78 mallet: geology of darjiltng and western duars. 



In a lateral ravine which joins the Lesu south of Sampthar, 

 some indications of copper have been exposed by 

 a landslip, and the out-crop was cleared for my 

 inspection. The rock is clay-slate, with occasional lenticular layers 

 of quartz, in which most of the copper pyrites, associated with mundic, 

 occurs. These layers contain a considerable proportion of ore, but there 

 were only two or three of them exposed, varying in thickness from 

 2 inches downwards. The dip of the beds is west 20° north at 30°. 



Four years ago a small quantity of ore was extracted from a ravine 



„ . „ „, , west of the Chel by the same men who worked 



Ravine west of Chel J 



river - the next-mentioned mine. The slates here dip 



north at 40°; and Arjun described the seam as only 1 or 2 inches thick. 



This mine, the mouth of which is on a level with the stream, is 

 now completely filled with stones and water, so 

 that nothing can be seen, except that it is 

 driven into clay-slate dipping east of north at 30°. It is on the 

 western bank of the Chel at a point where the river, which flows in two 

 channels above, again joins into one. Arjun, a Nepali, who was sent 

 to show me the place, and who had worked in the mine, told me that the 

 locality was indicated to him and others who were searching for copper 

 about four years ago by some fishermen on the Chel, who had observed 

 what they thought looked like ore. After much labor the miners 

 succeeded in turning all the water to the eastern side of the channel, 

 thus leaving the western bank dry. The mine was carried to some 

 20 feet from the surface, following the dip of the beds, the seam varying 

 from about 4 inches to a foot in thickness, and Arjun described it as 

 having been solid ore with little or no gangue (?) . Twenty mans of copper 

 was smelted during four months' work. The hot-weather had then set 

 in, aud seven men died of fever. Jangbir, the lessee of the mine, who 

 had gone towards Darjiling to sell the copper, also died, and hence the 

 mine was abandoned. The seam, however, still maintained its full 

 thickness, but its value is greatly diminished by its position. There 

 ( 78 ) 



