80 MALLET : GEOLOGY OF DARJ1LING AND WESTERN DUARS. 



It appears then that out of the above fourteen localities four have been 

 tried by the native miners, but have not been considered sufficiently 

 promising to induce them to go on. Of the mines now wholly fallen 

 in or choked, Arjun spoke of that west of the Chel as very poor and 

 unimportant, but he described the seam in the Chel itself as decidedly rich, 

 compared to most of the others. I cannot say what degree of reliance 

 can be placed on his account. Mr. Taylor describes the 'lode' he 

 reported on in the Mahanaddi valley as &i feet thick, and estimates the 

 yield "in places" at 12 to 16 per cent, of ore, which is equal to 4 to 5 i 

 per cent, of copper. Mr. Blanford describes the ore from this or a 

 neighbouring mine as very poor, with a large admixture of mundic. My 

 own opinion of the mine near the mouth of the Buffapani, judging from 

 the little still visible, was not more favorable. 



The proportion of ore now apparent in the Rani Hat and Pashok 

 mines is very small, but this cannot be considered a fair criterion of 

 their value, as the miners would not be likely to abandon them if there 

 were any tempting layers of ore exposed at the time. The same seam 

 probably varies much in productiveness, and a mine would most pro- 

 bably be abandoned when the seam was least productive, although the 

 percentage of ore might again increase if the work were carried on 

 further. No very reliable opinion can therefore be formed as to the 

 value of these mines in their present state, but there seems no reason 

 to suppose that they were ever more than fairly productive to the native 

 miners, if even always that. I think the Rani is the better of the two. 

 Mr. Piddington's assay of ore from the Pashok mine gave only If 

 per cent, of copper. The proportion of ore at Kalingpung is about 

 equal to that at Rani Hat, but the rock is extremely hard and tough. 



Work at the Mangphu mine had been suspended for a couple of 

 months at the time I visited it, and the only ore yet unsmelted was some 

 which had been powdered, and left uncovered exposed to the wash of 

 the rain. I was therefore unable to get any average samples from con- 

 siderable heaps. The proportion of ore, however, exposed in the 



( 80 ) 



