BY LEO A. COTTON. 



77 



Any account of the tin-deposits of this district would be 

 incomplete without some mention of the occurrence near Auburn 

 Vale, where the Hillcliff and Leviathan Mines are situated. 



The Hillcliff Mine has 

 been opened up by several 

 shafts on two reefs about 

 10 yards apart. The 

 country-rock is a coarse 

 "Acid Granite," similar to 

 that at Howell. In one 

 part, near the lode, the 

 granite is found strongly 

 impregnated with arseno- 

 pyrite. This mineral occurs 

 as crystals, and appears as 

 much an original consti- 

 tuent as the quartz or fels- 

 par of the granite. Man- 

 ganese and iron-oxides are 

 also present in the lodes. 

 Here, also, apatite was 

 found crystallised along one 

 side of a quartz-felspar vein. 

 llie Leviathan Mine is 

 about one mile to the south- 

 west of Hillcliff. It is 

 of rather a complicated 

 nature, and contains several 

 of the proposed classes of 

 veins. The country-rock is 

 coarse " Acid Granite," 

 similar to Hillcliff. Con- 

 siderable work has been 

 done at the mine, and 



several hundreds of tons of ore have been 

 open cut workings. Text-fig. 10 represents J 

 79 



Fig. 10. — Plan of workings of Leviathan 

 Mine. The lettering is referred to in the 

 text. 



removed by 

 ground-plan 



