i 9 S 



FOOTE: GEOLOGY OF THE BELLARY DISTRICT. 



(on the south side of the steeply scarped north-east spur) cut 

 into the haematite quartzite rock, but there were no signs of copper 

 in any form or variety. The substances pointed out by the guides 

 as traces of ore were thin films of an impure sulphate of alumina, of 

 a pale yellowish to pale dirty green colour, a recent product of de- 

 composition due to infiltration, such as is often seen in damp exca- 

 vations in similar rocks elsewhere, e.g., in one of the two small caves 

 nearer the summit of the mountain. Had the rocks ever contained 

 copper ore, it is hardly possible that stains of typical character would 

 not have remained. That Newbold had really found indications of 

 copper ore cannot be doubted, so the only safe inference is, that the 

 locality where the old mine was opened has been forgotten, which 

 proves that it can never have been anything more than a mere trial 

 sinking. 



Of the unquestioned finds of copper ore, the first and only one of 



any importance is close to Harappanahalli, in the 



Copper at Harappana- more northerly of the great brecciated quartz- 



halli. 



runs lying northward of the town (see page 172). 

 The run, which is a large one, which rises at intervals into hilly ridges 

 of some height, is crossed by the high road leading from Harappanahalli 

 to Nandi Bevur (on the eastern side of the Mallapanbetta hill range). 

 The road crosses a saddle in the ridge, and on the eastern side of 

 this saddle, a few feet up the slope, some blocks of the quartz are 

 seen to be coloured characteristically green by films of carbonate of 

 copper in small patches. About half a mile further east-south-east, 

 on the southern slope of the ridge, the quartz is for a distance of some 

 score yards greatly copper-stained — the films of the bright green 

 carbonate permeating the mass in many directions along innumer- 

 able small planes of fracture. They are very rarely as much as a 

 line in thickness, and the aggregate quantity of the ore really very 

 small, and not sufficient evidently to make 

 mining remunerative, for it was abandoned after 

 a couple of small terraces had been excavated into the side of the 

 slope from which only a few tons of stuff could have been raised. 

 ( 19S ) 



The old mine. 



