28 Records of the Geological Survey of India. [voi,, pn, 
constant, there are difficulties in the way of its employment that might make the use of a 
more costly but a more reliable limestone advantageous. 
Until full analyses of many specimens have been made however, we cannot pass judg¬ 
ment. Should they prove the composition of kunkur constant between certain limits, then 
I think we may, without actual experiments on the large scale, declare it to be an appro¬ 
priate flux. 
Choice op site. —The tendency of the evidence brought forward has been to show that 
the country in the vicinity of the Barakar is best adapted for a site. No locality offers the 
same advantages. It is nearer to the foreign sources of limestone at Rotas and in the Haza- 
ribagh district than any other part of the field. The best quality coals occur there; easily 
workable ores may be got; an abundance of kunkur can be procured; sandstone quarries 
are in actual existence; the Grand Trunk Road, and the Barakar branch, and Chord Line of 
the East Indian Railway are in the immediate vicinity of all requisite raw materials; and 
the laud necessary for buildings, tipping room, &c., belongs, in great part I believe, to native 
holders, who would probably dispose of it at more favourable rates than British holders. 
Any definite selection of a site must of course be postponed for the judgment of the 
manager who may be appointed, but the choice ought to be limited between the meridians of 
the Sitarampur and Barakar Railway stations, and a short distance north or south of the 
Grand Trunk Road. 
Furnace building materials. —It is difficult to say off-hand whether certain stones 
will have the property of sustaining tlio temperature which the chemical process carried on in 
the furnace requires. In the selection of native stones, as also of artificially manufactured 
stones, we must be guided chiefly by experience. There are quarries near the Barakar bridge, 
from which the sandstone of the lower coal measures aro obtained, and if those that are fine¬ 
grained are selected, they will probably be found to withstand heat and the action of fluxes. 
Soapstone. —Occurs in the Manbhiim district, and dishes made from it used formerly 
to be sold at Taldanga ; source of supply is rather distant. 
Fire clay. —Scarcely any attempt has hitherto been made to turn the fire-clay, which is 
found with many of the seams, to account. Messrs. Bum and Company, who possess pottery 
works at Raniganj, have lately made a few bricks from the clay in the Raniganj colliery of 
the Bengal Coal Company, and the manager, Mr. Cowhan, informed me that they were tested 
at Jamalpur, and were found to withstand the treatment they were subjected to much better 
than English bricks. I believe fire-clay occurs at the Basera colliery of the Raniganj Coal 
Association, but it has not yet been tested. 
Coarse sand. —This is required for mixing with other materials. It can be obtained 
from the rivers Barakar and Damuda. 
Quartz. —This, like the above, may also be wanted for mixing. Large quantities are 
procurable a short distance up the chord line, about Jamtarah. 
Moulding sand. —Some moulding sand of very pure quality is obtained near Raniganj 
from the Damuda. I know of no other place where it occurs, but equally good sand may 
possibly be found in the Barakar. 
Concluding remarks. —Having shown that the materials essential for the manufacture 
of iron exist, I will now point out what the probable cost of coal, iron, and kunkur per ton 
will be. 
Coal. —A very fair estimate is Rs. 2-8 to Rs. 3 a ton. 
Iron-ore. —The price of ore delivered at the works will probably be Re. 1 a ton. 
The rates at present paid by the contractors who obtain ore from the Kfilti estate of the 
