1 89 8. 
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VICTOItl A. 
DEPARTMENT OP MINES. 
ISSUED BT 
.lAlIES TRAVIS, ACTING SECRETARY FOR MINES, UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF 
THE HON. HENRY FOSTER, M.P., MINISTER OF MINES. 
EEPORT ON LONO TUNNEL MINE AT REEDY CREEK. 
(By W. Forbes, ex-Assistant Geological Surveyor.') 
I Rave the lionour to report that I have examined the Long Tunnel Company’s mine at Reedy 
Creek as instructed. ^ 
The rocks are of Upper Silurian order, and comprise yellowish .sandstones and mudstones at the 
.surface; in the tunnel the hod.s consi.st of fine-grained grey sandstones with narrow beds of black and bluish 
coloured .slate.s for 300 feet. From 300 foet to 400 feet the beds consi.st of grey sandstone with fine slate 
bed.s, and are traversed by quartz spans; the remainder consists of dark-ltlnish slate. 
The strike of the lied.s in thi.s mine i.s N. 7d° W., and dip from 4.3° to 50° S.VV. The o-eneral 
jiitch of the rocks is 18" S.E. 
Operations are carried on by means of a tunnel driven into the hill in N. 15° E. ; at 6o4fi. bin. a 
reef .1 inclies in width dipping 73° S.W. was cut, and a level driven on it in a south-easterly direction • a 
1*1 or ' keen seen in this reel. Thompson’s reef worked so profitably .some years ago from the top"of 
r® intersected below the old workings at 715ft. 6in. by this tunnel. The reef 
dips 64 S.\Y. tor 2n feet above the level of the tunnel, above that it rarie.s from vertical 
to a slight south-we.st dip ; the reef averages 9 inche,s to 2 inches in width. The present compauv’s 
operatton.s are confined to this reef and the country to the north. An anticlinal fold occurs between 
icso two reefs. At this level IhompsoiTs reef pas.ses through eastern ground comsisting of dark-blnkh slate 
containing pyrites and traversed by quartz apur.s or ]eader.j, parallel to one another in a northerly direction 
across the cleavage planes from (he main reef; in width from 1 inch to a mere thread, all of which contain 
coar.'c gold, hnaii an examination of many specimens I could not find any gold in the slate; it appears tarf 
to conlnined in the quartz spurs, threads, and the reef; in lire slate nodules of fine-grained sandstone occur from 
iiu'h to uiclies in diameter. The present holders up to date have crushed 240 tons from this part for a 
yield of 146oz. lodwt. 12gr., the results obtained from the reef itself gave IJoz. to 2oz. odwt. per ton. 
This reef at a hitjlier level yielded up to 15 ounces per ton, * ^ 
. of slate from the centre, it is quite possible that it will continue for a 
similar distance north (80 feet above level, a cross-cut has been driven 25 feet north from the reef and 
sliows 110 decrease in gold nor width of stone) probably tliose spurs will, continue northward for many feet 
and may intersect another reef. The occurrence of auriferous spurs and threads is an important discovery^ 
so Jar as this district is concerned. From what I can ascertain, attention seems to have been directed to 
tlie reefs only. It is veiy probable that similar occurrences have been overlooked in the earlier days. It is 
lardly po.ssible to believe that gold exists in these threads until the rock is broken and the quartz face 
exnoseQ. ^ 
f.559.455 
V 642rlt 
MUSEUM OF VICTORIA 
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