West Coast Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1876.

West Coast Times, Issue 2264, 11 March 1876, Page 2

West Coast Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1876.

Such of the inhabitants of Hokitika as are the happy possessors of privata libraries, and such as are not, but are members of the Literary Society, have within the past lew days exhibited a lively taste for literature. This taste has chiefly exhausted itself in the perusal of books of reference, and the books of reference preferred are those relating to minerals, and the minerals that have been mostly read about are lead and silver. This has all been the inevitable and excusable result of the reported discovery of rich argentiferous galena at Mount Rangitoto. Mount Rangitoto has been simultaneously sought for on the Provincial maps, and the mountain and the galena will probably be by many as earnestly and speedily sought for in situ. A series of lectures on silver and lead ores, the profession of a guide to the left-hand branch of the Waitaha, or the proprietorship of a public-house on a convenient corner of the prospectors' five hundred acres might, indeed, prove by no means a bad speculation in the midst of the speculative spirit which now prevails.

The books of reference which are available are unfortunately either too full of information or too scientific to be conveniently or advantageously quoted for ordinary readers. There is one excellent work in the local library, J. Arthur Phillips's " Mmmg 1 and Metallurgy of Gold and Silver," and to it we may refer all who feel interested and who are subscribers to the institution, though under present circumstances the book would probably bo found to be bespoken. There may, however, be excuse for us quoting from Dana's " Mauual of Mineralogy" a chapter descriptive of galena, of which this recently discovered deposit is supposed to coasist — the localities of its occurrence, its physical characteristics, and the features by which it is distinguished from other mineral ores. On these subjects this authority says :— •

Composition : when pure, lead 86.55, sulphur 13,45. Often contains some sulphuret of silver, and is then called argentiferous galena, and at times sulphurefc of zinc is present. Before the blowpipe on charcoal, it decrepitates unless heated with caution, and fuses, giving off sulphur, and finally yields a globule of lead.

Galena resembles some silver and copper ores in color, but its cubical cleavage, or granular structure when massive, will usually distinguish it. Its sulphur fumes obtained before the blowpipe prove it to be a sulphuret ; and the lead reaction before the blowp'pe show it to be a lead ore.

Galena occurs in granite, limestone, argillaceous and sandstone rocks, and is often associated with ores of zinc, silver, and copper. Quartz, heavy spar, or carbonate of lime is generally the gangue of the ore; also at times fluor spar. The rich lead mines of Derbyshire and the northern districts of England' occur in mountain limestone ; and the same rock contains the valuable deposits of Bleiberg and the neighboring deposits of Carinthia. At Freiberg in Saxony, it occupies veins in gneiss 5 in the Upper Hartz, and at Przibram in Bohemia, it traverses clay slate ; at Sahla, Sweden, it occurs in crystalline limestone ; the ore of Leadbills, England, is in graywacke. There are other valuable bedß of galena, in France at Poullaouen and Huelgoet, Brittany, and at Villefort, department of Lozere ; in Spain in the granite hills of Linares, in Catalonia, Grenada and elsewhere; in Savoy; in Netherlands at Vedrin, not far from Namur ; in Bohemia, southwest of Prague ; in Joachimstahl, where the ,ore is worked principally for its silver ; in Siberia in the Daouria mountains in limestone, argentiferous and worked for silver.

The deposits of this ore in the United States are remarkable for their extent. They abound in what has been called " cliff limestone," in the states of Missouri, Illinois, lowa, and Wisconsin ; argillaceous iron, iron pyrites, calaminc (" dry bone" of the miners,) blende, (" black jack,") carbonate and sulphate of lead, are the most common associated minerals, together often with ores of copper and cobalt. In 1720, the lead mines of Missouri were discovered by Francis Renault and M. La Motte; and the La Motte miae is still known by his name. Afterwards, the country passed into the hands of the Spaniards, and during that period a valuable mine was opened by Mr Burton, since called Mine a Burton. The mines of Missouri are contained in the counties of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison.

The lead region of Wisconsin, according to Dr D. D. Owen, comprises 62 townships in Winconsin, 8 in lowa, and 10 in Illinois, being 87 miles from east to west, and 54 miles from north to south. The ore, as in Missouri, is inexhaustible, and throughout the region, there is scarcely a square mile in which traces of lead may not be found. The principal indication in the eyes of miners, as stated by Mr Owen, are the following : fragments of calc spar in the soil, unless very abundant, which then indicate that the vein is wholly calcareous or nearly so 5 the red color of the soil on the surface, arising from the ferruginous clay in which the lead is often imbedded ; fragments of lead ("gravel mineral,") along with the crumbling magnesian limestone, and dendritic specks distributed over the rock ; also, a depression of the country, or an elevation, in a straight line ; or " sinkholes ;" or a peculiarity of vegetation in a linear direction. The " diggings" seldom exceed 25 or 30 feet in depth ; for the galena is so abundant that a new spot is chosen rather than the expense of deeper mining. From a single spot, not exceeding 50 yards square, 3.000.000 lbs of ore have been raised ; and at the diggings in tbe west branch of the Peccatonica, not over 12 feet deep, two men raise 2000 lbs per day ; in one of the townships, two men raised 16,000 lbs in a day ; 500 lbs is the usual day's labor from the mines of average productiveness.

The lead of commerce is obtained from this ore. It is often worked for the silver it contains. It is also employed in glazing common stone ware.