ON RECENT DISCOVERIES OE COPPER-ORE IN NOYA SCOTIA. 749 



41. Notes on some Recent Discoveries of Copper-ore in Nova 

 Scotia. By Edwin Gilpin, Esq., M.A., E.G.S., Mining Engi- 

 neer. (Read June 20, 1877.) 



Although for many years the presence of various ores of copper was 

 known in this province, it is but recently that discoveries have been 

 made of economic value. 



In the early Erench expeditions to Canada and Acadie (now Nova 

 Scotia) were men similar to those styled by Sir Humphrey Gilbert 

 " rare refiners of mines ; " and their reports on the supposed mineral 

 wealth of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton excited much interest in 

 Paris, and formed one of the reasons that Erance struggled so 

 strongly to retain her supremacy in British America. 



Lescharbot, writing in 1609, speaks of the native copper of the 

 Bay of Eundy as being " very pure in the stone," and adds, " many 

 goldsmiths have seen it in Erance, which do say that under the 

 copper-mine there might be a golden mine, which is very probable." 



The stone he alludes to is the trap associated with the Triassic 

 sandstones of the Bay of Eundy ; copper is found scattered through 

 it in small grains and lumps, but has not yet been found in work- 

 able quantity. Although this trap resembles that from the famous 

 Lake-Superior copper-district, the zeolites and other minerals cha- 

 racteristic of the Nova-Scotia trap are wanting in the Lake-Superior 

 trap ; and on no ground, so far I am aware, can any equivalence of 

 age be established. 



Passing over without notice the numerous unsuccessful attempts 

 that have been made to open productive copper-mines in Upper and 

 Lower Carboniferous strata, we find that the eastern part of the 

 province gives the best indications of permanent deposits. 



On reference to the accompanying geological map of part of the 

 province (p. 750), based on the map prefixed to the second edition of Dr. 

 Dawson's ' Acadian Geology/ it will be seen that the northern part 

 of Nova Scotia is traversed longitudinally by a band of strata of 

 Upper and Lower Silurian age, higher in geological sequence than 

 the auriferous measures of the Atlantic coast, and covered at one 

 point by a narrow band of Lower- Carboniferous age. 



In this Silurian series, and pursuing a general east-and-west 

 course, are numerous large bands of granites, reddish syenites, in 

 places composed of red felspar, hornblende, porphyry, compact 

 felspar, and diorites, with ash, &c. 



Pursuing a course roughly parallel to these bands is a tolerably 

 well-defined series of large fractures, extending from Parrsboro to 

 the East River of Pictou, and thence to Guysboro. The course of 

 this line of disturbance is marked by metamorphic action, ores of 

 iron and copper, and by dykes and masses of diorite, &c. 



From Parrsboro to Londonderry valuable brown haematite deposits 

 are found, with micaceous and specular ores, goethite, &c, running 



