182 
quartz showing in the northern face at the end of a short drive at the 
bottom of the mine. The shoot of gold, I am informed, has been worked 
almost continuously from the surface to the bottom of the mine, and 
varied from 12 feet to 15 feet in length. Mr. Macane, who has now 
sold the mine, obtained 20 ozs. of gold from it with only a small amount 
of work. There is only one wall showing in the mine, the hanging wall, 
which is well defined, and on it is a vein of laminated quartz; the rest 
of the quartz is w r hite and rather vitreous, but colours of gold may be 
seen in quartz of this character. The stone crushed has yielded 1 oz_ 
2 dwts. of gold to the ton. 
The most interesting feature of this reef is that it is asso¬ 
ciated with a dyke, which occurs on the eastern side of the 
reef channel. The dyke stone is now decomposed and soft, and light 
brown in colour, or in places red. It was nearest to the reef at the surface, 
and was not noted in the lower levels of the mine. The dyke was traced 
along the surface for 6 chains south of the shaft, and for 12 chains north 
of the shaft, and quartz—some of which is laminated—can be seen along 
the line of reef for quite this distance. The late owner of the mine did 
not recognise the dyke, but it will greatly facilitate prospecting operations 
along the surface, and should at any time the gold be lost in the mine, I 
would advise that it be looked for where this dyke is in, or close to, the 
reef channel. 
The Wombat gold-field appears to resemble that of Mary¬ 
borough, for the auriferous stone of both places is, in many instances, 
associated with the same class of basic dykes which are now decomposed 
at or near the surface to a soft rock which may be white, light or dark 
brown, or various shades of red in colour. On the Wombat field dykes 
occur with most of the reefs which have been inspected; this is a fact 
apparentlv over looked, but most important for the prospector to> remember 
when searching for new reefs or working old ones, and wherever a dvke 
of the character described is found at the surface it should be carefully- 
prospected for auriferous quartz. 
[Report sent in 21.1 .igog.~] 
THE ALICE MAUD AND ARMAGH REEFS, BROOMFIELD. 
NEAR CRESWICK. 
By IT. Baragwanath. 
The Armagh and Alice Maud Reefs, although two formations separated 
by a distance of about 1,000 feet east and west, may be considered as 
forming almost the extreme northerly outcrop of a belt of auriferous 
country which trends from here in a southerly direction past Creswick to 
Ballarat East, and is marked by outcrops of quartz and alluvial gold 
workings ; the belt extends still further south, but for the present purpose 
only the northern end will be referred to. Alternate rich and poor por¬ 
tions exist throughout the length of the belt, over the greater part of 
which, although the alluvial therefrom was exceptionally rich, but little 
quartz mining has been carried on except at shallow- levels. 
The Armagh reef outcrops along the summit of a low spur which 
forms the eastern edge of the exposed bedrock in the neighbourhood of 
the Spring Hill basalts, which, on the immediate eastern fall, cover the- 
once famous Western Lead of Allendale. 
