Vol.  49-] 
THE  PAMBULA  GOLD-DEPOSITS. 
233 
18.  The  Pambula  Gold-Deposits.  By  Frederick  Danvers  Power, 
Esq.,  F.G.S.,  M.Am.Inst.M.E.  (Bead  November  9th,  1892.) 
[Abridged.] 
The  Pambula  Goldfield  is  situated  in  the  parish  of  Yowaka,  county 
of  Auckland,  in  the  south-eastern  corner  of  New  South  Wales,  and 
is  about  11  miles  north  of  Twofold  Bay. 
Most  so-called  4  practical  ’  miners,  especially  those  accustomed  to 
well-defined  quartz-reefs,  acknowledge  that  these  deposits  are 
quite  different  from  anything  they  have  ever  met  with,  and  admit 
that  they  do  not  understand  them.  This  is  not  surprising,  for,  if 
the  observer  takes  a  cursory  view,  without  giving  due  weight  to 
minor  details,  these  lodes  do  indeed  appear  different  from  the 
general  run  of  auriferous  deposits,  chiefly  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  material  filling  the  ore-channels  does  not  differ  much  in  appear¬ 
ance  from  the  enclosing  rock  (4  country '),  and  is  but  slightly 
impregnated  with  metallic  sulphides. 
The  ore-deposits  of  Australasia  are  for  the  most  part  confined  to 
certain  belts  of  country,  running  more  or  less  parallel  with  the 
sea-coast  and  with  the  main  ranges  of  hills.  The  rocks  which 
contain  the  Pambula  gold-deposits  are  no  exception  to  the  general 
rule,  their  average  strike  being  12  deg.  W.  of  N.  The  enclosing 
rock  or  4  country  ’  is  pyrophyllite-schist,  interbedded  with  felspar- 
porphyry,  sometimes  merging  into  quartz -porphyry,  the  whole  of 
which  is  tilted  at  a  high  angle  ;  near  the  surface  the  rocks  dip 
considerably  to  the  east,  while  deeper  down  they  are  almost  perpen¬ 
dicular.  The  planes  of  cleava.ge  and  the  planes  of  bedding  of.  the 
4  country  ’  appear  to  be  coincident. 
Examined  microscopically,  the  structure  of  the  schist  is  lenticular, 
and  this  is  repeated  on  a  macroscopical  scale,  more  especially  in 
those  zones  of  disturbance  which  now  form  the  lodes.  The  lenti¬ 
cular  structure  is  carried  still  further,  for  the  lodes  themselves, 
while  tending  to  a  north-and-south  strike,  cut  up  the  field  and  form 
a  network ;  but  of  the  whole  system,  it  is  only  the  main  or  central 
lode  which  has  been  worked  at  a  profit.  Some  of  the  lodes  are 
accompanied  by  a  quartz  4  indicator  ’ :  that  is  to  sa}- ,  either  a 
succession  of  small  detached  veinlets  of  quartz  or  one  continuous 
vein  (4  leader  ’),  9  inches  wide,  as  shown  in  the  figure  on  p.  234. 
Curiously  enough,  however,  this  quartz  contains  little  or  no  gold, 
the  precious  metal  being  found  in  the  shattered  4  country ’  lying 
on  the  4  footwadl  ’  side.  This  shattered  zone  always  has  a  good 
4  hanging  wall,’  whether  the  quartz  indicator  is  present  or  not,  but  on 
the  footwall  side  it  gradually  merges  into  the  normal  rock.  The 
width  for  which  it  may  be  profitably  worked  varies  from  a  few  inches 
to  5  feet,  and  is  not  defined  by  any  sharp  line.  In  Faulkner’s 
Claim  there  are  rich  lenticular  parts  of  the  shattered  zone  which 
measure  as  much  as  18  feet  long  and  18  feet  deep.  The  richness  of 
