%. ^ ^^ .^signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs i des taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichA, it est filmi d partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de heut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^ li ItEPORTS ON THE PROPERTY" OP THE ,i't BROME MINING COMPANY, "1 »\imUA Itt %mM mmi^, 'B CANADA EAST. 1863 / BROME MINING COMPANY. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. , s The copper mining region of Brome and North Sutton has deservedly attracted much attention from mining adventurers. Besides extensive exploratory works undertaken by individual enterprise, two powerful American companies are now engaged vigorously in prosecuting mining operations in that district, and witli prospects of abundant success. The manner and form in which the ore occurs, being disseminated in thick beds of slate interstratified with the rocks of the country, is highly favorable to the persistence and regularity of the deposits ; and mining adventure, in such conditions, is divested of much of the hazardous, uncertain and speculative character usually attributed to it. The economic importance of this form of cupriferous deposit, now so widely recognized in Canada, was first established at the Sutton Mine ; and has subsequently been fully confirmed by the results of extensive operations at Ilarvcy Hill Mine in Leeds C. E., in rocks of precisely similar character and conditions. In Sir William Logan's Report for 1858, referring to the Leeds deposits, he says, '• The mode in which the copper ore is distributed in the nacreous slates of Leeds precisely resembles that in which it occurs in the bituminous slates of Germany ; and it is only the circumstance that the facts known in connection mih the Canadian deposits are yet too few to give entire confidence in the persistence of similar conditions over a great area, which should moderate the expectation of a great result."' Since these remarks were irritteu, tho desired experience has been acquired, and fully, juatiftes the favorable conclusions predicted bj this great authority. The property acquired by the Brorae Mining Company lies im- mediately on the strike of the copper-bearing beds which traverse the Sutton Mining Company's lot ; and, so far as yet opened up, presents results of a similar, but still more favorable character. Th^e annexed reports by competent parties, who have minutely exciniined l)oth localities, will sufficiently explain the nature and prospects of the present undertaking ; which must commend itself to the favorable notice of raining speculators, from the great extent of the metalliferous dej)Osits, and the comparative absence of risk attending their development. ^4 if- REPORTS ON THE PROPERTY OF THE BROME MINING COMPANY REPORT OF MR. CHARLES ROBB, mining engineer. 53 St. Francois Xavier Street, Montreal, 10th Oct. 1863. Gentlemen,— Having viyited, surveyed and inspected the copper mining locations in Brorae and North Sutton in which you are interested, 1 have the honor to report for your information the following particulars with regard to them. In illustration of my remarks I inclose a map or plan shewing the position of the lot ^'ith respect to other copper mines in the neighborhood, and to the established direction of the ore-bearing beds or veins. These mining locations comprise 125 acres of land, being the east half of lot No. 9, and the northwest eighth of lot No. 10 in the 11th Range of Sutton, of which property yon hold the mineral rights in perpetuity, exempt from all dues. The lots are situated in a well- settled country, consisting mostly of cleared land, tho«gh still con- taining abundance of timber for mining purposes, and for fuel, &c. The first-mentioned lot abuts at its south end upon an excel- lent road, and the cost of transportation of ores to the nearest rail- way station will not exceed two dollars per ton; the total cost of conveyance to Boston or New York being about eight dollars per ton. • The value of this mining location is determined, not only by the actual developments which have been made upon it, but by the fact that it is traversed by the same beds or venis of cupriferous slate which form the object of mining operations at the Sutton Mine, iM 6 which ifl now being worked by an American company under tlie mo8t favorable auspices, and with good })rospccts of a successful result?. For ful! particulars as to the state and prospects of that undertaking, and the peculiar geological features of the country, I beg to refer you to the printed reports ou that mine by competent scientific and practical authorities, and which are doubtless accessi- ble to you,and therefore need not be recapitulated here.