290 



of a few small bunches of ore of variable quality, apparently precipitated into 

 the crevices of the serpentine by solution from the decomposition of the out- 

 crops of the neighbouring dykes, which run through that district in a course 

 north and south. These bands in the Dun Mountain are of a similar character 

 to those which Mr. Daintree remarks are more worth prospecting for gold 

 than for copper ; so it is just probable that, had the attention of the Dun 

 Mountain Company been directed to the precious metal instead of copper and 

 chrome, the results might have been very different. 



The second class of veins, where the rock itself is pyritous, and the decom- 

 posing pyrites stains the joints and cavities with copper ore, sometimes for a 

 considerable distance from the source of the ore itself This mode of occurrence 

 may be sometimes considered as a zone of impregnation, for, often a definite 

 course can be assigned to a series of such outcrops. Two-thirds of the surface 

 indications which have been discovered in the district have originated in this 

 manner. The third class of veins are deposits of true copper ores in a matrix 

 of quartz, calcspar, etc. , with at least one defined wall, promising to become in 

 depth true " lodes." The Pioneer Company's lode, at Collingwood, seems to 

 belong to this class, showing a grey sulphide, and copper pyrites, in a quartz 

 matrix, which has been tested with favourable results. 



The foregoing quotations and remarks have been principally directed to 

 the serpentine country. I now proceed to make a few observations on that 

 section of country bounded by the serpentine on the east, and Blind Bay, as a 

 likely field for the prospector for gold. This section may be said to rest on the 

 Maitai slates. The slates run in a N.N.E. and S.S.W. direction, and are 

 intruded upon at various points by greenstone dykes, and showing in their 

 outcrop small quartz veins, such as are seen at the upper foot-bridge across the 

 Maitai, within the boundary of the city, and said to contain gold. Several 

 veins are also observable higher up the valley, as well as at various points on 

 the line of the Dun Mountain Railway, where greenstone dykes, intersected 

 by quartz veins, occur. 



This class of country, Mr. Daintree remarks in his report, is highly favour- 

 able for gold-producing reefs. He says, in his report on veins entirely in 

 greenstone : — " The mines Maria Louisa, Ball, Original Homeward Bound, 

 and all the Crocodile District reefs, belong to this class. In Australia," 

 he continues to say, " so far as I can learn, this mode of occurrence of auriferous 

 veins has only been pi*actically tested in Queensland. By personal inspection, 

 I am aware that all the mines opened in the Black Snake District, near 

 Kikivare, take their course through porphyritic greenstone, and some of the 

 Gympie reefs are said to be so bounded." The peculiarity of veins of this 

 character, he says, seems to be " that all yet tried have been proved to be 

 auriferous, but associated with such an amount of sulphides as rather to deserve 

 the name of 'pyrites lodes' than quartz veins." 



