Mines and Mineral Statistics. 
5 
tive to search for new deposits, or for appliances by means of 
which the ground might he worked more ellectively. It is matter 
for congratulation that attempts are being made liere and there 
to introduce a system of mining on a large scale, and with such 
appliances as will render the working of poor gro\md higldy 
remunerative ; and as the rcs^dts of such enterprises come 
to be known and appreciated, persons will bo found ready to 
embark in like ventures, and thus our gold yields Avill bo largely 
increased. 
It is hoped that as soon as the arrangements of the Mining 
Department shall bo complete it will be enabled to make known 
the vast extent of the auriferous deposits of this Colony, and 
that a large number of experienced miners will be tliereby 
attracted to our Grold Fields. Every eilbrt will be made in future 
to ascertain and publish returns sliowing the average yield of gold 
from the alluvions and vein sfculfs of our several Gold Fields, because 
such returns may be regarded as the best test of the value of our 
auriferous deposits, and — allowance being made for the peculiar 
conditions attending the working of the several kinds of deposits— 
a valuable guide to miners and investors. That there is ample 
scope for tlie profitable employment of an almost uidimited 
number of miners in opening up auriferous country yet unpros- 
pected, and in working deposits now neglected for want of the 
requisite appliances and skill, cannot be doubted. 
In mauy instances the small size of our quartz veins and the 
hardness of the country render quartz-mining comparatively 
nnremunerative, but in a great number of instances the abandon- 
ment or neglect of our (piai'tz veins is due to want of cxpericuce 
and want of proper appliances rather than to the ])oorness of the 
stone. Again, the combination or association of other metals 
with the gold tends to lessen the value of tlie gold, and in tlie 
absence of the means of separating and saving the whole of tlieso 
metals, and the skill to employ such means to the greatest 
advantage, some veins arc regarded as uuremunorativo wliich, 
under skilful management, would ])rovo highly remunerative. 
Dp to the present time c()m])arativcly little attention has been 
paid to the saving and treatment of pyrites. In many instances 
quartz heavily charged witli pyrites is crushed at a battery 
where there are no appliances for saving them, and where in 
fact no attem]d, is made to save them. The pyrites are freipieutly 
carried off with the tailings into a creek and lost. 'Ihe loss 
sustained by the waste of such material, though there arc no 
means of (jstimating its extent, must be very groat, and what is 
worse, the loss may bo said to be irreparable, because it would be 
impossible to collect the material again. If the gold thus lost 
could have been saved, many claims abandoned as unrcinuuerative 
might have been worked with profit for years to come. 
