the minerals of new south wales. 165 



Antimonial Silver Ore. 



Containing arsenic, at Moruya. (See specimen in the Australian 

 Museum.) 



Platinum. 



Native Platinum. 



Reported to occur with gold in the Shoalhaven River, and in 

 the Ophir gold district — in the form of small grains, Bendemeer. 



Osmium Iridium. 



OSMO-IRIDIUM. 



This compound of osmium and iridium is very commonly met 

 with in the auriferous and other drifts of New South Wales in 

 the form of minute grains and scales. 



I have observed it in the gem-sand at Bingera, Mudgee, Bathurst, 

 and other places. 



Its presence in alluvial gold is occasionally a source of trouble 

 at the Mint, for minute grains are often mechanically enclosed by 

 the gold after melting, which by their hardness speedily destroy 

 the dies during the operation of coining. 



Mercury. 



Native Merbury. 



In the Mookerawa Creek and in Great Waterhole at Ophir, men- 

 tioned by Stutchbury, and he states that mercury had never been 

 used on that creek. 



Cinnabar. 



Chemical composition : Mercury, sulphide = HgS. Found on 

 the Cudgegong River in an argillaceous matrix, and in alluvial 

 deposits associated with gold, gems, and other similarly occurring 

 minerals, in the form of small rounded masses of a brilliant red 

 colour. Reported to occur also at Moruya. 



Copper. 



Native Copper. 



Cubical system. Crystallised native copper is by no means rare, 

 but large and well developed crystals as elsewhere are uncommon. 

 It is met with massive, in plates, threads, wires, and arborescent 

 forms, the latter being usually built up of elongated rhombic 

 dodekahedra. 



