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intersected by quartz spurs up to i ft. 6 in. thick. The quartz here 
yields about an ounce of gold per ton. A shaft is sunk to 50 feet in 
depth, and there is ample room for further prospecting. 
The John Bull Reef. 
This reef is being worked by Messrs. Lane and Smith, and is about 
5 miles south-west from St. Arnaud. The strike of the reef is N. 30 deg. 
\V., and the dip is slightly to the east. The country consists of pink and 
grey sandstone of Ordovician age, probably high up in the Castlemaine 
zone. The reef ranges from 1 inch to 3 feet thick, and it yields about 
1 oz. of gold per ton, worth £4 per ounce. A shaft has been sunk to 
150 feet in depth, and a small crushing plant is erected on the mine. 
The Tommy Dodd Reef. 
This mine is about 15 chains east from the John Bull reef. The' 
country is of similar character. The reef is about 2 feet thick, and 
averages about 1 oz. of gold per ton. The reef is worked for a length of 
300 feet. The Jerijaw mine is about a mile and a-half south-east from 
the John Bull mine. 
General Remarks. 
The country around St. Arnaud consists of rocks of Ordovician age, 
which have a general pitch to the south, so that the lowest beds are 
exposed in the mallee country north of the township; beds higher in the 
series appear at St. Arnaud and still higher beds to the south. The beds 
in mallee country greatly resemble the pipe-clays and v T hite and grey 
sandstone of the Lancefield series or of the lower Bendigo beds, while 
the beds met with southward from St. Arnaud at Clarke’s reef, the 
American Eagle, the John Bull reef, &c., suggest Castlemaine beds. No 
fossils, however, were discovered that would fix the horizons. The shoots 
of gold appear to have a general southerly pitch, and as they usually 
conform to the pitch of the country it appears as though the whole series 
of beds w 7 as pitching southward. In McManus’s paddock distinct meta- 
morphic action is observable, and also in the beds to the north of St. 
Arnaud. A very noticeable feature along the course of the Lord Nelson 
reef, at the surface, is the tendency to form abnormally large masses of 
quartz. Wilson’s Hill is formed of one of these bosses, and Sebastopol 
Rock is another and very conspicuous example. Fortunately a reserve 
has been made of the land around the Sebastopol Rock, and if the sur¬ 
face excavations w r ere filled in and the young trees allowed to grow 7 up it 
would regain its original interesting and remarkable appearance. St. 
Arnaud was noticeable when mining first began for the discovery of silver 
ores, and the gold bears testimony along a belt about one mile wide to 
the presence of much silver. It has, however, not been found profitable 
to mine for this metal. As an auriferous district it possesses great 
potentialities, and there are numerous sites where further operations should 
be undertaken. It is a good mining centre, and it is to be deplored 
that large tracts of country around the town, which should have been 
reserved for timber and for mining purposes, are fenced, the timber 
destroyed and the prospector discouraged, and a thin crop of poor grass- 
only has been gained instead. 
{Report sent in S-J-OQ.] 
