riiAiv xxxvT.] 
NACrUR : MANnVl niR. 
96» 
29. Mandvi Blr. 
(Madhu Lali, Docuiar Minino Syndicate) 
The Miindvi Bir excavations can be divided into three, A, li, and C, 
recivoning lioni west to east. The first is situated on a, little spur about 
200 yards east-south-east of liill f ,371, situated about 3 inches south- 
south-east of ' Mahim Jhiri ' uu the map. Several pit? on this spur 
showed ] to 4| feet of ore nodules resting on decon)posed pegmatite, vein- 
quartz, and tourmaline-granite, doubtless intrusive in the crystalline 
limestone. This spur joins to the north the main range of hills com- 
posed of epidosite and epidote-gneiss dipping at (55° to 8.10°E. Be- 
tween here and Miindvi Bir B, which lies about -} mile to the east, is an 
outcrop of the black manganiferous limestone. At Mandvi Bir B three 
pits stretched over a length of some 70 yards all showed ore in situ. In 
one pit the very siliceous ore-band was 12 feet wide and near another 
pit the outcrop of ore-bearing rock was 17 yards wide. The rock to 
the north of the ore-band was epidosite and to the south was crystalline 
Hmestone dipping at 50° to S.10°E. A few yards east of here on the line 
of strike of the above-mentioned ore-band there is an outcrop oi cry- 
stalline limestone containing piedmontite and other accessories, as well 
as much contorted nodules and thin bands of manganese-ore. 
Some little way east of B, probably in the ndld just to north-east 
of A 1331 on the map, there is a rock composed of nodules of manganese- 
ore joined together by decomposed limestone. This is doubtless an 
example of crystalline limestone in process of being dissolved away 
so as to leave a residual deposit of ore-nodules. 
The Mandvi Bir C pits n>ostly show nodule accuuiulations. But 
an excavation at the head of a ndld at '1250 showed an irregular mass, 
5 feet wide, composed of a mixture of hard grey ore and black limestone. 
The total length over which the Mandvi Bir ores occur is ? mile ; 
but the manganiferous limestone has been traced for 1| miles further 
west than Mandvi Bir A by Mr. Vredenburg. 
The ore is nearly always crystalline, usually hard, but sometimes 
Nature and quality ^oft. It is probably a mixture of braunite and 
of the oien. hoUandite or psiloroelane, as is the case of the Juna- 
wani ores (see page 972). The ores often contain bands of siliceous 
matter, calcite, etc., and would need a lot of cleaning if worked. It 
would, probably, not pay to work the lenticles and nodules of ore in situ 
in the limestone ; but a few hundred, or a thousand or two, tons of the 
loose accumulations of nodules might possibly be collected at various 
points along the outcrop. A sample was taken from the ore in situ 
at Mandvi Bir B. It consisted of hard fine-grained crystalline ore con- 
