l8 WALKER : GEOLOGY OF KALAHANDI STATE. 



graphite farther east than I have mapped it. The total width from north 

 to south over which graphite is observed is about twenty yards. 



The sands and gravels which cut these graphite bands contain a 

 large proportion of graphite in the form of boulders, pebbles, blocks, 

 but chiefly as grains and flakes. 



The graphite found in the outcrops along the western ravine (speci- 

 men 15*230) is of good quality being fairly free from gritty particles 

 ef other minerals. An analysis of an average sample obtained by 

 grinding down several pounds of this graphite yielded on an assay- 

 Volatile matter ...... 6-33% 



Carbon ....... 65*22% 



Ash after ignition 3121% 



10276% 



or, omitting the volatile matter and calculating to a hundred, 69*61% 

 of pure carbon. 



A sample was submitted to a firm of brokers in Colombo for valua- 

 tion, but they replied that it had no commercial value. More favour- 

 able reports were obtained from a London firm which uses large 

 quantities of graphite. In this case it was valued at £5 per ton and 

 at that rate the firm in question was willing to purchase a trial lot of 

 ten tons. The samples submitted were from the surface and may be 

 surpassed by the graphite at a greater depth. 



As to the quantity of graphite, it is very dangerous to even hazard 

 a figure, for in dealing with mineral deposits in crystalline rocks it is 

 impossible to predict the approximate amounts to be obtained by 

 mining as is usual in dealing with deposits such as coal or iron which 

 occur in younger sediments. 



The rocks in which the graphite occurs at Densurgi would ordinarily 

 be regarded as a fine grained variety of the granitoid gneiss. 

 Graphite, however, is more frequent in para-schists. It does not seem 

 possible to determine whether these rocks are really of igneous origin 

 or metamorphosed arkoses in which the graphite occurs as metamor- 

 phosed carbonaceous deposits. In the former case the graphite might 



