58 HAYDEN : AURIFEROUS LOCALITIES IN NORTH COIMBATORE. 



Sample. 



Position. 



Thickness of 

 ore-body. 



Result of 

 assay. 



Remarks. 



Co 



20 ft. 6 in. S. W. 

 by S. from foot 

 of vertical shaft. 



13 in. 



traces. 



Shaft goes deeper 

 but has not been 

 cleared further. 



c 5 



9 ft. S. VV. by S 

 from foot of 



8 in. 



n 





C 14 



vertical shaft. 











7 ft E. from foot 



1 2 in. 









of shaft. 









Conclusions. 



The results of the above assays are certainly not encouraging, 

 for such small ore -bodies, unless very rich, would not be worth work- 

 ing. 



So far as the main reef is concerned it has already been stated 

 that very extensive old workings occur in the 

 neighbourhood of the two small shafts already 

 cleared, and also at a point about two miles further to the north, 

 almost due east of the summit of Bensibetta, as well as on a small hill 

 about one mile east-north-east of Inbekombi village. Where outcrops 

 of the reef are seen the stone is almost always white and barren-look- 

 ing, all other minerals having been leached out of it, and consequently 

 samples taken from these outcrops would not give reliable results. 

 The most southerly workings, viz., those between Marur and Ma*di- 

 kada, are the most extensive, and among these are what may possibly 

 be the remains of old shafts on the reef, The two samples taken 

 from the outcrop yielded on assay only traces of gold, and although 

 the invariable presence of gold in the debris in the neighbourhood of 

 the outcrop would seem to point to the fact that the fresh rock may 

 contain a workable amount of gold, yet this conclusion is by no 

 means inevitable, for it must be remembered that during the process 

 of weathering and disintegration of the reef, the gold, owing to its 

 great specific gravity, would necessarily become concentrated in the 

 surrounding soil. On the whole therefore there are no grounds to 

 justify the recommendations of extensive prospecting operations on 

 ( 5S ) 



