Atlantic City Paper - The Manganese-Ore Industry of the Caucasus (Postscript, 841)

Manganese-ores are known to exist in the Caucasus in a number of localities, viz., in the government of Kutais, near the village of Chiaturi; in the same goverilment near the Choruk river, southward from Batum; and in the governments of Erivan and Tiflis. In smaller quantities they are found in various other places also. The first-mentioned deposits are by far the most important; the others being not only less extensive, but remote from present means of communication, and, from their character, expensive to work, although in some cases the ore is of a superior quality. All the manganese-ore now known in the market as a Caucasian " ore comes from Chiaturi, no other deposits in the Caucasus having been worked commercially; movements have been made, however, towards the exploitat,ion of some of those on the Choruk river. The Manganese-Ore District of Chiaturi. General Remarks, Statistics, Etc.—No other known deposit of manganese-ore can approach that of Chiaturi in capacity for producing large quantities of high-grade ore at a low cost. The deposit is said to have been discovered in 1848, by the geologist Abich, but the first shipments were not made until 1879, when 871 tons* were produced. Since that time, the production has steadily increased, until now the world relies on this deposit for about one-half its supply of manganese-ore. The industry is also of great importance locally, and aftords a livelihood to a considerable proportion of the population of the district in which the deposit is situated.