22 
miners knew it as “ black gold.” One nugget weighed 28 lb. Alluvial gold, with 
native bismuth, is extensively distributed in the Pumpkin Grully region, and would nay 
well to work by hydraulic power, if that could be brought to bear on it. 
The total amount of alluvial gold reported since 1877 is 4,751 oz., but it is 
obvious that the returns are very incomplete. The total amount of reef gold from 1877 
to 1890 is 5,283 oz., but, as the amount of stone crushed is not in all cases given, the 
yield per ton cannot now be estimated. 
The McKinlay Gold Field is believed by many to be a promising one, but has 
not as yet been steadily worked. Several reefs have given good returns for a time, 
and a considerable quantity of alluvial gold has been won, but no record appears to have 
been kept. The country-rock is said by Daiutreo to bo of metamorphic rocks (gneiss 
and mica- and talc-schists). “ The associated minerals are gold and copper, the presence 
of ‘ dykes ’ of intrusive material seeming to be the chief cause of mineralisation.”* 
Yielb of CLONCtmny Gold Field. 
Year. 
Stone Crushed. 
Yield therefrom. 
Alluvial Gold. 
Total. 
Tons. 
Oz. Gold. 
Oz. 
Oz. 
1877 
1,190 
1,205 
alluvial ? 295 
1,500 
1878 
1,014 
1,316 
1,316 
1879 
209 
293 
293 
1880 
406 
490 
490 
1881 
no returns 
1882 
4.io 
453 
453 
1883 
no returns 
say 500 
say 500 
1,000 
1884. 
no returns 
no returns 
1885 
no returns 
50 
alluvial ? 400 
450 
1886 
80 
85 
566 
651 
1887 
1,262 
1,262 
1888 
402 
402 
1889 
1,600 
836 
410 
1,246 
1890 
318 
55 
736 
791 
Total ... 
... 
9,854 
The Cloncurry Field contains some very extensive deposits of copper ore. The 
chief of these are the Great Australian and the Argylla. The copper is in the form of 
carbonates and red oxides. The latter ore, of which there are enormous deposits, is 
frequently richer than chemically pure red oxide, being mixed up with native copper. 
The Great Anstralian is the only mine which has yet been worked to any extent, and 
has produced, in 1885-7, 3,250 tons of ore, valued <at £33,520. 
Yield of Cloncuebv 
Copper Field. 
1885 ... 1,340 tons raised 
Value, £18,920 
1886 ... 900 „ 
7,000 
1887 ... 1,010 „ 
7.600 
Totals ... 3,250 tons 
£33,520 
Argentiferous lead lodes occur on the field, chiefly in the Dugald Valley. One 
of these, still unworked, is over a mile in length. 
The most striking features of the country are mountains of pure specular and 
magnetic iron ore. One of these — Mount Leviathan — is about two hundred feet high, 
and a quarter of a mile in diameter at its base. It is singular to reflect that these 
deposits, which, if they w'ere located in England, would be colossal fortunes for their 
owners, are at present absolutely valueless owing to their geographical position. 
* General Report upon the Northern District. Brisbane ; by Authority : 1870. 
