70 



Section 42Jj. Subsequently a shaft was sunk on the property 

 to a deptli of 200 feet, a steam engine and other necessary 

 appliances were erected, live trial or test drives in that depth 

 were made in various directions to ascertain the metalliferous 

 character of the quartz veins intersecting the property — as 

 officially reported — in which both gold and copper were 

 obtained, and yet the mine, for the time being, was abandoned 

 because it did not pay working expenses. At date, working 

 operations are again in full activity, and with what result at 

 greater depths time will reveal. But my opinion as to 

 the gold-bearing character of the property is adverse to 

 its becoming more auriferous at greater depths than it has 

 proven to be nearer the surface — (1) Because the partially- 

 auriferous quartz veins of Barossa are associated with 

 rocks Avhich belong to an age anterior to that in which 

 highly and regularly auriferised veins are known to exist 

 in any part of the world; (2) Apart from the age of the 

 rocks, no similarity exist between the condition of the Barossa 

 beds and those of the neighbouring colonies with which 

 auriferous veins are associated. The Silurian rocks of the 

 neighbouring colonies have been subjected to plutonic 

 outbursts of granites and felstones, unknown among the 

 fundamental rocks of Barossa; and in more recent times, 

 especially in Victoria, where the quartz veins traversing 

 the Silurian rocks have been found to be most highly impreg- 

 nated with gold, it is near to where volcanic agency has been 

 most potent during middle and more recent Tertiary times (see 

 Anniversary Address by Professor Tate to the Royal Society 

 of South Australia, for 1880-81, page 119). Therefore I con- 

 clude that, although some of the Barossa quartz reefs are found 

 sparingly auriferous in patches at or near the surface, accord- 

 ing to the foregoing argument, it is no warrant of the precious 

 metal becoming more generally and exuberantly diffused 

 throughout the veins at greater depth. 



Copper. — Ores of this metal have been found sparingly 

 diffused in various parts throughout the district. It is at 

 *' Malcolm's Barossa" that the metal has been found in greatest 

 abundance, but as in the case of the precious metal, at a depth 

 of 200 feet it has not been found in paying quantities ; it is 

 questionable also whether larger cupriferous deposits remain 

 to be found at greater depths. 



Petroleum. — Several futile efforts have recently been made 

 to obtain this liquid mineral within the district of Barossa. 

 As o])inions differ so vastly as to the nature and condition of oil- 

 bearing strata, I am induced to cite here a portion of the article 

 in connection with the above heading, as it appears in the late 

 Dr. Page's " Handbook of Geological Terms": — " It occurs in 



