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lANSACTlONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OK MINING ENGINEERS. 
 
 THE APATITE DEPOSITS OF CANADA. 
 
 BY T. STEKRY HUNT, LL.D., F.R.S., MONIBEAL, CANADA. 
 
 (Read at the Cincinnati Meeting, February, ItttM.) 
 
 The presence of apatite in the Laurentian rocks of North America 
 has long been known to mineralogists, and within a few years so 
 much interest has been excited by the economic importance of de- 
 posits of this mineral found in certain parts of Canada, that a brief 
 liistory of our knowledge of these deposits may not be unacceptable 
 to the members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. It 
 was in 1847 that the present writer was shown by a local collector of 
 minerals some large crystals, which had been called beryl, found in 
 North Burgess, in Ontario. These were at once recoT;nized as apa- 
 tite; and after a visit to the locality, this was described in the re- 
 port of the geological survey of Canada for that year as likely to 
 furnish an abundant supply of a valuable fertilizer; the opinion 
 being then expressed that the fact of " the existence of such deposits 
 as these will prove of great importance." 
 
 pMccimens of apatite from this locality, collected by the writer, 
 were shown among the economic minerals of Canada at the great 
 exhibitions of Ivondon and Paris in 1851 and 1855, and the mineral 
 had already been found by explorers at several other points in the 
 same region previous to 1863. In the Geology of Canada^ pub- 
 lished in that year, the writer resumed the results of his further 
 studies of these deposits, and described the apatite as occurring in 
 the Laurentian rocks, both distributed in crystals through carbonate 
 of lime, and in " irregular beds running with the stratification and 
 composed of nearly pui'e crystalline phosphate of lime." This was 
 further said to occur in North Burgess,, in several parallel " beds 
 interstratified with the gneiss."* 
 
 In a subsequent report of the geological survey, in 1866, I again 
 noticed the occurrence of the apatite in beds in the pyroxenic rocks 
 often found associated with the gneiss. It was said, " the presence 
 of apatite seemed characteristic of the interstratified pyroxenic rocks 
 
 . * Loc. cit., pp. 592, 76L 
 
 583*47 
 
P553,tf 
 
 THE APATITE DEPOSITS OF CANADA. 
 
 of this section, in which it was very frequently found in small 
 grains and masses, alike in the granular and the micaceous schistose 
 varieties." In these rocks, the apatite was said to mark the stratifi- 
 cation, and to form, in one example, a bed, in some parts two I'eet 
 thick, which was traced 250 feet along the strike of the pyroxenic 
 rock. I at the same time described the occurrence of apatite, often 
 with calcite, in " true vein-stones, cutting the bedded rocks of the 
 country;" alike gneiss, pyroxenite, and crystalline limestone. These 
 latter deposits were farther spoken of as well-defined veins, travers- 
 ing vertically, and nearly at right angles, the various rocks; as 
 often banded in structure, and including besides apatite both calcite 
 and mica, occasionally with pyroxene, and more rarely with horn- 
 blende, wollastonite, zircon, quartz, and orthoclase. These veins were 
 said to be very irregular, often changing rapidly in their course 
 from a width of several feet to narrow fissures. It was added, 
 " it is evident that this district can be made to supply considerable 
 quantities of apatite;" and while the uncertainties arising from the 
 irregularities of the veins were mentioned, it was said, that "some 
 of the deposits might probably be mined with profit."* 
 
