BY W. F. PETTERD. 55 
Native Copper occurring at the same locality; at the Specimen 
Reef Mine and other places near the Savage River a large quantity 
of gold has been obtained in and closely associated with Siderite, 
which mineral appears to be the main matrix of the metal at this 
locality ; at Lefroy and in the Fingal District when Galena is met 
with in the mines it often contains gold, and the small quantity of 
Sphalerite that occurs is invariably auriferous; at Waterhouse a 
considerable quantity of auriferous Mispickel and Marcasite 
occurs in the quartz reefs of the district, and the greater portion of 
the various pyritous minerals of the Beaconsfield, Lefroy, and 
Fingal gold mining districts are so rich in the precicus metal as 
to make their metallurgic treatment of considerable importance 
to the various mines; at the Ring River the gold is commonly 
alloyed with a small quantity of Bismuth, a peculiarity not known 
to exist at any other locality in the island ; in the vicinity of the 
Pieman River District the auriferous drifts often contain a com- 
paratively large quantity of Osmiridium,—Badger Plain, near 
the Savage River, being a noted locality ; in the stanniferous 
drift near Branxholm small flakes of gold are often met with, but 
not in sufficient quantity to render it of any economic importance ; 
much of the alluvial gold obtained on the Lisle field is often coated 
with a dark, almost black substance, which is apparently Ferro- 
manganese; occurs sparingly in a soft silicious tufa, of a yellowish- 
brown colour in a body of considerable extent in connection with 
a dioritic rock at the Castray River. In the same formation 
grains of Iridium are often met with, and numerous fine grains of 
Titaniferous Iron. The average purity of the gold of this colony 
is about 96 per cent. the balance being usually the metals of the 
platinoid group. The largest nuggets of gold obtained in this 
island were discovered at the Rocky River, a tributary of the 
Pieman, in 1883. Their respective weights were 143 and 243 ozs. 
Mr. F. Danvers Power, F.G.S., states, regarding the auriferous 
formation discovered at the Castray River, that ‘“‘ The country rock 
is slate, and on this has been deposited beds of volcanic ejecta ; 
these latter are more or less auriferous. The volcanic material, 
where undecomposed, is green in colour and of compact texture, 
showing magnetic pyrites here and there distributed throughout 
it. As this becomes weathered it decomposes into a ferruginous 
clay, somewhat sandy, but various beds may be recognized by 
their structure, hardness, mottled appearance, or some other feature 
peculiar to them. The gold in this material is not evenly dis- 
tributed ; occasionally a rich patch is struck, but the bulk is 
unpayable. The whole deposit is a fac simile of one occurring at 
Mandurama, in New South Wales, where extensive work has 
been done ; there, also, patches have been found, but the majority 
1s too poor to pay.” (Report on the New Castray Gold Mining 
Co’s. blocks, 1891). 
Information regarding the production of gold in this island is not 
