101 



Permanency of Quartz Mining. 



Enough has been stated to demonstrate beyond the possibility of doubt the enormous extent of tlie gold-licaring 

 belts of strata, and that there is practically an inexhaustible supply of gold yet to be won : in not only following tlie 

 downward prolongations of the reefs already discovered, but in renewed search for further surface outcrops along tlie 

 extension of the belts I have indicated. No theoretical speculations respecting the genesis of gold-bearing veins need 

 militate against successful raining enterprise in those districts where the downward prolongations of the auriferous reef 

 formation is at present a matter of conjecture. The fact remains that from the highest surface altitudes to a depth of 

 3,000 feet below seadevel gold-bearing strata undoubtedly exists. The permanency of Victoria's gold-mining industry 

 is an established fact so far as tlie ijnai-tz-bearing formations are concerned. 



Ai.LuviAi, Deposits and Lead.s. 



There is hardly a single river in Victoria which does not contain alluvial auriferous deposits along some portion 

 of its course. These detrital deposits have been clas.sed as " surfacing,"' comprising earth or thin layers of clay, rubble, 

 and decomposed rock on the slopes or summits of hills composed of Silurian rock. The gold is found free, or associated 

 with fragmentary quartz, from tlie surface earth down to chinks anil crevices of the bed-rock. 



River, Creek, and (iully Workings.— Deposits of gravel, drift, &c., resting on the .Silurian bed-rock, or on the 

 ba.iiks of water-coui-ses ; in so'me cases terraces are met with on the rocky slopes high up above the present rivei- beds. 



SINKING SHAFT. 



Leads.— Gravels, conglomerates, &c., deposited in the beds of ancient rivers, in some cases only covered by 

 recent accumulations, and in others by several layers of basalt. The beds of these ancient rivers are in some localities 

 above, and in others below, those of the existing streams, as the Dargo High Plains and Clunes or Ballarat districts 

 respectively, ami are worked by tunnels or shafts accordingly. 



In addition to the above there are widespread deposits of gravels, conglomerates, &c., believed to be due to 

 estnarine or marine action ; the gold is more patchy in its occurrence, though sometimes found in defined runs; not 

 necessarily in the deepest hollows of the bed-rock, but often cjn tlie ridge or slopes thereof. Some of these deposits 

 cap hills of Silurian rock ; others constitute reef washes beneath the basalt, but at higher levels than the deep lead 

 gutters. 



Localities of Lead Systems. 



Commencing at the western end of the colony, the first is that along Mather's Creek, south of Balmoral, 

 although there is a limited extent of slightly auriferous gravel south-west of Hairow, on the (ilenelg. The Stawell 

 leads comprise the deep lead and its tributaries, situated from 3 to 5 miles north-west of the town ; and the Commercial- 

 street lead and its tributaries, commencing at the reef and terminating at Seventy Foot Hill, about 3 miles west of the 

 town. The Great Western lead, from which over £100,000 worth of gold has been obtained, has been worked for o\ er 

 •2 miles to a width which exceeds in places 1,200 feet. Ararat : A number of shallow leads trend towards the Hopkins 

 Valley, where they combine into one main lead, whicli extends southerly beneath the basalt. The borings put down 

 prove that this lead system extends in all probability for at least S miles, with a covering of from 230 to 300 feet of 

 basalt. Landsborough : This extends northerly from Barkly, past Landsljorough to Navarre, and on towards the 

 Wimmera Valley. The tributary leads at Navarrt were very rich ; the depth of sinking from 50 to over 100 feet. 



