8o 
Mines and Mineral Statistics. 
aware of, now remains to prove it. Tiie surroxindiiifr eoxintry appears 
to be entirely of (granite. AYliotlier tlie lead may be the original 
matrix of the diamonds is a question didlcult to determine ; it may, 
howeyer, be mentioned that the faeets and edges of the diamond 
crystals do not appear to he in the least degree waterworn or abraded. 
I have been shown two diamonds said to have been found near 
jSTewstcad. Another one, as T before stated, was obtained with the 
tin ore from the old tertiary drift at tlio Stannifer Tin Mine, Middle 
Creek, and tliree others have been discovered in Darby’s branch creek, 
at the Britannia Tin Mine. 
Caebonifeuous. 
On Ncwstcad Station, thin bedded shales of bluisJi-grcy and yellow 
colour crop out, dipping at an angle of 1 5° in one place and almost vertical 
inotliers. with a general northerly strike. J could not detect any fossils 
in them, but Irom their lithological character there is little doubt Ixut 
that they form ])art of the carboniferous formation of which the Bcv. 
Mr. Clarke’s report states that the middle beds of this formatiou, 
those ol th(' Hunter and Idawkesbury, are widely distributed on the 
western border of the eouiitry between New Dngland and the interior.” 
A good section, most interesting as throwing some additional light 
on the probable age of iJte tin-hearing gi*anitos to whicli I shall here- 
after refer, may be seen on Newstead Creek, about 1 mile above Mrs, 
Anderson’s residence. (8ee hg. (3.) 
Fig. G. — Sketch Section on Newstead Creek. 
C 
^ a, thin bedded grey and yellow shales, h, coarse-grained porphy- 
ritic granite. c, red ferruginous volcanic breccia, similar to tli’at 
underlying the hasall. at Tnverell. (Sei' fig. 5, c.) This section shows 
the extension of the granite to have highly inclined the carboniferous 
strata.^ For some distance on either side of the granite the shales are 
much indurated. Ckirbonate of iron (gphfrosidertte) occurs, lining the 
crevices in exposed shales. 
Some hnp'I sandstones, probably carboniferous, crop out in the hanks 
of the Macintyre, about a mile below Iiiverell. 
^ To the north-west tlie carboniferous formation appears to he exten- 
sAely develo])ed. The Jlev, Mr. Clarke thus describes it : — “ The 
neighboTirhood of M arialda furnishes the best position for examining 
the geological phenomejion connected willi the succession of the car- 
honiteroxis aml^ the underlying formations. From the head of Becdy 
Creek, which rises near Coragin, to its junction with the Gwydir, there 
are many instructive snperj)ositions of * strata. 
“At that place the ]'orphyi’y is covci'cd by hods of eonglonierato 
and sandstone, which contain seams of caniiel coal that have occasionally 
