200 MANGANESE IN THE CAPE COLONY. 



it will have to pass almost within a stone's throw of this mine, 

 from which ore could be shot directly into the trucks. 



Several miles to the south are some other deposits, one of 

 which has got as far as the " mining lease " stage. This deposit 

 is situated at the back of a mountain forming one of the spurs 

 of the Drakenstein Range. This mountain is situated to the 

 east of Paarl, and is easily distinguished by having a deep gully 

 on the northern side, caused by a wash-away of soil. Several 

 reefs are here met with running approximately east and west, 

 but I am unable to state whether they have been opened up. 



Other discoveries have been made on the slopes of the hills 

 facing the Paarl A^alley. 



Near Gordon's Bay some very fair discoveries have been 

 made on the Hottentots Holland ^Mountains, and a considerable 

 amount of ore has been mined and exported. I am, however, 

 unable to say how matters are progressing at present. 



In the Breede River Valley, between ( loudini Road and 

 Breede River Railway Stations, a little to the north of the 

 railway, some ore has also been found and worked. 



Coming nearer home, there is an interesting occurrence of 

 manganese on top of the Constantia Mountains, close behind the 

 Government Wine Farm. This deposit has twice been taken up 

 under a mining lease, but apparently very little has lieen done 

 to test its richness. There are two or three reefs, the outcrops 

 of which have been traced for a considerable distance. One 

 reef has a very large proportion of limonite at the surface, while 

 the other has good ore, which, as far as can be ascertained from 

 the work done, is very pockety. 



Further to the south-west I have observed occurrences of 

 ore at several spots near Hout Bay. At one excellently situated 

 locality a great deal of work has ^recently been done. The ore 

 has been extensively mined, and a shoot has been erected into 

 which the ore is introduced at several ])oints, wherever mined, 

 and run down to the sea. A considerable amount of ore has been 

 shipped from this locality. 



Recent discoveries have been made on Devil's I^eak, in the 

 neighbourhood of King's Battery, above Ciroote Schuur. 



I am told that deposits are known at French Hoek, Bot 

 River Mouth, and near Ceres, in the last instance the lodes 

 occurring in Bokkeveld Beds. I have not ])ersonally inspected 

 these three localities. 



Nature of the Deposits. 



All the lodes I have seen are very similar in their nature. 

 They appear to have been formed by the tilling of cracks in the 

 Table Mountain Sandstone, and the impregnating of the Sand- 

 stone itself, in the neighbourhood of these cracks, by means of 

 descending solutions. I am led to this belief by the fact that 

 wherever I have observed the ore in the underlying granite it 

 has been in very small quantities, filling very small cracks and 



