by leo a. cotton. 503 



The Lodes. 



The King Conrad Lode has been mentioned as a fissure joining 

 the main Conrad Lode from the south-west side. The main shaft 

 was sunk on the north side of the lode to a depth of 400 feet, 

 and the lode was then worked by a main drive from this level, 

 which was carried on to the Conrad Lode. There was no indi- 

 cation that the King Conrad Lode crossed the Conrad Lode, and 

 work has not been carried on beyond the latter ore-body. 

 Another level has been driven at 150 feet, and most of the good 

 ore has now been stoped above this level. The lode is narrow, 

 varying from about 9 inches up to 3 feet in thickness; the 

 average width is about 18 inches. The lode-material consists of 

 quartz, pyrite, arsenopyrite, argentiferous galena, sphalerite, 

 chalcopyrite, and stannite. The last of these was not observed 

 in any portion of the lode visited by me, but the Manager informs 

 me that its presence is revealed?jby analyses. The fissure is a 

 clean break, and the lode is exceptionally free from brecciated 

 masses in the lode-material. Near its junction with the Conrad 

 Lode there is, however, a large lens of granite at the 400-feefc 

 level. The lode abuts sharply against the granite-walls, which 

 have not been impregnated with mineral to any extent. There 

 is no soft casing or " dig " to the lode, but the ore-body is 

 '• frozen " to the walls. An excellent section of the lode at the 

 150-feet level was sketched from a fresh fracture (see text-fig. 4). 

 The ore-body here consisted of a solid minei'al mass about 2 feet 

 wide, and a couple of small veins each about an inch wide, 

 running parallel to the main mass. The three outer layers of 

 mineral are symmetrically disposed on each side of the lode, while 

 the two central bands destroy the symmetry of the whole. 

 Arsenopyrite, as a solid crystalline mass, occupies the outermost 

 zone; next comes a band of sphalerite and chalcopyrite; and the 

 third zone is a band of milk-white, crj'stallised quartz, which 

 towards its outer margin, is intergrown with argentiferous 

 galena. The central portion of the vein is filled by two bands 

 of mineral, one of arsenopyrite and the other of argentiferous 

 galena. 



