LUPTON : GOLD, SLATE,. AXD SALT MINES IN GREAT BRITAIN. 241 
tains, Venezuela, and India, though there are other formations, such 
as the Mount Morgan crater in Queensland and the Transvaal con- 
glomerates, producing extraordinary quantities of gold. 
It will be at once understood that the success of the operation 
of mining and crushing quartz depends to a great extent on the use 
of machinery. 
With rock drills, driven by compressed air, high explosives, steel- 
headed stamps, driven by water or steam power, the cost per ton of 
(piartz may be reduced from an excessively high figure such as it 
must have been in ancient days to a very moderate price, say, 8s. a 
ton, as may be to-day in a modern mine. 
There is no country in the world where mining can be done 
more cheaply than in Great Britain ; machinery and labour are both 
cheap and efficient ; water-power is often available in the mountains, 
and coal is everywhere cheap. Therefore for the working of a gold- 
mine it is onl)^ necessary to ensure success that there should be a 
moderate amount of gold. 
In Australia a mine will pay well if there is an average of ;j dwts. 
of gold per ton ; if we say a dwt. is worth oH. Id. this will give a 
value of 16s. 8d. a ton to the quartz ; if this will pay in Australia a 
smaller percentage of gold will pay in England or Wales. 
A good deal of excitement and a little speculation has recentl)' 
resulted from the opening of a gold mine by Mr. Pritchard Morgan 
in Wales. It has always been known that gold existed in Wales, and 
gold was got there in ancient days both before and during the time 
of the Romans, and since then at various periods ; and during the 
last 30 years some mines have been worked with varying success. 
One mine has produced £40,000 worth of gold in all during a period 
of 18 years. In the district near Dolgelly gold has been worked, and 
the mines are known to some intelligent miners. 
Since Mr. Morgan took it up, a level has been driven into the 
hill-side to cut a quartz vein, and is being driven forward to cut other 
veins. (PI. xi. fig. 1). In the first vein a level has been driven, 
and a small working opened in the vein. (September, 1888). The 
vein has here a width of 20 feet ; it dips north at an angle of 
about Ql^; the "hanging wall" is slate rock and the "foot wall" is trap 
