822 DIAMOND-DEPOSITS OF COPETON, N.S.W., 



the mining of these deposits a very difficult matter. There is 

 sufficient tinstone present in the wash to make it worth while to 

 recover it, when mining for diamonds. The diamonds are small, 

 ranging from four to five to the carat. Bort is only rarely 

 found at this mine. Here, again, another dyke was met in 

 driving a tunnel into the hill from the west side. The tunnel 

 was driven in a direction about north-east, and two cross-cuts 

 were put in to the north-west, at a distance of 100 feet apart. 

 Both these cross-cuts intersected a dyke. In the more western 

 one, the dyke attained a thickness of 8 feet, but, in the eastern 

 one, the thickness was only 2 feet. It is evident, from the posi- 

 tion of this dyke, that the diamonds of the Malacca Mine lie on 

 the downstream side of it. Accompanying the diamonds in the 

 wash were numerous, small, bluish-coloured boulders, from 2 to 3 

 inches in diameter, derived from this dyke. 



To the east of this occurrence, the lead has been denuded by 

 the Malacca Creek, which is a short, steep stream flowing south 

 into the Gwydir. On the eastern side of this creek, the basalt 

 is again to be found covering the Tertiary gravels. This part of 

 the lead has not yielded diamonds in payable quantities, and no 

 local name has yet been assigned to it. The deposit is here from 

 10 to 12 feet in thickness. A band of coarse wash, containing 

 quartz-boulders up to 2 inches in diameter, occurs about 3 feet 

 from the granite-floor. A few clay-boulders were also noted, and 

 these must have been derived from some dyke in close proximity. 

 About 100 yards to the north-west is another body of drift, some 

 20 feet higher than the drifts just described. This also contains 

 a number of clay-boulders, and may have been a tributary stream. 



To the south-east of the deposit just described, is situated the 

 outcrop of gravels known as Soldier Hill. This was one of the 

 earliest mines worked for diamonds. The discovery of the gems 

 was first made among the sand-grains on a soldier-ants' nest, and 

 hence the name of the mine. The lead here turns to the south, 

 and, beyond the south end of Soldier Hill, has been entirely de- 

 nuded. Both diamonds and tinstone have been recovered from 

 the wash. The stones recovered average from 3 to 4 to the carat. 

 In this mine, besides the wash on the granite-floor, a top seam was 



