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a rule, large, and extend to a great length on the surface, but they are not well 
defined, and seldom have walls on both sides, one side generally splitting up into 
a large number of leaders, most of which are rich in gold. The stone itself is 
solid, and of a quartzite nature; it contains a little carbonate of iron, both iron 
and copper pyrites, galena, manganese, talc, and chlorite, but not in sufficient 
quantities to interfere with the extraction of the gold. As a rule the stone is very 
rich, and the crushings that have been made prove that there is, at any rate in one 
or two claims, a large body of stone carrying more than an ounce to the ton. 
Gold is also found on this field in a great dyke-like mass of a greenish colour, 
probably decomposed serpentines. 
Gold-bearing reefs have been found for a distance of over 80 miles from 
North to South. In some ways the very largeness of the field has been a draw¬ 
back to the immediate development of the mines, the interests being divided and 
scattered, instead of being concentrated on the thorough working of a portion, 
which would have led more quickly to a recognition of its importance by the world 
at large. 
This auriferous belt of country probably extends from Lake Anneen to the 
South coast, being from 5 to 10 miles in width ; and when the development of the 
field is assisted, as it very shortly will be, by a railway which is now under 
construction, and when steps have been taken to remove all fears of a failing water 
supply, then the field should be capable of supporting a very large mining 
population. 
Some small but rich patches of alluvium have been worked on this field, but 
owing to the want of water the dirt had to be dry-blown. 
As so little denudation has taken place since the Metamorphic rocks were 
exposed at the surface, along this belt, there is not much prospect of this proving 
a regular alluvial field, but rich surface patches of heavy and specimen gold are 
certain to be found. 
Golden Valley. 
The most Northern portion of the field is called Golden Valley, the mines 
being situated in a small valley, which runs North and South. 
The rocks here are very hard hornblende schists, with small quartz reefs and 
large ferruginous and jaspery quartz dykes, the former of which carry gold. The 
quartz is of a granular character, often almost approaching a sandstone, and con¬ 
tains in places large quantities of iron pyrites, whilst some of the small rich 
offshoots contain a great deal of copper pyrites. 
The lodes which have proved auriferous form three lines, the Eastern and 
Western being both small and poor in gold, and, to judge from the formation, are 
probably legs or branches of the same lode, as the country here forms a sharp 
anticlinal fold, the junction cap having been denuded. The’se reefs contain little 
mineral, and the gold is in a very fine state through the stone, but they are rather 
small in size to pay. 
The other line was discovered between these two at the centre of the valley, 
and did not outcrop at the surface at all. It was immensely rich at the cap, which 
consisted mostly of gossan, often copper-stained. This "reef splits in two, one 
branch dipping West and one East. The Eastern one seems the best formed, and 
has been opened up to a considerable depth, where it consists of white quartz with 
pyrites, whilst in the country between the two branches there are numerous leaders 
containing a great deal of copper pyrites rich in gold. 
The Eastern branch has been followed for a considerable depth, and proved 
very rich, showing gold freely all the way down; but it takes a most irregular 
course, turning and twisting about, and apparently cutting out in places only to 
make again into a larger mass of stone. 