* The raining j.roperty acquired by you is situated immediately on the strike of tlie copper-bearing beds of the Sutton Mine, and at the distance of about half a mile from that location. The extent of mining ground which I have traced on your property, on the course of these beds, is 200 rods or two-thirds of a mile, that of the Sutton Mine being only half a mile. The experience accjuired hi mining ,upon these copper-hearing beds in Canada and elsewhere has proved that they possess much of the regularity and persistency of coal seams ; and consequently where the same beds are found out- cropping at the surface, the prospects of success in niTning at one point may safely be predicated from the results obtained at another ; especially when, as in the present instance, these points are situ- ated at no great distance apart. But the character and prospects of this mining locatioi\ are not left solely or chiefly to such inference ; the actual developments made upon it having proved its importance and value. Six openings have been made on the course of the beds to mod- erate depths, which, both in respect to the quality of the rook and its metallic contents, have fully established the identity of the beds with those at the Sutton Mine, and— judging from the ::;urface indi- cations at \M\\ places — the prospects must be regarded as more favorable on your property, as the beds are both thicker and more abundantly charged with copper ore. At tlie most northerly point where the beds have been exposed by blasting, three pits have been sunk ; one upon the summit of a kind of bluff hero formed by the ridge of rock ; and another at the distance of thirty-two feet to the west, across the strike, at the base of the bluff, about twelve feet below the level of the former ; and a third about fifty feet north of the last, and on the same striLe. In the first of these openings the ore- The Reports leferred to by Mr. Robb are hereto appended. bearing bed is about ei;4litecn inches wide, and in the second and third at least three feet wide, containing copper pyrites disseminated in the slate in very considerable ([uantit^ ; and tliere are very decided marks of imprcement both in the richness and thickness of the beds as they ar(i traced in depth and in a northerly direction. I should judge the copper contents of these beds, as exposed at the surface, to be at least e^ual to the average of those obtained at the Sutton Mine, or say four and a half per cent. This will yield two tons of twelve per cent, ore for every fathom of rock mined, which is certainly a vary good working produce, even should no imj)rove- ment take place in workuig deeper ; such improvement, however, almost invariably occurring. The veins referred to appear to c6n- verge both in dip and strike, and indications so far are highly favorahle for a large deposit of ore at this point, which is on other grounds the best situated for the commencement of mining. opera- tions on this property. A stream, affording at all seasons an ample supply of water for washing the ores, traverses the lot very near this point ; the level of this stream being about thirty feet below the summit of the bluff. The ore-bearing beds are nearly perpendicular, which is a favor- able feature in mining. From the soft nature of the rock it can be mined with great facility, and will crush easily. It has also been ascertained that it will bear water well, and consequently can readily be dressed to sucb a degree as may be found most suitable for the market. The ore possesses also most valuable smelting properties. In addition to the copper ore, a bed of iron slate or specular schist, seven feet hi thickness and yielding about forty -five per cent, of peroxide of iron, traverses this lot. Deposits of iron ore pre- cisely similar to this were formerly worked in this immediate neigh- bourhood, and teamed a distance of forty miles to improve the quality of ores smelted in Vermont. In conclusion, I beg to express my opinion — founded upon a careful stufiy of all the facts ascertained in relation to this place, and considering especially that the form and mode of occurrence of the ores here render their extraction a much less precarious and unoeitain adventure thau most uiining operations — that few mining sv locations in Canada p(Assoss a higher ehiim to the attention of capi- talists and mining adventurers. I am, Gentlemen, Your most obedient servant, CHARLES ROBB. EEPORT BY DK. C. T. JACKSON ON THE SUTTON MINE. Gentlemen,- -Having visited and examined the Copper Mine belonging to Solomon Sweet & Co., in the township of Sutton, Canada East, I liave to submit the following Report :— SITUATION OF TlIK MINE. The mine is situated in North Sutton, Lot 8, Range 10, and is sixteen miles from the station at West Farnham, on the Stan- stead, Shefford and Charably Railroad ; twenty-three miles from Lake Memphramagog, and nineteen miles from Pike River, the head of navigation on Lake Champlain. It is near the summit of a hill, and from the immediate plain or meadow below the mine I found the height by the pocket level to the mine to be 106 feet, the distance being about 1000 I'eet. This is the extent of natural drainage of the mine. The land in the immediate neighborhood is cleared and cultivated, and the soil appears to be fertile, and is considered valuable for grazing. The population is sparse, and the people are mostly occu- pied with agriculture. GEOLOGY OP THE KEGION. The rocks in which the copper ore is found are of the Lower Silurian or Taconic series, and consist of a pearly argillaceous slate, associated with magnesian limestone, or compact dolomite, like that of Acton. The slate strata at the mine run N. 32° E., S. 32° W., and dip to the north-westward 80°, On another part ?.* ^^ 9 of the liill, farther down the slope,' the strata run N. 40° E S 40'' W., and dip S. SO'' \7. 