 Before following farther this history, it may be stated that there 
 are two districts in Canada which have, within the past few years, 
 been found to contain deposits of apatite of economic importance; 
 one in the province of Ontario, in which the above observations were 
 made by the writer previous to 1866, including parts of the counties 
 of Lanark, Leeds, and Frontenac; and the other, since made known, 
 in the province of Quebec, chiefly in Ottawa county. In both cases 
 it is found in the rocks of the Laurentian series, consisting of grani- 
 toid gneisses with bands of quartzite, of pyroxenite, and of crystal- 
 line limestone. These ancient and highly inclined strata, with a 
 northeast strike, rise from beneath the horizontal paleozoic rocks 
 near Kingston, and again pass beneath them near Perth. These 
 overlying strata, belonging to the Ottawa basin, hide, moreover, to 
 the eastward, the apatite-bearing gneisses of this district ; which, 
 a short distance to the westward, are again concealed by the Taconian 
 and other overlying pre-Cambrian groups in Hastings county. The 
 gneissic belt is here seen chiefly in the townships of Loughborough, 
 Storrington, Bedford, North and South Crosby, and in North Bur- 
 gess, where the apatite was first discovered. 
 
 The country presents a succession of small, isolated, rounded, 
 rocky hills, alternating with numerous small lake-basins, hollowed 
 
 ♦ Loc. cit., pp. 20i, 224, 229. 
 
 . . .••♦ • . 
 
 •.'^: ; . : . • . •.••*,.- • 
 
THE APATITE DEPOSITS OF CANADA. 
 
 3 
 
 out of the gneiss, and sometimes out of the interstratified limestones ; 
 the general trend both of the hills and the lakes being coincident 
 with the strike of the rocks. These, though concealed in the val- 
 leys by considerable depths of alluvial soil, are seen in the hills to 
 be hard and undecayed. These geographical features, as I have 
 elsewhere pointed out, were apparently determined by sub-aerial 
 decay previous to the erosion which removed from them the softened 
 and disintegrated portions, leaving the present outlines.* 
 
 When, after cutting the forest-growth which covers these hills of 
 granitoid gneiss, fire is allowed to pass over the surface, destroying 
 the undergrowth, the comparatively thin layer of soil is laid bare, 
 and is soon washed away by the rains; leaving the bald, rocky strata 
 exposed in a manner singularly favorable for geological study, but 
 rendering the region sterile. To prevent this process of denudation 
 it has become the practice in some parts of the country, after burn- 
 ing over the hillsides, to sow them, without loss of time, with grass- 
 seed, which, at once taking root, protects the soil from the destruc- 
 tive action of rains, and transforms it into good pasture-land. This 
 system, which has been adopted to a considerable extent in parts of 
 Frontenac county, Ontario, is worthy of record and of imitation in 
 other regions. 
 
 The similar apatite-bearing gneisses, which are found to the north 
 of the river Ottawa, a little northeast of the city of that name, arc 
 in Ottawa county, Quebec, and chiefly in the townships of Buck- 
 ingham, Templeton, and Portland. They reproduce all the charac- 
 teristics of the first-mentioned district, and may be looked upon as 
 a prolongation of it beneath the northwestern limb of the paleozoic 
 basin already mentioned. Later observations, both in Ontario and 
 in this latter district, where mining operations have been carried 
 on within the past few years, have been recorded by Messrs. Broome 
 and Vennor, and by Dr. Harrington, — the latter up to 1878. They 
 have, however, added little to our knowledge of the conditions of 
 occurrence of the mineral beyond what had already been set forth 
 in 1863 and 1866. 
 
 I have, within the past few months, examined with some detail 
 many of the apatite-workings in Ontario, which have served to con- 
 firm the early observations, and to give additional importance to the 
 fact, already insisted upon in previous descriptions, that the deposits 
 of apatite are in part bedded or interstratified in the pyroxenic rock 
 
 * See the author's v>aper on " Rock Decay Geologically Considered." — Amer. 
 Jour. Science!^, Sept., 1883. 
 
