148 
direction, and another contemporaneous lead, similar in character, trends 
away from it in a south-easterly direction. This latter contains boulders 
of quartz only partly rounded and measuring up to 3 feet in length. It 
has been worked for gold. 
At present there is no abundance of large quartz reefs, such as the 
wash in these old leads indicates must have existed, and it is reasonable 
to infer that the reefs and the country rocks that held them have been 
removed by denudation. Outside a belt less than J mile wide there is 
not much encouragement to the westward for prospecting. Along this 
belt in its northward extension is the most favorable line for examination 
and for prospecting for auriferous reefs; there are also some belts of 
country further eastward that appear to have supplied gold to the leads 
running westward into the main lead. These also deserve attention. For 
prospecting operations, the winter season in this district is the best, as 
water is scarce in the summer months. 
Up to the present, prospecting operations have been principally directed 
towards examining the country in the neighbourhood of Malakoff Gap. 
The prospectors’ camp is situated about 1 mile north of the Gap, and 
on the main road. Eastward from the camp is a gully running westerly, 
and almost J mile up this gully from the camp, and on the east side of 
it, a small reef has been opened up. It is from 4 inches to 12 inches 
thick; strikes N. 30 deg. W., and dips westward at 37 deg. The soil is 
of deep red colour, and the Ordovician slate and sandstone beds are of 
yellow and grey colours. A shallow shaft 12 feet deep has been sunk in 
the dip of the reef, and a good wall disclosed. The country has nearly 
the same strike as the reef, being N. 35 deg. W. and the dip is vertical. 
Further south other openings have been made that prove this reef for 
6 chains in length. The furthest south workings are on the side of a steep 
gully, and here a tunnel might be driven that would give about 90 feet of 
backs. This reef is considered payable, but there is no battery near for 
crushing. 
[.Report sent in g.y.oQ.~\ 
THE DREADNOUGHT CLAIM, LOWER HOMEBUSH, 
NEAR MARYBOROUGH. 
By A. M . Howitt. 
Messrs. Nicholl and Stratman’s Dreadnought claim is situated in B. 
Pyman’s allotments 2 and 3, parish of Rathscar, in the township area 
of Lower Homebush. 
The surrounding beds are sandstones and slates of Lower Ordovician 
age. No fossils were obtained to determine their exact position, but 
graptolites characteristic of the Lancefield zone occur in Wareek, 4 miles 
to the west. The slates are mostly of a red and green colour, and their 
pitted structure is no doubt due to the adjacent igneous intrusion which 
occurs to the west in the bedrock of the Homebush lead; the strata strike 
Is. 3 deg. W., and, where exposed along the indicator beds, they dip to 
the w 7 est at an angle of 75 deg. 
