14 
traversed by horizontal yellow clay veins. One chain further north-east a shaft 40 feet 
deep shows the underlie of the lode to bo 80°. The ore is to a large extent composed of 
yellow oxides of bismuth and h’on, rod iron oxide, some copper pyrites, and large 
quantities of greenish-yellow bismuth ore. The lode is at least 5 feet wide, but the 
hanging-wall is not seen in the shaft. There arc two veins of ore, each about 10 inches 
thick, and veins of ironstone run towards the banging-wall side of the shaft at an angle 
of 45°. For about 3 chains north-east of the 40-feet shaft the greenish-yellow bismuth 
ore is traceable in the cap of the lode. For 7 chains further only ironstone is seen.* 
The Eeports of the Department of Mines show the output for the last two years 
to be as follows, the mines having as yet been only worked on an experimental scale, 
owing, I believe, to the difficulty in getting access to the bismuth market: — 
Ore Raised. Estimated 
Tons. Value. 
1889 44 ... £8,300 
1890 .. G ... 681 
CROYDON GOLD FIELD. 
This goldfield was only discovered in the end of 1884, and for some time its 
importance was not recognised. After some extraordinary crushings of Croydon stone 
at the Etheridge the first machine was opened on the field in November, 1886, and since 
then the i^rosperity of the place has advanced rapidly. The population was estimated 
at 8,000 in December, 1887, and (by the Warden) at 3,212 in December, 1889; the 
floating population attracted by the first rush having been reduced to the number neces- 
sary for the industry. The township is now connected by rail with Normaiiton. 
The jjart of the field immediately surrounding the township lies in a hornblendie 
granite, but north and east of the town is a wide-spread rock, apparently of metamorphie 
origin. It has a flinty ground-mass, and shows at one end of the series a clastic structure 
like an altered conglomerate, and at the other fluxion-structure, f Many of the reefs lie 
rather flat, and this circumstance gave rise at first to misgivings as to their permanency; 
but this prejudice, like many others, has had to yield to the logic of facts. In some the 
gold is very much alloyed with silver. One line of reef shows a good deal of native silver. 
The township is on the very edge of an alluvial flat which extends to the Gulf of 
Carpentaria. Of some of the deposits in this flat it is impossible to say whether they are 
recent alluvial “ cements” or belong to the Desert Sandstone. The auriferous rocks them- 
selves nowhere rise to any considerable elevation, and are overlaid in places by isolated 
fragments of fossiliferous Desert Sandstone, which are alluded to in another place. 
Besides the township of Croydon proper, Carron, Golden Valley, Tabletop, 
Goldstone, The Homeward Bound, The Mark Twain, The Croydon King, The Springs, 
and Wallabadah are centres of mining industry in the neighbourhood. 
Yield or Cboydon Gold Field. 
Year. 
Stoue Cruslied. 
Yield therefrom. 
Alluvial Gold. 
Total Gold. 
Average Value of Gold per oz. 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
Tons. 
10,950 
22,792 
29,439 
43,226 
Oz. 
31,787 
44,839 
52,541 
60,368 
Total 
(Not estimated) 
23 oz. 
(Not estimated) 
(Not estimated) 
Oz. 
31,787 
44,862 
52,541 
60,368 
189,558 
£2 13 6 (Local value) 
£2 17 3J (Mint value) 
£2 11 4| (Local value) 
£2 13 3 (Local value) 
* Report by R.L..J. on the Sellhoim Silver Mines and Surrounding District. Brisbane: 
Authority : 1889. 
t See Mr. Clarke’s Notes. 
