374 Notices of Memoirs — Tungsten Deposits of Essexvale. 



at lower elevations, extensive slopes which are too steep for ordinary 

 cultivation between, and on sheep-farms much very poor grazing- 

 land which would be more profitably used in growing timber. As to 

 the best trees to be planted at different elevations and on different 

 soils, at least by private landowners, no doubt there are many 

 botanists in our societies who could greatly help with their advice. 

 In the last half-century we have doubled our imports of timber and 

 now do not produce more than a tenth part of our requirements, 

 although our climate is admirably suited to the production of nearly 

 the whole. 



We are far behind most European countries in the relative area of 

 our timbered land. For instance, nearly half the area of Russia and 

 of the Scandinavian countries is wooded, about 26 per cent of the 

 area of Germany, about 17 per cent of that of France, and the same 

 of Belgium, the most densely populated country in Europe until its 

 devastation and depopulation by the Germans, but only about 4 per 

 cent of the area of the United Kingdom, which will probably be 

 reduced owing to the requirements of our war to not more than 2 or 

 3 per cent. 



Next to fostering agriculture let it be your aim, individually as 

 well as collectively in your capacity as members of societies working 

 in harmonious co-operation, to promote to the best of your ability the 

 re-afforestation of our country. By encouraging these two industries 

 you will help to secure its future safety and prosperity. 



II. — Report ox the Tungsten Deposits of Essexvale, Umzingwank 

 District. 1 By A. E. V. Zeaxlet, A.R.C.S., Geologist to the 

 Southern Rhodesia Geological Survey. 



TI^HERE seems to be general opinion that the tungsten deposits at 

 X Essexvale consist only of so-called alluvial or rubble wolframite, 

 and that reefs have not been found. This is not true. Some reefs 

 have long been known, and the excavation of the rubble has led to 

 the uncovering of others, which, so far as can be judged without 

 actual sampling and development, offer good prospects for mining. 

 But hitherto there has been a strange reluctance to undertake mining 

 operations on the reefs, whilst the work on the rubble has been 

 largely desultory. 



Position. — The known tungsten reefs lie within an east and west 

 rectangular block of country of about 9J square miles area lying 

 immediately to the north of Essexvale Siding and mainly west 

 of the railway. The reefs extend from the neighbourhood of 

 "TheRanche" (2£ miles north-west of the Siding) to the Native 

 Church (1| miles north-east of the Siding). Sixteen distinct reefs 

 are known, eleven of which have had a little work done on them 

 from time to time. 



History. — The deposits were first prospected in 1906. In the 

 ensuing two years a fair amount of ore was produced, but in 1909 

 the production ceased. A little interest was again taken in the 

 deposits in 1912-13, but there was no production in 1914-15. At 



1 Keprinted from the Bulawayo Chronicle of May 18, 1917. 



