OCCURRENCE OF PRECIOUS STONES IN N.S.W. 225 
bury Sandstone or sandstones of the Upper Coal Measures. Some 
of the stones found here are of a deeper yellow than the straw 
colour that makes diamonds “ off,” so much so that in my opinion 
they have a beauty of their own as yellow diamonds. 
I am not aware of any record having been made of a locality 
where some good diamonds have been found forty miles south-east 
of Mudgee. It is close to Sandy Flat and about ten miles east of 
Cherry Tree Hill. Some alluvial gold mining was being done 
here in 1885, in ground from twenty to fifty feet. A number of 
diamonds were found in the sluice-boxes. One was sold for £75, 
and should have cut into a brilliant of the first water of four carats. 
A few diamonds have been found near Dubbo in a redistributed 
Tertiary drift. But after Bingara and Cudgegong comes Mitta- 
gong, where although no great number of diamonds have been 
found, it was hoped we should find the diamond in its true matrix. 
Source of the Diamond.—It can be safely asserted that up to 
the present no diamond has been found in its true matrix in New 
South Wales. In every case there is evidence to show that the 
Stones were drifted from their original matrix to the place where 
we find them. The nature of that matrix is also unknown. 
The occurrence of the diamonds found now and again at places 
as far apart as Trunkey, Muckerawa, Tia, near Walcha (a fine 
stone was found here last month), Uralla, Narrabri, Dubbo, throw 
no light on the possible source of the diamond in New.South 
Wales. Contrary to the generally received opinion, I believe 
that the diamonds of Auburn Vale, Inverell, and Bingara have 
been derived from a common source. The geological conditions 
on these fields are the same, the associated minerals are the 
Same, and after all the Bingara field is situated further down on 
the same river-system. I can hardly say that the Inverell stones 
‘re larger, but the tourmaline and other associated minerals are 
certainly larger at Inverell than at Bingara. The Bingara tour- 
‘Malines are all small and perfectly waterworn. I do not know 
that an expert could separate parcels of diamonds from the two 
O—Oct. 7, 1896, 
