Abstract
During 1958 and 1959 an exploration program for lateritic nickel deposits was carried out in the Blue Ridge and Piedmont crystalline provinces of the southeastern United States. In the course of the investigation information was compiled on various known and possible ultramafic bodies within the area. An extensive program of field exploration was carried out, including geologic mapping and sampling of ultramafic rocks and their overlying soils. Ultramafic rocks were found to contain primary nickel in amounts up to 0.4 percent and commonly carried about 0.2 percent nickel. Residual soils, lateritic in character, were found to as much as fifty feet or more in thickness, and contained nickel to as much as 1 percent or more. Considerable numbers of ultramafic bodies were examined in outcrop, a few of which would have been large enough for development of economically interesting tonnages of lateritic ore. While the requisite conditions for a lateritic nickel deposit were found to exist in the southeastern United States, they were not all met in one locality, and further search for such deposits was considered to be economically unattractive.
