Notes on the iron ore deposits of Bilbao, northern Spain [microform]
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es on the Iron Ore - Bilbao, Northern
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‘RANK D. ADAMS, M.8c., Ph. D., F.G.S.
(Presented at the Annual Meetings, on 6th March, 1901.)
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Notes on the tron Ore Deposits of Bilbao, Northern Spain,
By FRANK DP. Arad MES Ph. b., F658
Phe Iberiar, Peninsula, while producing comparative! ttle tron
is known to contain NAny large deposits of iron ore
some of which have been worked from very early times,
lron ore occurs throughout ‘antabrian Mountains on the of Spain, in Navarre, through the
the whole length of the ¢ northern coast Misque Provinces, Santander and Asturias to Northern Portugal Other
if large deposits are known in
eastern and southern Spain, in the Provinces of Murcia, Almeria. It has however owing to diftiey)
been worked only near the
Seville and Malaga, Hes of transport,
coast, but many great ore bodies which
exist inland—in Leon, Old Castile, \ragon, Andalusia and Mureta
are now being Opened up. +
The most important leposits, or at least those whic h up to the
present time have been worked far more extensively than any others,
are those which are situated in the district of Vize aya, in the Basque
Provinces, and which, lying near Bilbao from which point the output
is shipped, are known as the Bilbao Tron Deposits. These deposits
are situated on the northern slope of the Cantabrian Mountains. ‘Ty.
ground is for the most part hilly or mountainous, with Very little #
The ore lies chiefly at altitudes
The most important of these Bilb Iron Ores are those of Somorrostro and (
land even along the sea shore.
between 6oo and 1,100 feet,
treanera, the former of whi
has been worked continuously for several hundred years, and it
believed that it is these deposits which are referred to by the Elde:
Pliny in the first century of our era when, in his Natural History.
Says: “In the part of the Cantabrian coast which
Is washed by the Ocean, there rises a high anc
1 steep mountain, which marvellous relate is composed entirely of iron.
Zeit. fur. Prak Geol., Nov., tooo
tw
The Canadian Mining Institute.
It was from these ores that the metal for the celebrated Toledo blades was obtained, and in fact in the time of Shakespeare these deposits were so renowned that the term /ii//o was employed to
esignate various objects of iron and steel, as sword blades, fetters. etc., and so we find Falstaff (in the Jerry Hives ef Windsor) speaking of himself as ‘ compassed like a good bilbo in the circumference of a peck,” and in //am/et a situation described as “ worse than the mutines in the bilboes.”
These Bilbao deposits however were first worked on a very large scale when the great demand for ores of this particular class was created by the introduction of the Bessemer process, and there are now (18¢)) in the Bilbao District, no less than 204 iron mines. ‘The following figures will show the rapid increase in the production of iron ore in the District of Vizcaya :—
RON DS Fiche Buss sone Mee Scammer heer tects 54,090 tons, ESTO taniriscsiesca ae rak ane cnet 268,500
Be ATOM a reg tov eee Weer etre 2534 5,0000 5" RO QO mee canara aie one en a ER ee 4,272,918 “ Ree o Wa Sten nin iy ae Rh Oy FA, NM 6,146,542
almost the entire amount in 1899 was exported, only 621,165 tons, or 6.7 p.c. of the total amount mined, being smelted in Spain. The ore is shipped chiefly to England, although a considerable amount is sent also to Germany. In 1899 the shipments to Great Britain, Germany and the United States of America were as follows:—
GIGk BERR SS honk ane sale: 3,955,000 tons. BOAO A: tac anains suusieacas aren Ces 550,000 United States of America 75,000
The small shipments to the United States are owing to great fluctuations in freight rates between Spain and North America. It is important to note that 87% p.c. of the iron ore imported into Great Britain comes from Spain and chiefly from these Bilbao deposits.
