540 ./. T. Jutson : 



(e) Age of the Reefs and Dykes. 



Little can be said under this head. They are both of course 

 post-silurian, but which were formed first, or whether they were 

 contemporaneous, cannot at present be stated. Auriferous 

 quartz appears to have been introduced into the dykestone, sub- 

 sequent to cooling, on its joint planes, but this does not rela- 

 tively fix the age of the reefs, as the cross-courses and bedded 

 veins show that the silica has been introduced at different 

 periods. The question must for the present remain open. 



(f) Mode of Occurrence of Gold. 



As far as can be learnt, the gold is almost wholly confined 

 to the main reefs, and in these is fairly evenly distributed when 

 occurring in payable quantities. At the Victory mine it is said 

 to have occurred in a wedge-shaped almost vertical shoot, and 

 in several smaller shoots. At the Caledonia, a very rich yield 

 was obtained from between the surface and the third level 

 (about 300 feet). It appears to have been bounded on the 

 bottom by a bedded vein parallel to the pitch of the rooks. 

 Below this vein, which evidently fills an old fault plane, the 

 gold practically ceased. 



Along the top of Fourth Hill, no well-defined reef has been 

 worked. In the coarse sandstones that outcrop on the crest of 

 the hill, and form the cap of the Main South Anticline, much 

 quartz has been deposited, but was evidently not very auri- 

 ferous, as the sandstones have been very little worked. Most 

 of the workings are in the eastern limb of the anticline near 

 its axis, in shales, and the quartz veins appear disconnected. 

 The distribution of the veins and the mode of occurrence of 

 gold, according to old resident miners, who have personally 

 worked at Fourth Hill, were as follows: — ^'' Droppers "' (being 

 quartz veins two inches or three inches thick, and underlying 

 to the west, not far from the vertical) on being followed down, 

 would meet a bedded vein underlying to the east (the dip of 

 the strata). At the junction, the quartz would thicken and gold 

 would be found. The bedded vein would then be traced on the 

 underlie for varying distances from 10 feet to 30 feet, after 

 which it ceased to be payable, and the gold apparently gave 



