COPPER. 103 



such as andesites and basalts. He distinguishes four types of 

 deposits : — 



(a) In contraction fissures and cracks of the eruptive rocks. 

 (6) Pocket deposits at the contact of eruptive rocks and lime- 

 stone. 



(c) In irregular fissures in limestone in the vicinity of eruptive 



rocks. 



(d) In more or less open fractures continuous across limestone 



and shale. 



Secondary enrichment is strong and prevalent. (La., p. 400.) 



This mine has been described by Leclere, Lantenois and Deprat. 



It is situated 10 kilometres south of Mien- 



Wei-teou-chan (I, in- n ., 



an jji^y tien, a small town some twenty miles east 



(Lat. 23° 36' : Long. f Lin-an Fu. In 1905 it found employment 



1 ()9° ')9 / ) . 



for 70 miners and produced (50 metric tons 

 of copper per annum. According to Deprat it is far from flourishing 

 and will probably be abandoned. The lode seen by Leclere is 

 worked out but another thin one carrying quartz rich in bornite 

 and copper and iron pyrites, following an irregular fissure in an 

 eruptive rock, is exploited. A third thin lode is also worked. The 

 mineral extracted contains about 20-25 per cent, of copper. (La., 

 ]>. 409 and D., p. 247). 



This mine is situated near Pe-tchen which is a few miles north- 

 east of Hsin-hsing Chou. It has been des- 

 chian^FuJ. cribed by Lantenois. (La., p. 409-410). Ten 



(Lat. 24° 40' : Long, years previous to his visit, it found emplov- 



ment for 1,000 men and produced 300 metric 



tons of copper per annum. Mining was then impeded by the 



depth of the workings. Only forty men were employed at the 



time of Lantenois' visit and thirty metric tons of copper were said 



to be produced annually, though Lantenois thinks this figure a 



little too high. There are three beds of mineral interstratified 



with sandstone floors and shale roofs. Their thicknesses are 3, 5, 



and -6 metres respectively. Only one of these was being worked. 



The mineral is found in the form of balls rich in copper carbonate. 



It is handpicked and washed and yields 20 per cent, of copper 



on smelting. The copper is bought by the Government at about 



1,000 francs per metric ton. This mine deserves attention. (La,, 



pp. 409-411 and D., p. 247). 



