274 Reviews — Gold fields, of Western Australia. 



III. — Geological Survey, Western Australia. Bulletin No, 29, ' 

 Parts I and II : A Report upon the Geology, together with 

 A Description of the Peoductive Mines of the Cue and Day 

 Dawn Distkicts, Murchison Goldfield. By Harry P. "Woodward, 

 Assistant Government Geologist. 8vo. With maps and sections. 

 Perth, W.A., 1907. 



MR. HARRY P. AVOODWARD, a well-known pioneer of West 

 Australian geology, has supplied in this report much valuable 

 information respecting the mining districts which it embraces, forming 

 part of the great " Murchison Goldfields." 



Part I (Cue and Cuddingwarra Centres) opens with an account 

 (section 1) of the Cue mining district. The township of Cue is the 

 official centre of the Murchison goldfields, and is connected by railway 

 with Perth; it is 1,485 feet above the sea-level, and lies upon the 

 western edge of a broken granite plateau, which extends for a con- 

 siderable distance to the eastward. Starting in 1891 as a mere digger's 

 camp, it became changed in 1893 into a mining centi'e ; reefs were 

 opened up, of which several ]iassed into the hands of companies with 

 ample machinery to develop them. Nevertheless, it was soon dis- 

 covered that the production did not justify these preparations, and 

 failure resulted. In spite of adverse conditions, however, the district 

 has yielded since the earliest records appeared from 15,000 to 

 20,000 ozs. of fine gold per annum. 



Gcolofiy. — Gold deposits occur in the ciystalline series in more or 

 less lenticular-shaped amphibolite belts, surrounded by gneissic granite, 

 the whole being intersected by numerous felspathic dykes. In the 

 district under review the amphibolites are more coarsely crystalline in 

 structure than is usual in the auriferous belts, Avhile the quartz reefs 

 in them are of rare occurrence. In the acidic series, however, instead 

 of gneissic granites there appears to be a magmatic intrusion of 

 granodiorite, a rock intermediate between the hornblende granites and 

 the quartz diorites, and containing numerous productive lodes. 



A characteristic feature of the Cue district is the occurrence of table- 

 topped hills rising abruptly about 60 feet above the general level of the 

 country. These hills are the denuded remnants of a once extensive 

 plateau. 



Mining. — Section II contains a detailed description of the mines of 

 Cue, with tables showing their yield from about 1896 to 1906, 

 according to the length of time they have been worked. 



Numerous illustrations from photographs showing the physical 

 features of the country and coloured geological maps accompany 

 the report. 



Part II deals with a portion of the area included in the Day Dawn 

 mining district, which adjoins the Cue district to the southward. 

 Owing to excellent management mining in this area is carried on very 

 profitably, the most productive of the mines having yielded, up to the 

 end of 1906, 778,606 oz. of gold, out of 844,023 tons of ore crushed. 

 Over 95 per cent, of this yield comes from one mine. 



1 See also Geol. Mag., Dec. V, Yol. Ill (1906), p. 277. 