THE APATITE DEPOSITS OF CANADA. 
 
 of the region, and in part are true veins of ^Kwterior origin. The gneissic 
 rocks, with their interstratified qiiartzase and pyroxenie layers, and 
 an include<l band of crystalline limestone, have a general northeast 
 and southwest strike, and are much folded ; exhibiting pretty sym- 
 metrical anticlinals and synclinals, in which the strata are seen to 
 dip at various angles, sometimes as low as 25° or 30°, but more 
 often approaching the vertical. The bedde<l deposits of apatite, 
 which are found running and dipping with these, I am disposed to 
 look ujx)n as true beds, dejMJsited at the same time with the in- 
 closing rocks. The veins, on the contrary, cut across all these strata, 
 and, in some noticeable instances, include broken angular masses of 
 the inclosing rocks. They are, for the most part, nearly at right 
 angles to the strike of the strata, and generally vertical, though to 
 both of these conditions there are exceptions. One vein, which had 
 yielded many hundred tons of apatite, I found to intersect, in 
 a nearly horizontal attitude, vertical strata ofgneins; and in rare 
 cases what appear, from their structure and composition, to be veins, 
 are found coinciding in dip and in strike with the inclosing strata. 
 
 The distinction between the beds and the veins of apatite is one 
 of considerable practical importance, — first, as i-elated to the quality 
 of the mineral contained, and second, as to the continuity of the 
 deposits. The apatite of the interbedded deposits is generally com - 
 pactly crystalline, and free from admixtures, although in some 
 cases including pyrites, and more rarely magnetic iron-ore, with 
 which it may form interstratified layers. Many will recall in this 
 connection the bands of magnetite, with an admixture of granular 
 apatite, found intei'stratified in parts of the great magnetic ore-de- 
 posit known as the Port Henry mine, near LakeChamplain, in Essex 
 county. New York ; where, in certain layers formerly mined, the 
 apatite made up about one-half the bulk. I have seen an example 
 of a similar association of magnetite and apatite from Frontenac 
 county, Ontario. The latter mineral is, however, for the most part 
 found included in the beds of pyroxene rock, already mentioned, 
 which is generally pale green or grayish green in color, sometimes con- 
 taining quartz and orthoclase, and distinctly gneissoid in structure. 
 
 The veins present more complex conditions ; while they are often 
 filled throughout their width by apatite as pure and as massive as 
 that found in the beds, it happens not un frequently that portions of 
 Bucli veins consist of coarsely crystalline, sparry calcite, generally 
 reddish in tint, holding more or less apatite in large or small crys- 
 tals, generally with rounded angles, and often accompanied by crys- 
 
THE APATITE DEPOfiTTR OP CANADA. 
 
 tals of mica, and sometimes of pyroxene and other minerals. Oc- 
 cafiionally these mixtures, in which the earbonate of lime generally 
 predominates, will oecupy the whole breadth of the vein. These 
 /ime-veins, as they are called by the miners, sometimes include cavi- 
 ties from which the carbonate apj^wars to have been dissolved by 
 infiltrating waters, leaving free the inclosed crystals of apatite. In 
 some cases, however, these veins present cavities which have ap- 
 parently never been filled with solid matter, and exhibit drusy 
 surfiices, with quartz, and more rarely with barytine and zeolites. 
 These calcareous veins often carry so much carbonate of lime as to 
 be valueless for commercial purposes, unless some cheap means for 
 separating the apatite can be devised, ft may be said, in general 
 terms, that while some of these true veins, throughout jmrtions or 
 the whole of their breadth, yield good and pure apatite, others are 
 of comparatively little value. The bedded masses, on the contrary, 
 are free from carbonate of lime, and although they may occasionally 
 contain small quantities of mica, pyroxene, hornblende, or pyrites, 
 these are seldom present to an injurious extent. 
 
 The question of the continuity of these deposits of both classes is 
 an important one. Veins filling fissures that have been formed in 
 rocks are sometimes continuous for great lengths and to great depths, 
 but experience shows that their extent varies very much for different 
 regions and for different rocks. Inclined beds, which were once 
 horizontal sheets, inclosed in strata that have since been folded, 
 should be as persistent in depth as they are 'n length ; and when 
 traced in the outcrop for many hundreds of feet, may be expected, 
 under ordinary circumstances, to continue downwnrds as far, unless 
 a turn of the inclosing strata brings them up again to the surface. 
 The inclosed beds of aj)atite in the regions already noticed are often 
 traced for 500 to 1000 feet and more, and there is reason to believe 
 that they are continuous for long distances. The workings upon 
 them have, however, as yet been very superficial, generally from 
 twenty to forty feet, and rarely exceeding 100 feet. The deepest 
 mine, which is in Ottawa county, is now about 200 feet. 
 
