102 
“ There are numerous houMers of decomposed porphyry in the centre o£^ the 
deposit at this level. On the western side of the deposit there is a dyke of kaolimte 
formed from decomposed porphyry ; it is rumiing north and south, and it is per- 
pendicular. 
“ Slates are met with on the western side of this dyke, dipping north-north-east. 
There is a small vein of molybdenite very rich in gold in these slates. 
“ As the width of the working place is about 30 feet, the width of the whole 
deposit from east to west is about 140 feet at this level. 
“ Below the 50-feet level sulphurets begau to appear, and there was comparatively 
little free gold to what was obtained near the surface. At 70 feet in depth the ore 
contained a great amount of iron pyrites. 
“ At 100 feet in depth a second tunnel has been driven into the hill to cut the 
deposit. Slates and mud-rock occur in this tunnel from the moixth to a point 78 feet 
from the main workings, when the wall forming the eastern boundary of the deposit is 
met with again, running W.N.W., and dipping S.S.TV. at 70°. The deposit in the 
tunnel is in layers dipping to E. at 25°. Prospects of gold can be obtained throughout 
it, especially when the pyrites is in any quantity. The character of the stone in the 
portion being worked is much the same frpm this level down to the present depth 21o 
feet. 
“ It consists of fragmentary mud-rock, with a soft greyish tufaceous materml, 
interlaced with veins and fissures, filled with sulphides of bismuth and iron, molybdenite, 
arsenical pyrites, quartz, lime, &c. There are some beautiful specimens of molybdenite 
with sulphide of bismuth imbedded in it. Tetradymite— a tclluride aud sulphide of 
bismuth — occurs in small quantities in association with quartz. Small cavities occur in 
the deposit all the way down; these are often lined wdth well-crystallised minerals, 
among which I may mention beautiful needle-shaped crystals of bismuthinite, crystals 
of quartz, pearl-sjxar, and calcite. 
“ The manager, Mr. Higgings, informed me that the bismuth ore decreases in 
quantity at a depth. At 140 feet in depth a ‘horse’ or mass of mud-rock comes in on 
the northern side, and dips S. at about 40°, and from this depth the workings have 
dipped with it. At the bottom the size of the workings is 35 feet by 33 feet ; but this 
does not represent the whole of the stone to be taken out, as the eastern and southern 
walls of the workings consist of stone of similar character to that being worked. The 
layers of the deposit dip axvay to the east from the ‘ horse ’ of mud-rock. There are 
large detached masses of a hard, very fine-grained rock at this level — one was so 
large that it was thought the deposit had cut out.” . . . “A twenty-head 
battery is kept continually going, and up to the jxresent time 11,864 tons have been 
crushed for a yield of 6,416 oz. 11 dwt. of gold, or an average of 10 dwt. 5 gr. of gold 
per ton. 
“ Tailings, estimated at 8,000 tons, from the crushings down to the 150-feet 
level, have beeu stacked. These are estimated to contain about 1^^ oz. of gold per ton. 
MOUNT BIGGENDEN. 
This remarkable dej)osit of gold and bismuth is described by Mr. Bands * as 
follows : — 
“ The workings are on a spur running up in a south-easterly direction to Mount 
Biggendeu itself. The spur lies between one of the heads of the T\vo-mile Creek on 
the west, aud a gully on the north-east. 
“Keport on Mount Biggenden Bismuth Mine, &c. Brisbane : by Authority : 1890. 
