BY W. F. PETTERD, C.M.Z.S. 199 



state. It is usually in opaque, brownish-black, cleavable 

 masses; more rarely in distinct, more or less radiating 

 blades, with a brilliant lustre and brown streak. It is a 

 common associate of tin ore, the separation from which 

 causes considerable inconvenience to the miner. The 

 usual method successfully adopted for the separation of the 

 tin ore from the contaminating wolfram is to use one of 

 the several magnetic processes. The specific gravity of the 

 two minerals so closely approximates that separation by 

 gravitation is rendered practically impossible. Wolframite 

 has become of great economic importance, as a small pro- 

 portion of tungstic acid has been found to increase the 

 hardness and tenacity of steel ; hence, when used in this 

 way, the resulting acetate is known commercially as tung- 

 sten steel. It is one of a group of minerals constantly 

 connected with the acid eruptive rocks, consequently the 

 associated gangue is almost invariably quartz. The pure 

 mineral contains approximately 60 per cent, of the metal 

 tungsten, or, as the element is sometimes called, wolfram- 

 ium. A nearly pure Mn WO4J named hiibnerite, is fairly 

 well known as occurring under similar conditions and 

 associations as wolframite, but it has not been detected 

 in this State. It is known to occur in New England, New 

 South Wales. It is brownish-red to brown in colour, with 

 small bladed habit, and may be easily overlooked. From 

 a commercial point of view this form is equally as valu- 

 able as wolframite, but has not been found so abundant in 

 nature. The rare tetragonal species reinite is only known 

 as from Kei, Japan. 



Ferberite, a presumed Fe WO 4, with a small amount 

 of manganese, has been described from Spain. The physi- 

 cal characters of this variety exactly agree with the min- 

 eral occurring at the Oonah Mine, Zeehan. It is massive, 

 granular, with some imperfect planes of crystallisation, 

 with an imperfect vitreous lustre, and submetallic. It is 

 sparingly found closely mixed with stannite and pyrites 

 in what is known as the stannite lode. At the All Nations 

 Mine, Middlesex, some remarkably fine crj^stals have been 

 obtained. They were large, extremely black, and lustrous, 

 rivalling those from the classic localities of the Zinnwald 

 and Schlaggenwald. They occurred implanted on the side 

 of a cavity in a quartz lode, the crystals of quartz being 

 almost equally well developed. At the Shepherd and 

 Murphy Mine, at the same locality, similar crystals are 

 not infrequent, but they are somewhat smaller in size, 

 occasionally showing interesting terminations and modifica- 



