The copper era., 1909-06-17
W EDS HIN ,
 Chairman

A detailed report on the manganese
 deposits of the United States, by F.
 c. Harder, of the United States
 Geological Survey, is in eparation
 for publication, and a brief digest of
 the main portions of that report ap-
 pears in the Surveys Bulletin 3S0 E l just published as au advance chapter
 from "Contributions to economic
 geology, 1908, part l." The prelimi-
 nary paper contains notes on the
 sources and uses of manganese and
 the present status of the industry,
 together with brief descriptions of the principal localities where the
 ores are obtained. A copy of the
 paper may be had on application to
 the Director of the Survey at Wash
 ington, D. c.
 Manganese is in this country de-
 rived from four classes of materials. Manganese ores comprise the oxides
 and the carbonate of manganese. The most abundant deposits are in
 the Appalachian and Piedmont re- gions, in the southern part of the
 Mississippi Valley, and on the Pacific coast.
 Manganiferous iron ores consist of a mixture of any oxide or the car bonate of iron with any oxide or the carbonate of manganese. They occur chiefly in the New England, Appala- chian, and Lake Superior regions.
 Manganiferous silver ores consist of a mixture of manganese and il on oxides with small amounts of silver sulphide and lead carbonate and in some places of gold. They are found in the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin regions.
 Manganiferous zinc resduum is ob- tained from zinc volatilizing and oxidlzing furnaces using zinc ores from the Franklin Furnace district, in New Jersey.
 The ores of one or another of these various classes occur in many parts 1 of the country, but the chief produc- ing States at present are Virginia, | Tennessee, South Carolina, and Cali fornia. In Virginia the principal de- posits are in the James River valley | near Lynchburg, on the west slope of | the Blue Ridge from Front Royal to . Roanoke, and in several belts in tie ! New River region. The Tennessee | deposits are the southward continual | tion of those of the Appalachian | Valley in Virginia, and occur mainly ! in Cooke, Unicoi, and Johnson coun- ties. In South Carolina the most i'm portant deposits are near Mccormick, in Abbeville County. The principal 1 California deposits are near Liver more, in Alameda and Santa Clara | 
 The uses of manganese in the in dustries are metallurgical, in the manufacture of alloys and in copper and silver reduction, and chemical, The principal alloys, spiegeleisen and are used in various ways in the steel industry, the addi- tion of small quantities of manganese giving to steel hardness, ductility, and strength. Manganese bronze is used for steamboat propellers and f other alloys are used for coins, statu- ary, and ornamental purposes.
 Little manganese ore is now mined in the United States, the total in l9)7 being only 5,604 tons, against 209,O32 tons imported, chiefly from India, Brazil, Cuba, and the East Indies. The average grade of the domestic ores is much lower than that of the ores and they require con treatment to prepare them for the market.
 Virginia is by far the largest pro ducer of manganese, furnishing more than four-fifths of the 1907 output and more than 5 per cent of the total production in the United States to January l, 19US-396, ,623 tons.