80^. The slates split out in large smooth sheets, and in some places are sound enougli for roofing purposes ; but at the mine the occur- renco of copper pyrites in the rock renders the slate unsuital.le for such uses. Veins of quartz from an incli to two feet in thickness, hearing some purple copper ore, and beds of chlorite slate, filleucking or spalling will be sa.^ed. I advise the use of stamps and the round buddies as applicable to the dressing of this ore. Water sufficient for the dressing house may be had from springs in the hill and from the mine ; and it will be easy to construct a reservoir at a sufficient height above the dressing-house to secure an aderiuate and regular supply for the machines. DRESSING OF THE SUTTON COPPER ORES AND ASSAYS OF THE DRESSED ORES. In order to ascertain if the poorer ores from the Sution Mine could be dressed to a higher percentage, I took one pound of the 12 ore, which consisted of interlaminations of copper pyrites and slate rock, reduced it to a powder and sifted it, and then washed it m an ordinary gold pan. This ore was estimated to yield about 10 per cent, of copper pyrites, or 3 per cent, of copper. ^ Qn ^ash- nig it, one and a half ounces of washed ore was obtained, or 10.7 per cent, of ore of copper ; and, as proved by dissolving out the ore and weighing the rock remaining, the washed ore contained 50 per cent.of rock and 50 per cent, of copper pyrites ; the copper the-re— fore should be in this 15 percent., and by assay I found that it ^yielded 14.42 per cent, of pure metallic copper. By means of a round Welsh huddle, this ore can be washed to a stilfhigher grade. A sample of the bucked erubescite, or purple copper ore, from the shaft of the Sutton Mine, was also tried. Four ounces of it were washed to one ounce of very clean ore, which was found to contain 75.7 per cent, of the ore, and 24.3 of rock. This washed ore yielded 46.02 per cent, of pure metallic copper, and the pure ore, free from all rock, yielded 60.766 per cent, of copper. It is obvious, therefore, that these ores can be easily dressed to as rich a state as the market requires. At the present price of copper ore, five dollars per unit per ton, 14.42 per cent, ore is worth .$72.10 per ton, and 46.02 per cent, is worth -1^230.10 per ton. C. T. Jackson, M. D., Geologist and State Assayer, ■k REPORT BY PROF. GEORGE I. CIIACE ON THE , SUTTON MINE. Gfntlemen : In compUance with your request I have visited Sweet's Copper Mine, in North Sutton, Canada East, and made such examination of it as its condition would permit. As nothing has been done at the mine for some time past, I found the shaft, which is said to be 10 fathoms deep, more than two-thirds filled with water. The por- tion of the shaft visible— that is, which is not filled with water— aias tiie same melination as the vein upon which it is sunk. The lower portion of the shaft, as I was informed by Mr. William liar- 13 T ris, an intelligent miner who has worked in it, is now nearly vei-- tical. The vein, or more properly bed containing the copper rirns N. 32^ E., and S. 32^' W. It has a westerly dip of from 86° to 90° from the horizon. It consists of a rather Hoft nacreous slate lying between beds <»f a harder blue slate, all of which have been turned up so as to dpproach a vertical position. About half a mile to the east, this slate formation is skirted by a band of dolomite, which Sir William E. Logan supposes to occupy the same strati<^ni- phical place as the dolomite at Acton. The bed of slate containing the copi)er and the parallel band of dolomite are traceable, aa he states, for the cUstance of a mile. As the sur%ce of the country was covered with snow at the time of my visit, I was unable to ve- rify this statement. A section of the outcrop of the aipriferous bcfl, 130 feet in length, lying to the south-west of the shaft, has bei^n' uncovered. This I examined with care, and found its width to be very variable. Near the shaft, as seen at the surface, it was ten mches. Measuring at intervals of about twenty feet, along the line of the outcrop, I obtained the following widths, namely : 10 inches • 10 inches ; 2 feet 10 inches; 2 feet 10 inches ; 6 inches, and, final- ly, at the farther end of the uncovered section, 8 inches. Beneath the surface, as seen in the' shaft and in the obli.iue stopc or cut on the southerly side of the shaft, the width of the bed varied, as 1 was informed by Mr. Harris, the miner already referred to, from 18 inches to 4 feet, with an average, as he judged, of 2 feet. It is probable that the copper-bearing bed, when originally dei)osited, was quite uniform in thickness. At the time of >its upheaval and the upheaval of the including strata, it was unetjually pressed, the harder blue slate being forced into it at one point, and allowing it to swell out at another ; hence its present irregularity. This will, I think, be found to diminish as we follow the bed downward. THE ORK. The ore is disseminated in grains and small patches through the rock. At the surface, and for some distancfe below, it is the yellow sulphuret ; further down, the purple ore predominates. A good idea of the om. fntwn oil*- a*^ /i;flf,.«r.,^f ,i^..fu.. nr-^ iv -!