130 ORIGIN AND MODE OF OCCURRENCE OF GOLD-BEARING VEINS. 



problem well worthy of consideration by the highest authority 

 on such subjects. 



I will mention a few of the principal of these veins that have 

 been worked for their auriferous contents, and as T have for 

 years been well acquainted with the locality, I can speak with a 

 considerable amount of assurance as to the peculiarities of its 

 auriferous deposits. 



The Wilson Hill Reef is situated upon the hill that is close 

 to the township of St. Arnaud. This hill is about 200 to 300 feet 

 above the valley alongside. When first discovered the reef was 

 of enormous dimensions on the surface, being nearly 100 feet 

 wide, and it had thrown out on the western side of the hill rich 

 alluvial surfacing by the denudation it had undergone in times 

 past. For about 400 feet along its strike, which was about 

 N. 36° W. with a dip to the westerly of about 75° from the 

 perpendicular, it was a solid lode, but there seemed to be a break 

 up into smaller veins, both to the northward and southward. It is 

 most likely that it has made again and is identical with the 

 Sebastopol Reef that is on the same strike, and has the same dip 

 approximately, and which crops to the surface after crossing the 

 lower country and reaching the higher land some miles to the 

 northward from Wilson Hill. 



This latter reef was also of as large dimensions, or nearly so, 

 at the surface. The quartz of the Wilson Hill Reef was, for 

 some distance from the surface, stained yellow, or sometimes of a 

 greenish colour, and very much honeycombed with cavities, due, 

 doubtless to the decomposition of iron pyrites and other sulphides. 

 It was also very rich at the upper level, as much as ten to twelve 

 ounces of free gold to the ton being obtained by ordinary 

 treatment with comparatively primitive appliances; but when 

 last I visited the mine, some four years ago, the lode had run 

 into a pyritous one, having been worked down to some distance 

 below the water level, and only about 3dwts. of free gold to the ton 

 could be obtained from the quartz, the rest being now all in 

 the undecomposed pyrites with which the stone was largely 

 impregnated. Expensive machinery was just being erected to 

 save the pyrites for transmission to places in Europe and 

 elsewhere where such ore can be treated. All the quartz veins in 

 this district become highly pyritous at low levels. 



The Jerygaw Reef, another quartz vein in the same district is 

 a nearly perpendicular lode, and yielded rich quartz at the 

 surface ; some of the specimens that I saw taken from it when 

 first opened, and which were of a highly ferruginous character, 

 were perfectly studded with gold, as thick as plums in a plum 

 pudding, but it became poorer as it went down. 