Bilbao, which is the chief port of north-eastern Spain, is situated on the River Nervion, 6 miles from the sea; the name Bilbao being derived from the Basque word Buditaco, which means “Town on the Plain.” In addition to being an excellent port it has abundant rail-
‘[tuedmed pioyy “eUNTY ezuvisdsy 31) 18980 ssuryi0oyy,
‘II ALVIg
Notes on the Tron Ore Deposits of Bilbao,
ww
way communication with the surrounding country. The river all the way down from Bilbao to the sea presents a busy scene, being filled with ships flying the flags of all nations. loading iron ore and other products at the almost continuous succession of wharves and landing stages which occupy the bank of the river. ‘The bulk of the Bilbao ore as shown in the accompanying map is in the Somorrostro District, about Triano and Orcanera, some 6 or 7 miles west of the city of Bilbao on a high ridge immediately south of the railway. It is reached by taking the train to Ortuella from which place good roads lead to the mines. Great ore dumps are seen by the side of the railway all along the base of the Somorrostro ridge, the ore being carried down from the mines by all sorts of conveyances, from the picturesque but slow moving Basque cart drawn by a pair of oxen, (See Plate 6), to great systems of overhead wire rope tramways of modern construction.
The most extensive occurrence (Triano, Ventura, etc.) is irregular in shape, about two miles long and at Mt. Triano five-eighths of a mile wide, with a maximum thickness according to Kendall § of 220 feet.
The country rock is here Upper Cretaceous in age and has the form of a saddle, corresponding in direction with the shore, and the ore deposits are found on both sides of this. The Cretaceous shows the following succession in descending order :—
1. Light grey shale, very calcareous. 2. Grey limestone, (about 250 feet thick). 3- Dark micaceous sandstone, calcareous,
The strata where the bulk of the iron deposits occur have a general northeast dip which shows however many variations and dis- turbances. Their present attitude is the result of the upheaval of the Cantabrian Mountains in Tertiary times.
The ore occurs exclusively in connection with the limestone and is thus limited in depth at any point by the lower surface of that rock. This is very important, showing, as it does, that the deposits are
2 The Iron Ores of Spain. Trans. of the Fed. Inst. Mining Eng. Vol. THT, 2891-92, p. 607.
The Canadian Mining Lnstitute.
essentially superficial in character and extent. ‘The erroneous notion that in the case of the Bilbao deposits we have to do with “ mountains of ore,” arises mainly from the fact that the slopes of the hills coincide n some places wit the dip of the limestone, and this rock having liewen replaced by ore, the whole hill or mountain seems to the casual observer to be a mass ot iron ore, while, as a matter of fact, the ore is
present merely as a superficial crust or coating.
‘The various ore bodies have an irregular elongated form, their longer axes coinciding with one another and with the strike of the strata, The relations of the sandstone, limestone and shale to one another and to the iron ore are well seen in accompanying sections. In one of the Triano sections (Figure 1) the overlying covering of shale is still preserved at the northern end. ‘The other Triano section (Figure 2) shows the limestone entirely removed and replaced by ore n the flat portion of the area about the Concha and Adela Mines, the ore resting directly upon the underlying sandstones. In almost every part of the area the ore appears with a denuded surface, and is either actually exposed to view or concealed by a thin superficial covering. Where the limestone has been completely removed it lies directly on the surface of the sandstone. The ore deposits being thus essentially superficial in character, there are no mines, properly speaking, in the Bilbao District.
The ores are of five classes, and are designated locally as
follows :—
t. Vena,—Red Hematite; compact, soft or sometimes powdery. Generally the purest of the ores, holding about 64 p.c. of iron. It was the only ore used in former times to supply the Catalan forges. Very little of it now remains.
Campanil.—Red Hematite; compact and crystalline, with numerous little drusy cavities lined with calcite. Said to derive its name from the ringing or bell-like sound which it gives out when struck with a hammer. It is the best of the ores, with the exception of Veva, and is one of the chief ores in the Triano Mines. It strongly resembles the hematites of Whitehaven and Furness. It may be said to carry about ss to s& p.c. of iron with 4 to 8 p.c. of lime.
