90 Transactions. 



Boatman's, occur a group of small but well-known mines — the Specimen 

 Hill, Welcome, Fiery Cross, Hopeful, and Just in Time. Approaching 

 Reefton, the belt has apparently a much greater width, probably due to 

 the wider exposure of slates, while the veins are larger and have been 

 more extensively developed. On the west side occur Anderson's and the 

 Invincible, two properties on which little has been done. Then occurs 

 the Energetic - Wealth of Nations - Keep It Dark group, the most pro- 

 ductive on the field. The Ulster, Ajax, Golden Fleece, and Royal occur 

 in a line to the east of these, and lastly come the Inglewood. Victoria, and 

 Golden Treasure Mines. Fig. 2 shows the distribution of mines in the 

 Murray Creek district. 



E. 



Fig. 2. — Sketch-plan of Murray Creek Veins. 



Crossing the gorge of the Inangahua River, we reach the well-known 

 Globe - Progress Mine, the vein in which runs almost east and west, 

 deviating widely from the usual north-and-south course. A few old pro- 

 perties, including an antimony-mine described by McKay,* occur to the 

 west of this vein. Following south, we pass in succession the Inkerman, 

 Sir Francis Drake, Cumberland, Golden Lead, and Al Mines, the last 

 situated at the head of Rainy Creek, in the Merrijigs district. 



Still further south, on the Big River, lies the Big River Mine, about 

 twenty miles from Reefton ; and lastly, near it, the lately developed Black- 

 water Mine, in the Snowy Creek watershed. 



Characteristics of the Veins. 



The auriferous belt consists of a zone of crushed and fissured slate of 

 varying width (maximum, about two miles), and it is to be observed that 

 this zone lies parallel with the line of strike of the slates, with the granitic 

 intrusions on either side of it, and with the observed outcrops of the older 

 Devonian rocks to the east, while it practically corresponds with the line of 

 occurrence of the altered diabases. These coincidences have a structural 

 significance. 



If the intrusion of diabases was the first phenomenon, it is probable 

 that they caused a line of weakness along the strike of the slates. Later, 

 with the granitic intrusions and the intense crumpling of the slates between, 

 this line of weakness would be the locus where crushing and faulting would 

 be concentrated. The junction between the soft slates and the hard 

 Devonian cherts would also be a line along which movement would readily 

 take place — in fact, the belt of resistant Devonian rocks, which were 

 indurated and folded prior to the deposition of the slates, would evidently 

 act as a central buffer during the later folding movements, and would 



* A. McKay, " On au Antimony Lode at Reefton," Reps. N.Z.G.S., 1882, p. 88. 



