[Pkoc. Eot. Soc. Victoria, 18 (N.S.), Pt. I., 1905]. 



Art. v. — The Mineralogical Characters of Victorian 

 Auriferous Occurrences. 



By T. S. hart, M.A., F.G.S. 



Lecturer on Geology and Mining, Schoul of Mines, Ballarat. 

 [Read 13th July, 1905]. 



The contributions of various authors to the Mineralogy of 

 Victoria have included records of a large number of minerals 

 from the quartz I'eefs and other auriferous matrices (see especially 

 references 1 to 4 below). In some cases the associations in which 

 the minerals occur are descriVjed, and their bearing on the gold- 

 contents noticed. It was early seen that certain minerals were 

 present on nearly all the Victorian goldfields. This prevalence 

 of the one mineralogical type, even in cases where structural 

 features were widely different, has perhaps been one cause of the 

 scantiness of the attention given to the mineralogical characters 

 of the gold occurrences. 



In these notes a classification is presented of the mineral 

 associations which are found in our known auriferous matrices 

 and allied mineral deposits. Some occurrences are included 

 which are not proved to be aurifeious or whose gold contents are 

 even known to be unimportant, but which occur under conditions 

 analogous to some auriferous lodes or approach them in their 

 characters. 



For the basis of the classification I use the predominant 

 minerals among the sulphides, etc., of the ore as unaltered by 

 surface agencies. A bare list of minerals present in any reef or 

 in any field will not adequately represent the character of the 

 ore, as is exemplified by Groups 1 and 2 below. The number of 

 minerals found in a reef is sometimes considerably increased by 

 the minerals noticed in some peculiarly complex patch. Minerals 

 placed below as two distinct groups may be found together in 

 the one reef, though often occurring independently of one another, 

 this is especially the case when the groups ordinarily occur under 



