137 
THE GOLDEN GATE MINE, WEHLA. 
By A. M. Howitt. 
The mine is situated one mile and a half south of the township of 
Wehla, on the Wehla-Bealiba road. The area is held under lease 5529 
(47a. or. iop.), and embraces the workings known as the Little Nell and 
Bismarck, which are both situated on the same line of reef. (Plate XXII.) 
The surrounding rocks are green and yellow slates and sandstones 
less altered than those to the north and east of the township since they 
are further away from the large mass of intrusive granodiorite near Wehla. 
The beds are penetrated by a main line of fault; following this south¬ 
wards, it is found to be cut across at intervals by later faults which throw 
its continuation to the east, a feature very pronounced in the vicinity of 
the mine. A lamprophyre dyke of still later date fills this main fault and 
the secondary faults that displace it, and in consequence follows the very 
remarkable zig-zag line of outcrop shown on the plan. 
The main dyke is closely associated with the main auriferous shoots 
at Wehla, where the gold-bearing reefs were wide spurry quartz formations 
in a series of slate beds and accompanied by the dyke. This dyke can be 
traced at intervals along .the workings of the Prince of Wales, French¬ 
man’s, Petticoat, and Black reef shoots which are all on the main line 
which has been faulted to the east, going south, as stated above. In the 
northern portion of the Golden Gate Lease, the south workings on the 
Black reef can be seen with the dyke directly on the east side or footwall 
of the reef, which has been mined for a fair width. South of this point 
the Black reef is lost; the reason is that the strike of the reef and the dyke 
across the strata carries them out of the favorable slates and into a barren 
series of beds where sandstones predominate. Twelve chains south of the 
point where it enters the sandstone series, the main dyke sends off a 
western branch along a cross-fault which runs up the hill and abuts on a 
large quartz blow and the main intrusion of dyke itself only goes 4 chains 
further up the hill and then turns north-east along another fault 
which it follows for 6 chains to a large quartz reef. Along this reef it 
remains on the footwall or east side for 8| chains, again meeting a fault 
line it follows back north-east right to the Little Nell-Bismarck line of 
reef. Along this zig-zag course it cuts across some of the large quartz 
reefs, thus showing that the igneous matter was intruded after the first big 
reefs were formed and faulted. 
The main old reef lines were formed in fault fissures running more or 
less north and south. These main faults were themselves displaced by 
small cross faults which moved the country rock and reefs to the east 
going south. Subsequent to the formation of these two sets of faults the 
molten rock was intruded as dykes and naturally found its way along 
these fractures. The cross faults are more complicated and close together 
in the Golden Gate area than between the Prince of Wales and Black Reef 
Mines, and hence the difficulty in definitely saying what line the Golden 
Gate (Little Nell-Bismarck reef) is on. The reef is, however, associated 
directly with the lamprophyre dyke which runs south from the Prince of 
Wales and Black reefs, and which, by repeated cross-faulting, has been 
guided back into the series of folded slates in which the main Wehla line 
of reefs occurs; this has an important bearing on the Golden Gate and 
country to the south of it. 
The main gold-bearing belt at Wehla is somewhat narrow and is con¬ 
fined to a line of folded beds well exposed, for instance, at the Prince of 
Wales Mine. Owing to the pitch, various slates and sandstones come to 
