132 
who worked on it to a depth of 300 feet in the new Zimmerirnas 
shaft, has proposed to cross-cut westward from the Lady Nelson 
mine and prospect it at a greater depth than the bottom level of the 
Queen Zimmerirnas mine. Owing to the entire absence of statistics nothing 
is known of the yields obtained from this reef. However, Mr. Cornelius 
informs me that it was rich from the surface to about 400 feet in 
depth. The rich shoot was worked out on the underlay from the old 
shaft to the new shaft through which it passed at a depth of about 
320 feet below the sill. From here the- new shaft followed it down¬ 
wards on the underlay to a depth of between 500 and 600 feet. The 
quality of the quartz below 400 feet is not known, but it is said to have 
been payable to the bottom of the workings. The strike of the reef varies 
from N. 34 deg. W. to N. 57 deg. W. ; the pitch of the shoot of gold is 
to the south-east, and, if the depth given me is correct, the dip from the 
surface to 300 feet is at an angle of 67 deg. to the south-west. When 
these figures are plotted they show that the No. 7 crosscut in the Lady 
Nelson mine is the best placed for cutting the downward continuation of the 
Queen Zimmerirnas shoot. This crosscut is out westward about 190 feet, 
and, according to my plot (which assumes the dip to be regular), will have 
to be extended to 450 feet from the shaft, that is, an additional 260 feet 
of driving. It will be observed that the strike of this reef forms an angle 
with the strike of the adjacent reefs; it converges with the Western and 
Rotten reefs going southward, and appears to junction with the former 
at 530 feet and with the latter at 670 feet from the main shaft. The strike 
of the Black reef is coincident with the bedding planes of the strata; the 
Rotten and Western reefs strike more or less with the jointing or rude 
cleavage planes of the country; and the Queen Zimmerirnas reef intersects 
both. 
The result of the survey tends to lead to the conclusion, in the case of 
the Rotten reef, that, as the bottom level has intersected the shoot of 
» 
quartz where it is low grade in value, success is more likely to follow sink¬ 
ing than driving. If the latter be engaged in, it must be for the purpose 
of discovering an unknown shoot; if sinking be proceeded with, the object 
will be to test at a greater depth a known shoot that has proved payable 
for some hundreds of feet in depth. The indications that suggest that sinking 
will justify confidence are : (1) the regularity of the walls, (2) the increased 
width of the reef channel (compared with Nos. 6 and 7 levels), and (3) 
the fact that the deeper the reef is explored the more strongly it becomes 
impregnated with metallic sulphides (galena, pyrites, &c.). The reef has 
a distinctly more inviting appearance at No. 8 than at No. 7 level. In 
the case, of the Black or Sebastopol reef the appearance of the formation 
and the result of prospecting at the 206-ft. level (Sebastopol mine), sug¬ 
gest that the good quality of the quartz already mined may be due to 
superficial enrichment; but, as the north level on the Black reef at the No. 
8 level from the Main shaft has not advanced sufficently far in that 
direction to meet the downward continuation of the shoot of gold worked 
on Sebastopol Hill, the extension of that level for 200 feet would be good 
prospecting work. 
[.Report sent in 20.d.og.\ 
