84 IROX ORE AND COAL DEPOSITS AT WALLERAWANG. 



Although tlie back of the lode does not absolutely come to the 

 surface along its entire course, yet there is a great probability of 

 all the different outcrops being connected beneath the surface — 

 in Avhich case the total length of the deposit, as far as it has been 

 at present traced, cannot be much less than one mile. 



Along this line of outcrop the ore is seen scattered, all over the 

 surface in great blocks and nodules, either completely exposed 

 or but partially embedded, and. over a width of from 12 to 18 feet 

 in parts, to as much as even 50 or 60 feet in another. 



The thickness of the deposit below the surface has not yet 

 been fully ascertained ; but a shaft has been put down in the lode 

 itself to a depth of 43 feet, and at the bottom a level was driven 

 which proved it to be of the same quality through a thickness of 

 18 or 20 feet. There are no decided appearances of the bound- 

 aries of the deposit having been cut, except on the N.E. side, so 

 that it may eventually prove to exceed the above-mentioned 

 thickness. 



As far as can be seen from the outcrops and other indications, 

 the deposit has nearly every appearance of being a true vein or 

 lode, in which case of course its depth may be regarded as practi- 

 cally unlimited, for there is nothing on record which shows that 

 the bottom of any true vein has ever been reached in mining 

 operations. Veins have often been regarded as w^orked. out 

 altogether when reduced perhaps to a mere thread, but, on con- 

 tinuing to sink, such veins have always been found to open out 

 again. One cannot of course say that this will always be found 

 to be the case, but it always has been the case, when sufficient 

 perseverance has been used, in following the traces of the vein 

 downwards. 



However, although there are strong indications of this deposit 

 of brown hematite being a true lode, it has not yet been con- 

 clusively proved to be one ; subsequent workings may show it to 

 be an irregular deposit such as those of the Forest of Dean and 

 other places in England. 



As the shaft already put down is sunk|^through the deposit 

 itself, the stuff raised and heaped up at the shaft mouth affords 

 a very fair sample of the average quality of the ore. 



The ore is composed of nodules of mammillated and botryoidal 

 goethite, possessing a fibrous structure something like that of 

 w^ood, mixed with massive and friable brown hematite, together 

 with a little pipeclay. On descending the shaft, its walls, on all 

 sides and from top to bottom, are seen to be composed of the 

 same ore, only, of course, from not having been disturbed it is 

 much more compact IS'ear and at the bottom, a " horse" of 

 pipeclay comes in, but one of no great size. 



