140 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the period of the war the price of the highest grade has risen, 

 while the market value of the lowest grade has fallen. The present 

 prices will not continue after the war. 



The present prices average x : No. I flake, 88 per cent of 

 graphitic carbon, 12J/2 to 15 cents a pound; No. 2 flake, 82 per 

 cent carbon, 9 to 12 cents; dust, 40 per cent carbon, ^4 cents. 



THE PROSPECT FOR FUTURE PRODUCTION 



Ore reserves are always mere guesses based upon probabilities. 

 Nevertheless the writer offers the following estimates. 



The American Graphite Company has undeveloped lands, but it 

 is not possible at the present time to estimate the tonnage of its 

 reserves. In the matter of probable reserves the following prop- 

 erties can be regarded as commercially important : the Faxon prop- 

 erty, Hooper Brothers', the Flake Graphite Company and the 

 Graphite Products Corporation, which have a collective reserve 

 estimated to be in the neighborhood of 10,000,000 to 13,000,000 

 tons of graphite schist, half of which is readily available. This is 

 not counting the Bly property, which is probably out of the running, 

 for the present at least, until a concentration process can be devised 

 to handle the mica. 



In conclusion, the successful graphite miner will be one who has 

 an extensive deposit of the bedded schist of uniform grade, 

 measurably free from mica, without geological complexities, who 

 operates in a large way and manufactures a good share of his own 

 products. 



ARTIFICIAL GRAPHITE 



Graphite made in the electric furnace or as a by-product of the 

 blast furnace has been regarded in lav circles as forecasting the 

 doom of the mining of graphite. This is true to only a very small 

 extent, and does not affect the Adirondack deposits of flake graphite. 

 The electric furnace product is manufactured from coal and is 

 amorphous. Its use is chiefly confined to the manufacture of dry 

 batteries and electrodes. The carbon that accumulates in the wash- 

 ing tanks of illuminating gas companies is likewise put to similar 

 uses. This amorphous carbon is not usable in the manufacture of 

 crucibles and certain graphitic greases. 



The fbke graphite in slags is highly charged with oxides of iron, 

 which reduce its refractibility to such an extent as to render it 



Newland, D. H., Eng. and Min. Jour., JanTi9, 1918, p. 151 



