C.— 13. 
2G 
and the left-hand branch of Slaty Creek (Big River), are of great thickness, and formed of exceed- 
ingly coarse material. They extend over a very considerable area, and constitute strata reaching 
in places from 1,500ft. to 2,000ft. in thickness. From Slaty they stretch across the water- 
divide into the head-waters of the Punakakaki River. In Black-sand Creek the concentrates from 
these breccia-conglomerates yield gold, and the bed and banks of the stream have been worked 
for about one mile. The gold thus obtained does not appear to have paid wages to the men 
engaged in the work, and at the present time no one is working in Black-sand Creek. ~ In Slaty Creek 
proper, a considerable amount of gold-washing in the recent alluvial of the creek-bed has been done. 
The source of the gold in this is either gneissic-granite or the breccia-conglomerates at the base of 
the coal-bearing series. 
Between the gorge of Slaty Creek and three miles farther up Big River, a number of small 
creeks rise on the eastern slopes of the conglomerate range, and in one or two gullies patches of 
rich gold-bearing alluvial wash were found. Mr. Johnstone, of Slaty Creek, obtained gold to a con- 
siderable amount from one of the smaller gullies indicated. 
It is doubtful how far these breccia-conglomerates extend up the Little Grey Valley, as beyond 
Rough River the recent and Pleistocene deposits derived from the higher and central parts’of the 
Paparoa Mountains overlie and obscure them should they be present. 
On the coast-line south of the Bulier River they are met with at Charleston and Brighton, and 
at the. first mentioned place are seen exposed along the shore-cliff in Constance Bay. Here the 
material of which they are composed is largely of local origin. At Brighton they form a remarkable 
pyramidal rock at the mouth of the I ox River, but do not appear to be developed further inland, 
where the base of the coal-bearing series rests against the granites forming the lower slopes of the 
Paparoa Range. 
In the Buffer Valley, between the Ohika-iti (Little Ohika) and Graiuger’s Point, near Coal 
Creek, they have a great development, and form lofty ranges of mountains on each side of the valley, 
they extend for six or seven miles tip the Blackwater, and also a considerable distance back 
on the northern side of the gorge. In Hawk s Crag they form a high vertical cliff, along the face 
of which the Westport-Reefton coach road has been cut. In this part they do not appear to be 
generally gold-bearing, though what little gold has been obtained from the Blackwater appears to 
have been derived front them. J bin seams of bituminous coal appear in these rocks near Hawk’s 
Crag. On the west side of the Inangahua Valley a patch of such conglomerate appears at the 
source of Fletcher’s Creek. 
On the ea^t side of the Inangahua Valley these conglomerates and breccia-conglomerates are 
found nearly continuous from the Buffer River to the Inangahua River, opposite the junction of 
Rainy Creek. 
In Boatman s Creek, at Capleston, well-rounded rather coarse quartz gravels represent these 
beds, and of the same character, like deposits extend along the front range to the north branch 
of the Inangahua River. 
At Painkiller, and in the upper part of Murray Creek, and thence covering the older rocks, ami 
forming the higher part of the range between the north and south branches of the Inangahua, 
these beds extend back eastwards to the foot of the granite mountains. In the upper part of Boat- 
man s Greek there is a remarkable development of these rocks, mainly consisting of granite, though 
other rocks also are present. Here the material seems to be of glacier origin, a large proportion 
of the granite masses exceeding 6ft. in diameter, and many reaching to 10ft. and 12ft. through. 
Ihe general bulk of the deposit at this place is completely angular, and, though transported for 
some distance, not in the least water-worn. 
In the upper part of Murray Creek, and in Lankey’s Gully, these beds are auriferous, so much so 
that, with the application of skill and proper appliances, they should be made to pay for working. 
Some attempts to work these cements, where they are known to be gold-bearing, have, it is 
true, been discontinued, mainly owing to the great hardness of the material to be dealt with ; and, 
in the case of the Lankey’s Gully cement claim, on account of the gold being, for the most part 
confined to the first foot of cement resting on the underlying rock. 
In the Upper Buffer Valley, there is a great development of gravels in connection with the lower 
division of the Cretaceo- tertiary series. These gravels are found in the valley of the Mangles, up 
which they extend to the Blue Duck Creek, to which point very coarse gold is got in the alluvial 
deposits of the river-bed, and in those of Blue Duck Creek itself. Beyond this point, i.e., higher 
up the Mangles Valley, the gold is much finer in grain, and it is also much less in quantity. 
In the Matakitaki Valley, there can be little doubt that the bulk of the gold found in the bed 
of the river, and along its banks has been derived from the denudation of the gravel cements occur- 
ring towards tire base of the Cretaeeo-terfiary series, or resting directly on the gneissic granites. In 
the Glenroy and in the Upper Maruia, between Thompson’s and Station Creek, there is a great 
development of these beds. They are known to be auriferous in Station Creek ; on the Rapa- 
hanoch Stream, and along the Glenroy River. There is a probability of these beds being largely 
worked at no distant date. 
X. Tbiassic. 
(a.) Beds in the Upper Teremakau Valley, resembling the jasperoid and diabasic beds of the 
Selwyn Gorge, Canterbury . — These beds lie outside the district mapped to illustrate this report, and 
they have already been sufficiently noticed in a previous report.* 
XII. Carboniferous. 
(a.) Maitai Series. — Westland Formation of Haast. — In the southern part of the district this 
formation is found in Mount Greenland, between the Mikonui and Totara Rivers, and in Constitu- 
tion Hill, between the Totara and Hokitika Rivers. A small area of the same rocks also is said to 
occur in the Kanieri watershed. They form also a broad belt of country, and all the higher moun- 
tains along the main water-parting, between the east and west coasts of the island; and in the 
report immediately above referred to they have been described with sufficient detail as far as the source 
* Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 171. 