-«• ^ • — , — i uuv <.iv -.iniviviii ucpiiiD ana irum uiuuruui; Si- tuations, may be obtained from an examination of the accompanying 14 « {( « u « (( u (( ■a u specimens. They are, I have reason to believe, fair average sam- ples of tliu ore found in the parts of the mine indicated ; — Specimens marked A, from the surface of the vein. B, from the stope, 27 feet be- low the surface. C, from the foot-wall in the stope, 5 ft. below the sur- ' face. D, from the foot-wall in the stope, 15 ft. below the sur- face. B, from the bottom of the shaft. F, Dressed ore, taken from a pile near the shaft. I have not analyzed these ores. Sir William E. Logan, in his Descriptive Catalogue of the Canadian minerals, states that a sam- ple of the whole breadth of the vein, where it was four and a half feet, yielded four and a half per cent, of copper. This must un- doubtedly have been taken from one of the swells in the stope, at some distance below the surface. At the surface, the vein is at no point so \vide. In order to form an estimate of the percentage of copper which the bed might be expected to yield, it would be ne- cessary to take samples of its whole breadth, at different points along the surface, and also at different depths below the surface. The average of all these samples would furnisli a reliable basis for our calculations. PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE MINE. Until we have a more exact knowledge of the average thickness of the cupriferous bed, and also of the average per centum of copper contained in it, we can form only conditional estimates of the pro- bable yield of the mine. If we suppose the bed to be on an average two feet in thickness, — which, according to the best information I was able to obtain, cannot be very far from the truth, — and if we sup- pose it to yield, as in the case of the sample analyzed by Sir William, four and a half per cent ^f f opper, then, after the mijif phall have been opened and put into a condition for working, every cubic fathom 15 \ 'I of rock moved will yield a little more than two tons of 12 per cent, ore ; or, stating the case more precisely, for all the rock moved in Tforking the mine, there will be obtained one and four-fifths per cent, of pure copper. This is, I beheve, above the average at Acton, and would undoubtedly pay very handsomely. The expense of raising the ore I should expect would be about the same as at Acton. As the rock containing the copper will all have to be crushed, the expense of dressing it will be somewhat greater. Allowing for the cost of rais- ng and dressing t>ie ore and of putting it into the market, 130 for every ton of 12 per cent, ore, — and this I think would be a liberal allowance, — there would be at the present price of ore a broad mar- gin for profits. A SECOND VEIN. ^ Since the shaft was sunk as above described, a second vein has been discovered about 8 feet to the east of tlie first. Tliis has been uncovered at but one place, and at that place only for a distance of about 6 feet. The width here is between G and 7 inches. It has the appearance of being more heavily charged with copper than the principal vein. Were it imcovered for a greater extent, it would not improbiibly exhibit a considerably increased average of breadth. CONSTRUCTION OP THE MINE. Before opening the mine by sinking shafts and extending levels from them, I should recommend a more extensive surface explora- tion, as well as a careful examination of the vein as exhibited in the shaft and stope after the removal of the water. I wouW especially uncover vein No. 2 for a sufficient extent to learn what may be its average width at the surface. I would also advise opening a trench across the veins for some distance on either side, to ascertain if there be not other associated and parallel veins of sufficient magnitude U> he worth working. From the shaft in a north-easterly direction . Mg the presumed course of the vein, the ground falls quite rap- idly, thus enabling us to reach the vein near the surface, pror bably, at a much low^r level. I would recommend uncovering tue vem at suen lower level, ana if ii snouia appear sumcieniiy promising, pushing a drift into it. 16 Having mad^ these surface explorations, and traced carefully the course of the vein in the shaft, we should be prepared to adopt a plan for opening the mine. Should the vein prove m wide as we have sup- posed, and as hea\ ily charged with ore, at least one-half of the cost of sinking shafts, and extending levels from them would, I think, be covered by the value of the ore taken out. Of this, hoAyever, we cannot be certain till we have a more accurate knowledge of the vein. About 100 rods from the mine, as I should judge, in a north-west- erly direction, is a small stream, which, should the drainage of the mine prove inadequate, might be made to supply water for dressing the ores. If it should be found advisable to open into the vein, and take out the ore at a lower point in the side of the hill, then this stream might, I tliink, be turned so as to deliver its water at the dressing-house. I will simply add that the transportation of the ore to the nearest railroad station, 16 miles distant, can be contracted for, as I was informed, at $2 per ton. Yours sincerely, GEO. I. CHACE. k i f «« I f