FIFTH REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 1908 



21 



immediate future. It is intended eventually to continue the investi- 

 gations so as to provide similar reports upon the other districts, 

 thereby giving for the first time a comprehensive account of these 

 deposits throughout the State. The subject of iron ore supplies is 

 just now engaging unusual attention, due to the enormous growth 

 recently in the consumption of iron and steel and a realization of 

 the need of preparing- to meet a correspondingly large advance in 

 the years to come. With the increased demands made upon the 

 mining fields, there has been a very appreciable falling off in 

 the grade of the ores shipped to furnaces, a feature that is bring- 

 ing new sources of supply within reach of practical utilization. 

 A renewed interest is already manifest in both the Adirondack^ and 

 the Clinton district by the many developments that have taken place 

 during the last year or so. 



The Adirondack region has furnished altogether nearly 40,000,- 

 000 tons of magnetite, mainly of high grade character. While 

 important bodies of that kind still remain, sufficient to furnish an 

 equivalent output at least in the future, the main resources consist 

 of low grade ores, in which the magnetite is associated with gangue 

 minerals and which require concentration before using in the 

 furnace, and of the titaniferous magnetites hitherto held in little 

 regard. Concentration is already being practised successfully on 

 nontitaniferous ores carrying as low as 35$ iron. There are 

 numerous and large bodies of such ores awaiting development. In 

 the report attention was called also to the possibility of utilizing 

 the titaniferous magnetites, as some careful experiments have 

 shown that the titanium can be partially removed by a process of 

 concentration similar to the method employed for the other magne- 

 tites. Their amenability to concentration is dependent upon the fact 

 that the titanium, in many cases at least, is mostly segregated as 

 ilmenite, while the magnetite carries a subordinate amount only of 

 that element. If concentration proves to be practicable on a com- 

 mercial scale, there is no doubt that the deposits will come into 

 immediate use, since the magnetites aside from their titanium con- 

 tent are admirably adapted to furnace use. It is understood that 

 further tests along this line are in progress with reference to the 

 Lake Sanford ore bodies which have recently been explored with 

 highly satisfactory results. 



The report on the Clinton ores includes a number of new sections 

 showing the occurrence and stratigraphic relations of the ore seams 

 over a portion of the belt hitherto unexplored. These sections were 

 prepared from the records of drill holes put down during the fall 



