32 MINERALS OF TASMANIA. 
was a hard siliceous rock, differing in many respects frem any 
other hitherto found. Its mineral constituents also varied in 
a most remarkable degree, and included several species which 
are, so far as known, peculiar to itself. These consisted of 
Apatite, Strontianite, Fluor-spar, Argentite, and Pyrites, with 
several minerals of Cobaltand Bismuth. Scattered throughout this 
interesting and diverse mixture are blebs and bunches of 
argentiferous Galena. In the Penguin River Silver mine the 
ore mass mainly consisted of a mixture of Pyrites, Sphalerite, with 
Galena, and a small quantity of Nickel and Cobalt bearing minerals ; 
the mass giving very satisfactory assay returns. 
At the Whyte River, and at some of the Dundas mines, a 
singular mixture occurs, which is composed of Galena and 
Cerussite, forming a sulpho-carbonate. The two minerals are so 
closely combined that the reactions for both forms are obtained by 
qualitative analysis. 
The characteristic gangue or lode matrix of our Silver-lead 
mines is commonly, if not generally, a compact form of Siderite 
or Carbonate of Iron, which is occasionally varied by an admixture 
of quartz in much less quantity, and earthy matter. The Old 
World matrices of Calc-spar, Fluor, and Baryta are strangely the 
exception, and in fact are almost unknown on the more important 
Silver-lead fields of the West Coast. Many of the other mineral 
species that are usually found associated with Galenite in the 
metalliferous regions in other parts of the world are, as a rule, 
found with it here, with the exception that some of the more 
common ores of Zine elsewhere are of much less frequent 
occurrence, and the few that have been discovered are in far less 
abundance than is usual in the mines of Europe and America. 
The earliest recorded discovery of Galenite in this island was 
apparently that of an unimportant nature made at Norfolk Plains in 
1851 (Proceedings Royal Society Tasmania, 1851), and it was 
many years after that practical mining for Silver-lead commenced. 
The first was that at the Scamander River in 1885. Assays from 
the mixed argentiferous minerals obtained in the mine at this 
locality gave variable returns up to as high as 200 ozs. of Silver 
per ton, and a bulk test of about 50 tons produced at the rate of 
32 ozs. to the ton with a fair proportion of lead. This mine is 
now shut down and the locality is practically abandoned, notwith- 
standing that several discoveries of argentiferous Galena have 
been made in the vicinity. 
The more important discovery of the existence of Galenite at 
Mount Zeehan on the West Coast was made by Frank Long on 
the 8th December, 1882, (Tilley, “The Wild West of Tasmania,” 
1891), but mining for this mineral did not commence until about 
five years later. 
The principal localities are :—Zeehan; Dundas; Ben Lomond ; 
Seamander River; Bischoff; Mount Claude; Dove River; 
