PKXEOSE.] 
PHOSPHORITES OF SPAIN. 
57 
and east direction, respectively, at an angle of about 45°. The vein to 
the north has a thickness of ten to twenty feet, and contains a variable 
quantity of limestone and siliceous rock. The immediately surrounding 
rock is limestone of a hard, brown character, which has been excavated 
for a depth of some one hundred feet (1875). The leads appear to 
narrow as they are followed into the hill. The exterior of the mass of 
phosphate is hard, white, and compact, while toward the center it be- 
comes soft, crumbly, and of a rosy color (Shepard). There is less 
hard, siliceous rock here than in the other mines. 
At the Estrella mine the lead enters the hill in which the Esmeralda 
mine is situated at an angle of 45°. The total thickness of the deposit is 
ten to twenty feet. It is very irregular in shape and grows thinner as it 
enters the hill. It contains less of the rich, pulverulent variety of phos- 
phorite and more of the compact, vitreous variety than the last mine. 
Like the Esmeralda mine, it is in a limestone vein (Fig. 26). 
Fig. 26. The Eatrella deposit in Estremadura, Spain; after C TX. Shepard, jr. (MS.). A, limestone; 
B, phosphorite. 
The San Eugenio mine is smaller than either the Esmeralda or the Es- 
trella. The lead is almost vertical and the phosphorite in some places 
is of a very high grade, but in others it is very siliceous and impure. 
The Abundancia mine has been abandoned on account of the trouble 
from water. It is simply a round open pit 75 feet deep and 100 feet in 
diameter. It once gave large quantities of excellent phosphorite, but 
what is now left is siliceous and contains only 50 to 65 per cent, phos- 
phate of lime, while the best Spanish phosphate will average 80 to 85 
percent. (See analyses pp. 58, 59.) The Caceres phosphate is massive 
and amorphous and of two varieties: (1) Somewhat granular, easily 
crumpled, and of a white or rosy color; (2) dense, vitreous, hard, and 
white, with occasional streaks of quartz or limestone. 
Caceres is 43 miles north of Merida, a station on the railroad between 
Madrid and Lisbon, and near the Portuguese frontier. The cost of 
transportation between the two places varies from 12J to 20 cents per 
cwt. Thence to Lisbon costs $4.55 per ton, making the total cost to 
Lisbon amount to $5 to $8 per ton. The Caceres mines were not opened 
(531) 
