and Philadelphia. The Laidlaw belt extending from Oxbow 

 into the town of Antwerp, between Halls Corners and Oxbow. 

 Another belt lies two-thirds of a mile southwest of Oxbow. In 

 addition there are smaller areas of pyritic gneisses in the vicinity of 

 Silvia lake, town of Fowler, and just east of Talcville, town of 

 Edwards. The principal mining operations hitherto have been 

 centered on the deposits at Pyrites, the Stella Mines near Hermon 

 and the Cole property in the vicinity of Gouvemeur. The most 

 promising of the undeveloped deposits probably, all things con- 

 sidered, are those situated in the Keene- Antwerp belt in the vicinity 

 of Oxbow. 



Mines at Pyrites. A vein or band of pyrite ore is exposed along 

 the Grass river :n the vicinity of Pyrites for a distance of over 

 one-half of a mile. The vein as shown on the surface ranges from 

 8 to 20 feet thick and has been attacked in several places by open- 

 cut excavations. It also has been worked under ground. The 

 principal mine operations were in the period 1 886-1 906, when the 

 High Falls P3rrites Company and later the National Pyrites Com- 

 pany exploited the deposit. Two inclined shafts were put dov/n 

 along the dip of the ore. A mill of 50 tons daily capacity was 

 erected at the mine for concentration. In 1907 the mines were 

 taken over by the Oliver Mining Company, which carried out 

 extensive exploratory operations with the diamond drill. These are 

 reported to have been successful in showing the presence of large 

 resources of the ore, but no active mining has since been undertaken. 



