32 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Greenfield, Saratoga county, made a small output which was ob- 

 tained mainly from development work. The deposit has not been 

 sufficiently opened to permit regular operations. At first the com- 

 pany attempted to secure an ore supply by open-cut methods, but 

 owing to the decomposed condition of the outcrop the material 

 thus obtained was unsuited for milling. During the past year an 

 incline shaft was started to develop the "deposit in depth. The 

 company has a large concrete mill on the property. 



The Saratoga Graphite Co. began operations last season in its 

 mines near Kings Station north of Saratoga Springs. 



The mines are open cuts along the outcropping edges of a quartz- 

 graphite schist which occurs in broken areas within the Precambric 

 formations that are otherwise represented by crystalline limestone, 

 quartzite, amphibolite and gneissoid eruptives of granitic and basic 

 character. They lie about one-half mile west of the Saratoga-Mt 

 McGregor highway on the side and top of the ridge that marks 

 the eastern boundary of the Precambrics as they fall off and dis- 

 appear below the Paleozoic strata which border the Adirondack 

 area. The first outcrop of the graphite rock on the north side of 

 the ravine in which the mill is located shows from 10 to 12 feet in 

 a single bed. The outcrop is much softened and iron stained through 

 the decomposition of pyrite that is present in the fresh rock. This 

 soft clayey material is of little value for milling purposes. The 

 bed dips 30 degrees southeast, nearly parallel with the hill slope. 

 The open cut is 50 feet long and 25 feet in width. Specimens of 

 the less altered schist show an abundance of graphite, but in finely 

 divided condition, most of the scales being less than 1 millimeter 

 diameter. There is some brown mica present. About one-fourth 

 mile farther west and higher up, a second area of the schist ap- 

 pears and has been opened by a pit which is 75 feet long by 

 30 feet in width. The schist here is not so thinly laminated and 

 contains knots and stringers of feldspar. The beds dip to the 

 southeast at a lower angle than in the easterly pit; they have a 

 pitch to the northwest. The graphite here is somewhat coarser, 

 the diameter of the flakes running up to 2 or 3 mm. The two 

 areas are separated by a rather massive, dark hornblende gneiss 

 that appears to be a metamorphosed gabbro. The output of refined 

 graphite thus far has been small. The mill has the usual equip- 

 ment of the Adirondack graphite mills. Stamps are used for final 

 crushing and the separation is effected mainly by buddies, supple- 

 mented by air jigs and revolving screens for the final treatment. 



