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discovered by opening it up, and even then, with the exception of copper or lead 
lodes, assays are necessary to determine their composition, as large quantities of 
gold, silver, cobalt, &c., may be contained without being visible. 
The presence of gold may generally be determined by pulverising the stone 
and working it in the same manner as alluvial wash dirt, whilst samples supposed 
to contain tin must be assayed to determine what percentage of metal they contain. 
The mineral in a lode does not, as a rule, run uniformly rich all through, but 
occurs in what are called shoots or bunches, whilst other portions are often quite 
barren. These shoots or bunches are very similar, and can, as a rule, be traced 
with the greatest ease after a little study, as they are found to behave in a 
similar manner in all veins of one series in a district. To understand this 
thoroughly seems at first a. little complicated, as we speak of the lode dipping, say 
North, and the shoot West; but this can be demonstrated at once by taking a 
sheet of paper and drawing a line across it from the top right-hand comer to the 
bottom left-hand, call the right-hand side the East, and the line will represent 
the shoot; now raise the paper first vertically in front of you, keeping the East 
in the right hand, and, as you are naturally facing the North, let the paper incline 
over towards you: this now gives you an inclined plane dipping North, with a lino 
to represent a rich shoot dipping West. 
True veins do not generally follow the strike of the rocks, and there is more 
chance of fin din g this class of lode permanent in depth, than interbedded 
lodes, although the latter, in some instances, are also true lodes, but, as a rule, 
these latter are of very variable size, and often pinch out. 
Should a lode pinch out, great care should be taken in following any little 
stray leader or face until the lode is again found, as true veins, with good striated 
casing, do not end suddenly in this way, but only pinch to make again. In the 
case of a lode suddenly cutting out by a fault or trouble, we have, fortunately, an 
almost certain rule to guide us to its re-discovery, as we find that in 99 cases out 
of a hundred the beds on the upper side of the fault have slipped down¬ 
wards. Therefore, should we, in working a lode or seam, come to a fault or face 
cutting out the lode, which, on examination, prove to dip away from us, we should 
follow it down, but if, on the other hand, it dipped towards or under ns, we should 
follow up the fault plane to look for the missing lode. The distance of the throw 
it is impossible, in the general way, to ascertain without the series of beds are 
known. 
A prospector having discovered a lode, the first thing for him to determine is 
the size of the lode and shoot, extent in depth, value, the expenses in working, water 
supply, fuel, timber, distance from port of shipment, means of carriage, and market 
for the commodity. All these should be carefully considered by the prospector, 
who, as a rule, has not sufficient capital to open a mine himself, so will require 
assistance from outside. He must assure himself that his discovery will pay to 
work before he wastes any time or money on it, or rushes into company-making. 
This it is very difficult for him to do, as one is always inclined to believe what one 
hopes, and others are always to be found who will back him up in this idea, 
simply with the object of making something out of it by floating a mine, which 
they know perfectly well will never pay, and it is not until the unfortunate pro¬ 
spector has spent all the money he had that he realises that his mine is of no 
value. 
Coal Seams. 
Coal seams may be prospected for in a similar manner to lodes, either by 
tracing fragments derived from their outcrops up the stream beds, or by finding 
the outcrop itself in their banks or beds, when, as in the case of lodes, they must 
be opened up to determine their thickness and quality of the coal, whilst bores 
must be put down to test underlying seams. 
