712 



REPORT — 1881. 



iiiii 



Granite rnclra stretch irregiilavly tlie whole lennfth of the gohl fields. The 

 granite is evidently intrusive, an(i is older than the oarhoniferous period. 



The auriferous veins vary in thickness up to six feet ; the usual size of tliose 

 •worked is only four to fifteen inches. The quartz is often crystalline and handed. 

 'I'he veins have the same strike as the enclosini,' rocks and were at first '"jnskU.ied 

 to he l)ed8, einailar to those known to he auriferous in tlie Carolinas and < 'cwlieiv; 

 hut the fact of their containiufr portions of the enclosinj; slate, and of occasiouully 

 cuttini^ ohliquely across the lieddinj,"", proves that tliey are true veins. 



Tlic dislrihution of the <rold in tlie veins may he termed capricious. WliUetlie 

 veins for a lonj? distance may be auriferous, there is frenerally one zone or .several 

 zones of quartz much richer tiian that on efich side. Tlieae zones or ' ])ay streala' 

 do not appear to he tlie efiect of any law that l.as yet been applied to our mines. 



J udginp; from lh( available fossil evidence, whita however U small, the gold- 

 hearing beds appear to he of Cambrian age. 



The quartz mills of Nova Scotia ai'o similar to those in general use in Australia 

 and Ualil'ornia. The cost of mining varies from eialify cents in tlu; open cast slate 

 belts, carrying auriferous ([uartz, up to fifteen dollars a ton in small veins, three or 

 four inches wide, in very hard rock. 'i"he cost pi <• ton of crushing with water- 

 power varies from sixty cents to one dollar; with steam pow r the cost is somewhat 

 iiigher. 



Altoution is now being turned to low grade ores, that is to say, beds of 

 auriferous slate with veins of quartz, yielding averages of four to eight penny- 

 weights of gold to the ton. 



During the year 188.'} the miners averaged two dollars eighty-four cents a 

 day from 25,954 tons of quartz, yielding ten pennyweights and twenty-one grains 

 of gold per ton, and looking at thi? large extent of country containing ])roved 

 auriferous strata, the author anticipates a permanent and profitable future for ihv 

 g-old mines of Nova Scotia. 



2. A Comparison of the Distinctive Featnrefi of Nova Scotian Coul-fiehh. 

 Bij Edwin Gilpin, Jan., A.M., F.G.S., F.li.S.C. 



The Carboniferous Rocks of Nova Scotia cover a large part of the northern sidi' 

 of the province, and are expo.sed in luuisuallv good .sections. The present e of 

 workable coal-seams has led to many surveys, &C., which have resulted in a good 

 knowledge of their .structure. The l)est known ami mo.st continuous sections ore 

 those of the Joggins in Cumberland county, and of the Cape IJreton coaltic'.J. 

 Tiiere are numerous coal-fields, the uio.st imptirtant being tho.se of (Jumherland, 

 I'ictou, and Cape IJreton. 



The presence of east and w:'st svTiclinal folds is noticeable in each of these 

 district*;. In the Sydney coal-field these foldings are on the prolongation of tlw 

 range.- of the pi'e-carboniferons rocks, aiid die out Miey recede from them, hi 

 all those coal-fields these flexures are not acconi]. d by su'ious faults, except 

 ■where the older measures have interrupted or complicated them. Thus on the 

 north side of the Cumberland coal-field the measures are comparatively free from 

 disturl)ances where no pre-carboniferous strata appear, while nunuu-ous dislo- 

 cations are found on the south" side, where they rest almost directly on the 

 Silurian slates of the Cobequid mountains. 



In the Sydney coal-field the sections show the ancient centre of the coal-lleld 

 where (he maximum of coal and the minimum of strata occur, from which it 

 would appear tiiat the distributing current >< carried material priiu;ipally from the 

 north and the south ; the .source of part ft .iie detritus being the bordering Lower 

 Carboniferous strata. The .slight dillerence of deposition, however, 's marked by 

 the presence of beds of bituminous and fossiliferous limestoiu.', which, chiefly 

 developed in the centre, extend almost from end to end of the district. 



In the Pictou district a noticeable point is a horizon in the lower part of the 

 section containing l,r)00 feet of shale, and coal in beds up to .38 feet in thickness. 

 This curious formation is referred to the presence of a coiitemporaneous l-.arrier-reef 

 of shingle formed from the Millstoue Grit, and allowing under its shelter an im- 



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