The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-09-24
COPPER MINES OF VERMONT.
Only Await Some Cheap Method q
Treatment to Become Phenomenal
Producers.

Mr.. Walter Harvey Reed Of the Unit
ed States Geological Survey made a
brief reconnaissance in September, 1908,
of the copper mines OF Vermont. The
salient features of the deposits studied
By him ia this preliminary visit are de-
serihed in a paper which Is included IN
the Surveys recent bulletin mo. 225)
entitled Contributions 10 Economic Ge-
ology, 1909"
Copper mining was once one Of the
chief Industries Of the state of Vermont.
Prior to the opening of the Michigan de-
posits, VermoEt's most important mine,
the Ely, was the largest copper producer
in the country. The deposits belong to a
type that is well known in many parts
Of the world and that includes some OF
the most famous producers. In charact-
en- and copper content the Vermont ores
correspond to the ores found at Duck
town, Tennessee, and can probably be a.
cheaply mined and treated as those OF
that locality. They are also similar "a
the deposits found in the province Of
Quebec, Canada which lie almost due
north Of the Vermont belt.
The Vermont deposits contain vast
amounts Of lowgrade copper ore, which
ouly await development through some
cheap method Of treatment to become
phenomenal producers. The ores present
considerable variation in their content Of
silica, but are Of fairly constant miner
alogic character and are very uniform ir
their percentage of copper
These deposits occur in the hilly re-
gion that forms the eastern part Of this
| Green Mountains The belt contain;
three districts, Corinth, Copperfield and
South STAFFORD, which lie in north,
south line from : to 10 miles west q
Connecticut river
/ The thickness of the ore bodies varies
at different localities At the Elizabeth
lmine the ore was as much as 100 fee
1 wide in the open-cut workings, and Of
! the 225-f foot level it is So feet between
walls. The ore has a maximum widtl
1 III 10 feet at the Union and at adjaeen
properties III Corinth township and Of 2
! feet at the Copperfeld property. TIL
depth to which these deposits extend j
not known, At the Ely mine the incline
shaft Is 34O0 feet long and its bottom j
below sea level The ore body consist
of lenses, SO that one lens may pine
ont but III the Union and Ely mines til
FORE continues in erlapping lenses L
the greatest depth attained. The or
bodies are remarkably free from water
! Az i depth Of 340o feet on the dip, 0
1900 feet vertically, the Ely ore bod.
lis very dry, the water Of the mine beini
confined to few hundred feet Of tn
upper workings The ore and increasing
lrock are very solid in all. the mines am
practically no timbering is used
| MIR. West gives interesting details q
to the history, equipment and presen
development OF mines in the three dis
tricts of the belt. The Elizabeth mine
near the town Of South STAFFORD, wa
opened as early is 1898, and its magnet
ic pyrite was used for the manufactur
of copperas. The great Ely mine wa
discovered in 1921 and has been success
fully worked most Of the time sine
then. Bad management and litigatio
have several times caused the mine to
closed down or to change hands, bu
whenever mining operations have bee
continued 1t has yielded large outpu
of copper.