 The ordinary thickness of the bedded masses of apatite may he 
 said to vary from one to three and four feet, though not unfrequently 
 expanding to eight and ten feet, and even more, and sometimes con- 
 tracting to a few inches; the same layer being subject to considerable 
 variations. In some cases the apatite in a bed is found to thicken 
 and then to diminish, or to be divided by the interposition of the 
 accompanying pyroxenic rock. The condition of the apatite in these 
 
THE APATITE DEPOSITS OF CANADA. 
 
 cases recallK the tliickeiiinjjf and tliiiinliifj; sometimes observe'l in a 
 layer of coal amonj; (listiirl)e<l strata, where, as the resnlt of ^reat 
 pressure attending the movements of tlie harder inclosing rocks, it 
 is alternately attenuated and swollen in volume ; in which case a 
 thinning in one part is necessarily compensated for by a thickening 
 of the parts adjacent. 
 
 The thickness of the veins also, as above stated, is very variable, 
 and the same vein in a distance of a few hundred feet will some- 
 times diminish from eight or ten feet to a few inches. We have 
 already noticed the variable nature of the contents of these veins, 
 which are sometimes filled with solid and pure apatite, and at other 
 times present bands or layers of this mineral, with others chicHy of cal- 
 cite, of |)yroxeue crystals, or of a magnesian mica, occasionally mined 
 for commercial purposes. While these veins have yielded in many 
 cases considerable amounts of apatite, they have not the persistency 
 of the beds. Their study presents many interesting facts in para- 
 genesis, which 1 have described in detail in the report of the geolo- 
 gical survey for 1866, already quoted, and more briefly in my Chemi- 
 cal and Oeological Essays (pp. 208-213). 
 
 ft is worthy of remark, that some of the first attempts at mining 
 apatite in Canada were upon these veins, and that their irregularities 
 contributed not a little to the discouragement which followed the 
 early trials. The larger part of the productive workings are upon 
 the bedded deposits. These, however, as already noticed, are for the 
 most part opened only by shallow pits ; a condition of things which 
 i.^ explained by the peculiar character and the frequency of the de- 
 posits, and also by the economic value of the apatite. This mineral, 
 unlike most ordinary ores, is, in its crude state, a merchant-able article 
 of considerable value, and finds a ready sale at all times, even in 
 small lots of five or ten tons. Like wheat, it can be converted into 
 ready money, at a price which generally gives a large return for the 
 labor expended in its extraction. Hence it is that farmers and 
 other persons, often with little or no knowledge of mining, have, in 
 a great number of places throughout the district described, opened 
 pits and trenches for the purpose of extracting apatite, and at first 
 with very satisfactory results. So soon, however, as the openings 
 are carried to depths at which the process becomes somewhat diffi- 
 cult from the want of appliances for hoisting the materials mined, 
 or from the inflow of surface-waters, which in wet seasons fill the 
 open cuts, the workings are abandoned for fresh outcrops, never far 
 
 «» 
 
 fi 
 
THK APATITK DEPOSITS OF CANADA. 
 
 off. In this way a lot of 100 acTes will sometimes show five, ten 
 or more pits, often on as many beds, from twelve to twenty feetdeej) ; 
 eaeh of which may have yielded one or more hnndred tons of apatite, 
 and has been abandoned in turn, not from any failnre in the supply, 
 but because the mineral could be got with less trouble and cost at a 
 new opening on the surface near by. 
 
