Mineral Resources. 9 



25 tons exported yielded an average of 75 per cent, of pure 

 tin. The ore in Melbourne cost £47 per ton, and yielded in 

 London a net profit of £32 per ton. 



ANTIMONY. 



Sulphuret of antimony occurs in considerable quantity in 

 the Yarra basin and otter localities, and may be expected to 

 add considerably to the resources of the country when the 

 expenses of land carriage have been reduced by the formation 

 of railways and roads to the interior. 



LEAD. 

 Sulphide of lead, with a small per-centage of silver, occurs 

 in Gipps Land and in some other localities, but has not yet 

 been extracted in any important quantity. 



COPPEE. 



Copper in carbonate and sulphides, and also native, occurs 

 associated with the gold-bearing quartz veins, in several dis- 

 tricts, but has not yet been found in sufficient quantities to be 

 profitably extracted. 



IRON. 



Hydrous oxides of iron are abundant in many localities in 

 the colony, and projects for smelting them have frequently 

 been brought before the public, but the scarcity and expense 

 of fuel and manual labor, as well as of carriage, have hitherto 

 prevented these iron ores from forming any material addition 

 to our mineral resources. Titaniferous iron sand is very 

 abundant in the tertiary, basaltic, and sedimentary, forma- 

 tions of many localities in the colony, but neither has been, 

 nor is likely to be, profitably applied. 



COAL. 



Seams of coal of good quality have been discovered at_ or 

 near the surface in several localities, but with the exception 

 of those on the coast at Cape Patterson, from 6 inches to 

 .3 feet 9 inches, and on the Kiver Bass, at Western _ Port, 

 3 feet to 4 feet 3 inches, none of them are sufficiently thick to 

 be profitably worked. Owing to the difficulty of transport 

 and the high price of labor, even those have not yet been 

 made available for a supply of fuel. 



About eighteen months since, the "Victoria Coal Company 

 was formed, for the purpose of working the Cape Patterson 

 seams, and a lease was granted to the company by the 



