444 Transactions. — Geology. 



Bornite, Q^^ -Ee'"- — Dr. Hector mentions the occurrence of this mineral 

 at Kawau (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol., ii., p. 375), and Professor Liversidge also 

 mentions a specimen from Dunstan, Otago (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. x., 

 p. 502). 



Chalcopyrite {coppe^^ pyrites), jQ^' -{-^g^'". — This ore, which contains theo- 

 retically 34-5 per cent of copper, but which in nature is seldom found to 

 have more than 15 to 20 per cent, present, and frequently less, is the most 

 permanent form of copper ore and the one from which the greater quantity 

 of that metal is extracted. 



This mineral was first discovered at the Island of Kawau in 1842, and 

 was worked for several years, yielding on an average 12 per cent, of copper 

 (Hector, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. ii., p. 375). When the mine was aban- 

 doned the lode was reported to be 15 feet thick and to consist of a compact 

 yellow pyrites, averaging 16 per cent, copper, lying against a band of iron 

 pyrites. An account of the character of the lode has been published by Dr. 

 Hector (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. ii., p. 376). Copper pyrites has again been 

 worked at Mine Bay, Great Barrier Island, where it occurs associated with 

 peacock copper, blue and green carbonate, and black oxide, but is now 

 abandoned. It occurs in a breccia lode, and has been reported on by 

 Captain Hutton (Geol. Eep., 1868-69, p. 4). 



Another instance of its occurrence is at Moke Creek, Lake Wakatipu, 

 where it is found in a lode 4 feet wide (Hector, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. ii., 

 p. 378), in which a solid vein of Chalcopyrite from 5 to 8 inches wide 

 occurs, the rest of the lode containing only a little copper scattered through 

 the gangue, and it is bounded by cupriferous schists. It again occurs in a 

 lode near Waipori, in Keedy Creek, a branch of the Waitahuna, from which 

 locality some very fine specimens have been obtained, yielding as much as 

 14 per cent, of copper. 



Mr. Macfarlane has forwarded specimens of Chalcopyrite from a block 

 of land on the Paringa Eiver, Westland, which he reports that he obtained 

 from a lode 3 feet wide. Half of this lode is made up of the solid ore, 

 yielding 18*55 per cent, of copper, the remainder consisting of quartz with 

 thin bands of ore of the same kind. Copper Pyrites has also been found at 

 the Pioneer Claim, Collingwood. Besides these localities at which lodes 

 are known to occur, Copper Pyrites has been found, at various places, such 

 as the Thames, associated with gold ; as grains imbedded in quartzose 

 schists of the Moorhouse Eange, Canterbury; in the river beds south of 

 Mount Cook on the "West Coast ; in a lode at Dusky Sound, which however 

 did not prove of great value when opened up ; at Lake Ohou ; and at the 

 Perseverance Mine, Collingwood, in small quantities. 



