Art. XVII.—Mineral Resources of Southern India.—No. 1. Copper Districts of Ceded Districts, South Mahratta Country, and Nellore

Extract

These are some excavations, said to have been made under the direction of Hyder, on the lower ridge of the copper mountain range in the Ceded Districts, five or six miles westerly from the cantonment of Bellary, in about lat. 15° 5′ N., and long. 76° 59′ E.; they were given up, according to native information, in consequence of the little profit yielded. The ore,—the green carbonate of copper,—I found in thin layers, filling up seams, and interlaminated with a slate-clay and slate, resembling the killas of Cornwall, which is associated with hornblende and chloritic schists, alternating with gneiss in conformable strata. The former contain thin veins of crystalline marble, and, with the gneiss, have been penetrated by large basaltic dykes. Bosses of granite are seen in the plain at the base. The highest peaks of the range are capped with a ferruginous cellular rock resembling laterite, and resting horizontally on the highly-inclined strata of the crystalline schists; it exhibits efflorescences of impure muriate of soda and sulphate of aluminaj the latter resulting, probably, from the decomposition of iron pyrites which are occasionally found in this rock. Depositions of kunker are seen at considerable elevations, on the sides of the range, and often covering, in beds of variable thickness, the rocks in the plain. The excavations made in search of the ore are not of great magnitude, and must have been speedily given up. I was unable to detect any distinct lode. I have observed indications of a similar ore in the plumbiferous district of Jungumrazpilly, in the Cud-dapah Collectorate, Ceded Districts.