144 OEIGIN AND MODE OF OCCURRENCE OF GOLD-BEARING VEINS. 



be found in the walls of the lodes, that movements have taken 

 place, and consequently that they belong to the true fissure lodes. 



At the Thames some most instructive reefs may be examined, 

 including both true fissure lodes and others, which will be 

 mentioned further on. 



Amongst the first class I may mention the Queen of Beauty, 

 Caledonian, and Alburnia Reefs, as affording fair types of those 

 which are worked. 



Of these the Queen of Beauty Reef stands nearly vertical, and 

 has been worked to a depth of nearly 650 feet. The country rock 

 consists of tufaceous sandstone, which varies in character from 

 the surface to the 600 foot level, but at that point a breccia comes 

 in which is found cropping out on the surface in Karaka Creek. 



The reef changes its underlay from north-west to south-east, 

 and is intersected three or four times in the shaft which has been 

 sunk. The yields from this mine have been more uniform in 

 character than those from any other mine on the field, but even 

 here there have been richer and poorer parts of the stone. 



After the breccia was met with, although there was still gold 

 in the stone, it was not sufficiently rich to pay the expenses of 

 raising and treatment. 



The Caledonian Reef, on the other hand, underlays at an angle 

 of about 45° and has been worked in three claims : the Manukau, 

 Golden Crown, and Caledonian, as shewn in the plan, Fig. 34a, 

 taken from the plans at the mine. 



One continuous shoot of gold was followed from the surface to 

 the 400 feet level, at which point it was cut off, close to the 

 boundary of Tookey's claim, a change in the character of the 

 country rock coming in there. 



Through the Manukau and Golden Crown claims a hanging 

 wall leader was traced following the shoot of gold, and this 

 appears to have aided the country in increasing the productiveness 

 of the shoot in the reef. 



In the Caledonian the shoot was considerably enlarged, as. 

 shewn on the plan, and there is a very interesting feature in the 

 reef itself in that Claim, for instead of being one reef only, as in 

 the upper levels, it splits into three bands, which form a net-work 

 of veins as in the following sketch, which separate and come 

 together, and while the average course of the lode is N.N.E., it is 

 when the branches strike more nearly north-east that the best 

 stone is found. 



The sketches Figs. 33a and 34a are taken from Mr. S. H. Cox, 

 F.C.S., F.G.S., Report on the Gold Fields of the Cape Colville 

 Peninsula. 



In the Alburnia Claim the reefs are standing at a steeper angle 

 than in the Caledonian, but are not so steep as the Queen of 