 These conditions are scarcely changed when miners, without capi- 
 tal and unprovided with machinery for hoisting or for pumping, 
 are engaged s has often been the case, to extract the mineral at a 
 fixed price |)er ton. These, having no interest in the future of the 
 mine, will worlc where they can get the material with the least ex- 
 penditure of time and labor, and often will quit the opening for 
 some one which is more advantageous. The very abundance and 
 the value of the mineral mined has thus led to its carelesa, wasteful, 
 and unsl<ilful exploitation. It is the working of these causes, in the 
 way just explained, which has thrown undeserved discredit on this 
 mining-industry, and, more even than the injudicious schemes of 
 speculators and stock-jobbers, has retarded its legitimate growth. 
 
 It is evident that the proper development of these deposits will 
 recfuire regular and scientific mining in place of the crude [)lan of 
 open pits and trenches, which, from causes already explained, has 
 hitherto, with few exceptions, been followed. As a basis for calcu- 
 lation in mining, it becomes necessary to establish some data as to 
 the production and the value of the apatite-layers which we have 
 described. The specific gravity of the mineral, as deduced from many 
 specimens of massive Canadian apatite, is from 3.14 to 3.24. If we 
 assume 3.20, this will give for the weight of a cubic foot of apatite 
 almost exactly 200 pounds. A fathom of ground, carrying a bed 
 or vein of apatite one foot in thickness, will thus contain thirty-six 
 cubic feet, or 7200 pounds of apatite ; equal to a little over three 
 and one-fifth tons of 2240 pounds each. Allowing the fractional 
 portion, equal to nearly seven per cent., for loss in mining (it will 
 be noted that coarse and finely-broken apatite are equally merchant- 
 able), we shall have as the net product of a layer of apatite for a 
 fathom of ground mined, three gross tons for each foot in thickness. 
 
 The apatite of these deposits is generally greenish in color, often 
 clear sea-green, but more rarely reddish -brown in tint. The massive 
 varieties are sometimes coarsely crystalline and cleavable, but some- 
 times finely granular. The veins often yield crystals of large size. 
 
 The mineral is essentially a fiuor-apatite, containing not over two 
 
8 
 
 THE APATITK DEI»08ITfi OF CANADA. 
 
 or tlireo thousuiHltlis of chlorine, and in \tn purest Htate about 92.0 
 per cent, of tricalcMc-phospliatf. The analysis of a se'ected specimen 
 gave me 91.2 percent, of phosphate, but it is generally mingled with 
 small portions of foreign matters, chiefly insoluble silicates. The 
 nnalynes of seven specimens from different Canadian mines, published 
 by Mr. C. G. Iloffnuui in 1878, showed from 85.2 to 89.8 per cent, 
 of phosphate. 
 
 The market-value of apatite, which, as is well-known, is chicHy 
 consumed for the production of soluble phosphate by the manufac- 
 turers of artificial fertilizers, varies greatly, other things being equal, 
 with its purity. Thus, while at present the price in England is 1;<. 
 2c/. the unit for apatite giving by analysis 75 per cent, of tricalcic 
 phosphate, there is paid an addition of one-fifth of a penny for each 
 unit of phosphate above that percentage, so that a sample yielding 
 by analysis 80 per cent, is worth 1«. 3c/. the unit. The price in the 
 English market is subject to considerable fluctuations, having wiHiin 
 the last four years been as high as Is. 5JtZ., and lis low as lid. the 
 unit for 80 per cent, phosphate. The present may be coiisidered as 
 an average price. 
 
 The Canadian apatite shipped to England has yielded for various 
 lots from 75 to 85 per cent., 80 per cent, being the average from the 
 best-conducted mines, though lots from mines where care has been 
 used in the dressing and selection of the mineral for shipment have 
 yielded 84 and 85 per cent. Many of the smaller miners to which we 
 have alluded, selling their product to local buyers, take little pains 
 in dressing, and hence their product is apt to be lower in grade. It 
 will be seen, from the rule adopted by foreign purchasers, that there 
 is great profit in a careful selection and dressing of the mineral for 
 market. The basis being Is. 2c/. the unit for 76 per cent., with a 
 rise of one-fifth of a penny tor each unit, it follows that while a ton 
 of 75 per cent, apatite will bring only S?,*. Gc/., a ton of 80 per cent, 
 will command 100s., and one of 85 per cent. 113«. 4d. 
 