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Profile ef the Triano Distriel, tween San Miquel Mine @ San Fernin Mine.
Profile of the Triano District between Ortuclla ¢ the Adela Ore Bed.
Miravilla
Profile Showing the relation between the Miravilla # El Morro deposits
1. Sandstone 3. Argillaccous Limestone 2; Compact Limestone 4 Iton Ore.
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Notes en the fren Ore Dy posits of Bilhae,
3. Audio.-—Limonite, carrying about §5 p.c. of iron, but usually more or less siliceous.
$. Chirta.—A fer uginous clay, with limonite nodules scattered thickly through it.
5. Carbonate. Siderite, carrying about 44 p.c. of iron. Four almost exclusively at or near the base of the hematite limonite deposits, and can be seen to pass into them, — [1 was undoubtedly the primary ore and has by its alteratic, given rise to the lena, Campanil and Rudio, These ores are all very low in phosphorus. ‘The Carbonato ofte: contains a small amount of sulphur, but as it is roasted before export ation, this impurity is for the most part driven off,
The following are analyses of samples of the several varieties :—
Vena, Campanil Rubio. Carbonato
Ferric oxide 99.70 84.00 79.96 §.31 Ferrous oxide, . Luvs 50.18 Manganous oxide... 1.30 1.90 .70 1,00 Alumina : 15 1.44 Lime .. ; preteens 1.00 4.60 1.00 .87 Magnesia Secsietirerveas arte one .02 eis “ae 3.21 Silica pore 1,05 3.20 8.10 3.60 Carbonic acid... . Sulphuric acid a ies 10 : Sulphur... cere 03 ope ne trace Phosphoric acid. . fan trace .03 Water and carbonic acid. . 5.40 6,00 - 36.28 Water... a i, 8.25
99.65 99.70 100,13 100.45 Metallic iron. . ee ; 63.49 58.80 54.62 43.96
The workings are practically all open cuts with a few short tunnels. The accompanying photographs* show some of the principal occurrences in the Triano District. ‘The first of these (Plate 1) shows the Esperanza“ mine.” An open cut in Campanil mixed with streaks of yellow ferruginous clay and limonite. The ore contains the little
For those photographs I am indebted to Professor Ries of Cornell Uni- versity, in whose company I had the pleasure last summer of visiting the deposits described in the present paper.
lhe Canadian Mining Institute,
linect with caleite, mentioned in describing the ore, in
drusy cavities great thuncdance, one or more be ing present in every hand specimen
\nother similar occurrence of Campanil, worked by a great open cut and tunnels, near the Esperanza, is shown in Plate 2.
Phe next workings which were visited presented a deposit of a ditferent character, the so-called Chirta. It is a yellow ferruginous clay with nodules of limonite scattered abundantly through it. It lay upon the limestone, mantling it deeply, the bed rock however pro- truding in places, as seen in the background of the picture. The face of the clay bank was being torn down by workmen with picks, the material being then thoroughly disintegrated by means of implements resembling forked mattocks, and then screened. The several processes are shown in the photograph (Plate 3). In this way the limonite nodules are separated from the clay and the ore prepared for ship- ment,
In other workings near by, the limonite-bearing clay was mixed with water and passed through an inclined revolving cylinder, the inner surface of which was studded with spikes. As the material passed out of the lower end of the cylinder and down a gently inclined shallow trough, any large unbroken clay masses were picked out by a numer of men and boys, and were thrown aside to be crushed and once more passed through the cylinder. The finer washed stuff con- sisted of the limonite nodules and the water carried away the clay, A rather clumsy process, entailing labour, the wages of a man, however, being only two pesedas a day.
