45 

 SILVER. 



The 'New South Wales silver ores are contained in cases 58 tc 

 61. They are arranged in three main groups, representing th(t 

 Northern, "Western, and Southern Divisions o£ the State, the 

 ores from each district being kept together as far as possible. 

 Consisting largely as they do of argentiferous galena, little 

 comment will be necessary. In many instances the assay value 

 of an ore is stated on the label. Generally speaking, the silver 

 is contained in other minerals, notably by lead ores. In one or 

 two cases, however, definite silver minerals constitute an appreci- 

 able proportion of the ore ; thus, at the Consols Mine, dyscrasite 

 and stromeyerite, and at the Euby Silver-mine, pyrargyrite, occur 

 in considerable abundance, while in the upper levels of the 

 Broken Hill mines large quantities of emholite occurred. 



To avoid repetition, a brief description of the more important 

 silver minerals, as found in New South Wales, and contained in 

 the Museum collections, is now given : — 



Native SiLVER,metallic silver (in filamentous or spongy masses; 

 frequently much tarnished) : Broken Hill, Burragorang, Lewis 

 Ponds, Eockvale, Sunny Corner, Umberumberka, White Rock. 



HoEN SiLVEE, silver chloride (silver, 75 per cent ) : A soft, 

 waxy mineral, greyish-black in colour owing to exposure to light. 

 Of the substances known as chloride of silver, some prove on 

 investigation to be chloro-bromide. The general term "chloride" 

 is a convenient one pending examination. True horn silver 

 occurs in considerable quantities in some of the Silverton mines. 

 It has also been detected at Burragorang, Captain's Flat, Lewis 

 Ponds, Rockvale, and L^mberumberka. 



lODAKGTRiTE, or loDTKiTE, iodide of silvcr (silver, 46 per cent.) 

 — Yery soft and waxy; lemon-yellow in colour; usually forming 

 incrustations, but sometimes found in six-sided prisms with fiat 

 terminations. Broken Hill only. 



E5IB0LITE, chloro-bromide of silver (silver, up to 72 per cent.) : 

 Very soft and waxy ; beautiful green in colour, but rapidly 