 In the present state of the industry it is not easy to say what 
 would be the cost of production. At the outcrop of the large masses 
 of apatite, and in the open cuts and quarries already described, the 
 cost of extraction and dressing is of course very variable, estimates 
 in different deposits giving from $2 to ^8 the ton. In Ottawa 
 county, where, within the last four years, deposits have been opened 
 and mined on a better system than heretofore, the figures of pro- 
 duction and cost are instructive. According to the report of its 
 
 .V 
 
THK APATTTE PFPOfllTS OF CANADA. 
 
 d 
 
 it 92.0 
 L'oinieii 
 
 I with 
 The 
 
 li-shed 
 !!• cent. 
 
 (ihiefly 
 
 iiiuf'uo 
 
 ('f|iiiil, 
 
 is 1.1. 
 
 manager in -ruly, 18S2, the High-Rock mine, in Buckingham, 
 yielded, in 1«80, 2400 tons, and in 1881 2000 tons of apatite. An 
 adjoining portion of hmd having been then acquired, the produc- 
 tion of this company' i mines in 1882 and 188'i is stated at 5000 
 tons annually ; from eighty to ninety men being employed. The 
 cost of the mineral is here given at !^4 tlu; ton, dressed, at the mine; 
 in addition to which li^3 is paid for carriage to tin; railroad or the 
 river, an<l about $\ additional to Montreal, the port of shipment. 
 The mines in the Ontario district are for the most j)urt in or near to 
 the waters of the Ilideau Canal, or sonjc of the many lakes con- 
 nected therewith, from which the freight to Montreal is $1.50 the 
 ton. lam informed by a merchant, who is a purchaser and shipper 
 of apatite, and is also engaged in mining it both in Ontario and 
 Quebec, that the average cost for freight from Montreal to Eng- 
 land, with selling-charges, is 20«. the ton ; which, for apatite of 
 80 per cent., now worth IOOn. the ton, would leave 8()«., or i$19..36. 
 Deducting from this the cost of j)roduction and of transportation to 
 Montreal, there remains a large profit. 
 
 The amount of apatite shipped from Montreal has gradually in- 
 creased, and, according to published figures, attained, in 188.'i, 17,840 
 tons, of which, it is to be remarked thai 1576 tons were delivered in 
 Hamburg, and 650 in Stockholm, the remainder going to Liver- 
 pool, London, and other British ports. Of this about 15,000 tons 
 were from Quebec, and the remainder from Ontario. It should l)e 
 noticed that this was, with small exceptions, mined in 1882, and 
 brought to the water-side during the winter season. It is estimated 
 that the siiipments of apatite for 1884 will equal 24,000 tons. 
 
 The methods of mining hitherto generally pursued in the a})atitc 
 deposits of Canada, allow of many improvements which would ma- 
 terially reduce the average cost of production, and give a perma- 
 nency to the industry which the present modes of working can never at- 
 tain. The regularity and persistence of the bedded deposits, and of 
 some of the veins, warrants the introduction of systematic mining by 
 sinking, driving, and stoping, with the aid of proper machinery for 
 drilling, as well as for hoisting and pumping. The careful dressing 
 and selection of the apatite for the market is also an element of much 
 importance in the exploitation of these deposits. The cost of labor 
 in the apatite-producing districts is comparatively low, and there are 
 great numbers of beds now superficially opened, upon which regular 
 mining operations, conducted with skill and a judicious expenditure 
 
 'i 
 
10 
 
 THE APATITE DEPOSITS OF CANADA. 
 
 of capital, should prove remunerative. It must be added, that the 
 areas in question have as yet been very partially explored, and that 
 much remains to be discovered within them, and also there is reason 
 to believe in outlying districts ; so that in the near future the mining 
 of apatite in Canada will, it is believed, become a very important 
 industry. 
 
 I 
 
 
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