‘The origin of this Chirta is well seen in some or the neighbouring occurrences. (Plate 4). The underlying limestone where it is exposed on the higher ground or where it is laid bare by the removal of the Chirta by the pick of the workman, is seen to have undergone superficial solution giving rise to that peculiar surface form, often seen in the bare lime- stone districts of the Upper Alps and known as Karren structure. The
edges of the limestone beds stand up like sharply pointed slabs, a form
evidently produced by the solvent action of the rain or percolating waters
et
estone, while the Chirta representing
the insoluble residue, which has gradually accumulated from the solution
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Notes an the tron Ove Deposits of Bitha
of a very considerable body of limestone, remains as a mantle upon the surface of solution and in pockets between the Karren. Much of the iron ovxice has gathered itself together by coneretionary processes into tue limonite nodules which constitute the ore.
In another immense open cut or quarry, worked in benches and known as the San Henito property, the Rubio and Carbonato were found, A photograph of this is shown in Plate 5. he Carbonate or Siderite has a banded appearance and seems, in places at least, to be interbedded with the limestone. It is seen only in the lower levels of the cut, being covered by the porous limonite known as Rubio, whieh is the superficial alteration product of the Carbonato and can be observed to pass into it, working downward along joint planes and fissures in’ the siderite and often enclosir: blocks of the latter not yet entirely altered, At the time of our visit, ti} white Carbonato and dark Rubio were being worked together along a face in the cutting where they occurred intimately associated, one passing into the other,
The Carbonato is calcined before being shipped, in furnaces situated on the lower slopes of the cut
The origin of the ores seems to be as follow:
The limestones themselves and especially : lying caleareous shales, contained as these rocks so frequently do ‘an amount of iron disseminated through them in the form of various ferrugino. compounds. ‘The country during later ‘Tertiary anc (Juaternary times was subjected to long continued denudation. The calcareous strata under these circumstances were dissolved and the iron passing down ward in solution was, in the lower portion of the limestones, converted into carbonate of iron, which may therefore be considered as the primary ore, being the first ore concentrated in bodies of considerable size.
As the denudation proceeded, the calcareous shales and the lime stones, being thoroughly leached out, left their insoluble residues as a mantle of residual clay, and under the oxydizing influence of the air and oxygenated waters, much of the iron instead of being removed by
or Hematite, ‘ Chirta” or Campanil”—mixed with ferruginous clays.
The Canadian Mining institute.
the surface of the country became lowered, the deeper bodies ot
Wbonato also became oxidized to Rubio—anJ the deposits assumed
clr present form. ‘The concentration js undoubtedly going forward at the present time.
Farther to the east along the same line of folding, in the Pyrenees, as for instance at the well known Rancie Mines near Vicdessos, there are also iron ore deposits in the form of bedded veins ot limonite, occurring in limestone and Passing over in depth into siderite. The strata however here being highly tilted, the deposits follow the lime. stones down to great depths and are not confined to the surface as in the case of the Bilbao ores.
The Bilbao ores in their relations and mode of occurrence bear a strong resemblance to the limonite deposits of the great limestone valleys of central and eastern Pennsylvania, which have been worked for the production of iron ever since the rise of this industry in America. These have been made the subject of a recent paper by Mr. T. C, Hopkins,+ who shows that they occur chiefly in’ the residual clays formed by the solution or disintegration of the Ordovician and Cam- brian limestones and slates underlying these portions of Pennsylvania, the original source of the iron being the strata by whose decay the clays in question were formed, and through which strata it Was originally disseminated chiefly in the form of carbonate.
It is stated that the Bilbao ores are steadily degenerating in quality,t and also that. the deposits are rapidly approaching ex- haustion. Lying altogether in the limestones and being thus essen- tially superficial deposits, exposed and worked over the whole surface simultaneously, it would seem that they have seen their best days. “We are continually hearing that the deposits are almost ex hausted,” said a Spanish ore shipper, “but year by year we have a larger output.” This very fact, however, is hastening ontheend. But while these deposits may be and probably are approaching exhaustion, many new deposits, as has been mentioned, are being opencd up farther inland, so that the supply of Spanish ore will probably continue without serious diminution for at least some years to come.
f Cambro-Silurian Limonite Ores of Pennsylvania, Bull. of the Geol. Soc. of America, vol II, Ig00. See Paper by Kayser, in Stahl and Eisen, vol. xviii, D373.
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