Coal and Gold Deposits in Natal. 69' 



6. Their age, which is appearently greater than that of 

 less completely metamorphosed and little-folded beds containing 

 gold-bearing banket, wnich may correspond to the Black Reef 

 series. 



7. The presence of gold-bearing bankets. 



On the Upper Insuzi Goldfield, studied by Mr. J. S. Hedges, 

 of the Natal Mines Department (see Mines Department Report, 

 Natal, 1903, it may be remarked in passing that on the Insuzi 

 Goldfield and elsewhere in Natal, there are no anticlines in the 

 Witwatersrand series, the synclines butting against one another along 

 lines of faulting. It is not certain what relation the beds exposed 

 in the three synclines have to one another, but it seems probable that 

 those in the Upper Insuzi syncline are the oldest, and those in the 

 two other synclines of the same, but somewhat more recent, age. 

 The Hospital Hill shales do not appear, so far as I am aware, in 

 the Insuzi Valley. 



In the Umhlatuzi Valley, separated from the Insuzi by the 

 Empandhleni ridge, the formation is similar to that on the Insuzi, 

 but on the Nkandhla side of the Umhlatuzi River it shows remark- 

 able side folding. Magnetic rocks similar to the Hospital Hill shales 

 are found a short distance higher up the river. 



In the Pongola Valley, the folding is not so sharp as in Zulu- 

 land, but still very decided. The goldfield has not been carefully 

 studied, but it is known that there are at least two synclines, viz., 

 one terminating about the farm Bellvue, with its axis towards Piet 

 Retief, and the other with its northern limit about the junction of 

 the Pongola and Pivan rivers. The relation of the magnetic Hospital 

 Hill shales, which are being exploited with a view to the establish- 

 ment of an iron industry, to the quartzites and schists of the series, 

 is very plainly shown on the farms Bellvue and Paris, while between 

 Paulpietersburg and the western limit of the series the Swaziland 

 schists are exposed. 



Important gold-bearing banket reefs have been found in the 

 series on the Upper Insuzi and Umhlatuzi goldfields only, the banket 

 reefs found up to the present on the Pongola field being poor. In 

 the Insuzi the most important reefs are the Dickson, the Dickson 

 North Reef, the Central, the Delaney and the Speedwell. The 

 Dickson is a large pebble banket lying between schist and quartzite. 



It is as a rule thin, but always rich in gold content. The other 

 reefs are all small pebble bankets, and poorer in gold content. 

 Though the Delaney reef is low grade, it is remarkable for the 

 frequency with which visible gold has been found in its quartz 

 pebbles. I do not know of such discoveries in any of the other 

 banket reefs. 



The gold-bearing quartz reefs in the series are not very important. 

 The Wonder fontein reef, on the Pongola, is a white quartz reef con- 

 taining gold associated with lead minerals. It is an interesting 

 example of the occurrence of gold in what is known to the prospector 

 as " hungrv " quartz. In the Upper Insuzi, the "Haematite" or 



