18b 
THE ORIENTAL MINE, WANDILIGOXG. 
By J. P. L. Kenny. 
The Oriental Reef is situated about a mile to the east of the township 
of Wandiligon'g, near the top of the spur between the Ovens River and 
Morse’s Creek. The reef has been worked continuously on the surface 
for a length of 1,300 feet. The surface stone was very rich, large parcels 
averaging 3 to 4 oz. per ton. The shoots have been worked to a depth cf 
about 300 feet. From 250 feet to 300 feet in depth the reef was poor, 
large crushings giving an average of 2 to 3 dwt. The recorded yields from 
this mine give 46,503 oz. of gold from 109,258 tons of ore, but the total 
yield is considerably in excess of this, the records for the early years being 
very incomplete. The Australasia adit (the lowest of the old workings), cut 
the reef at a depth of 300 feet below the outcrop. A winze has been sunk 
to a depth of 40 feet, but no stone has been stoped out below the level. 
On the surface the quartz occurred in well-defined reefs up to 50 feet 
wide, closely associated with a dyke. The reefs are found on both sides of 
the dyke and in the dyke itself. 
The dyke is from 15 to 30 feet wide on the surface, but does not show 
at the' Australasia adit level. The dyke can be traced on the surface to 
the Oriental Gully ; to the south of the gully, no dyke or reef can be 
found on the continuation of the line of strike. At the head of this gullv, 
and 900 feet south-east of the Oriental reef, another line of reef, the 
Scandinavian, has been worked for a distance of 1,600 feet to the south. 
This reef is associated with a dyke similar in character to the Oriental 
dyke. 
j 
At the Australasia adit level on the Oriental line, there are three well- 
defined reefs, known as the “ Front ” line, the “Tributors ” line, and the , 
il Oriental ” line. The Tributors’ line and the Front line lie to the west 
of the Oriental line and both dip w r est. The Oriental line dips 10 feet to 
the west in the first 300 feet of depth, and below the Australasia adit 
appears to be vertical. 
In 1887, the Bright District Prospecting and Gold Mining Company 
started an adit to cut these lines at a depth of 890 feet below the Austra¬ 
lasia adit. The company has been at work extending this adit since that 
time, the present length of the adit being 3,832 feet. This adit is 480 feet 
(measured in a direction at right angles to the line of the adit), south of 
the drive on the Oriental reef. Assuming that the Oriental reef is vertical 
below the Australasia adit level, this adit should cut it at a distance of 
3,730 feet from the adit mouth. The Front line and the Tributors’ line, 
dipping w r est, should have been intersected some hundreds of feet nearer 
the mouth of the adit. At 3,757 feet from the adit mouth, a reef 1 foot 
wide, striking W. 43 deg. N., and dipping S.W. at 65 deg. was inter¬ 
sected; and at 3,790 feet, a fault striking W. 25 deg. N., and dipping 
S.S.W. at 73 deg. The country between this reef and the fault is soft, and 
carries a lot of water. I consider that the reef cut at 3,757 feet in the adit 
is the Front line of the Oriental reef, and that the reef has been faulted to 
•the south-east, the Scandinavian line being the southern continuation of 
the Oriental line. No fault shows in the drives to the south on the Oriental 
workings, the fault line probably passing to the .south of these drives. The 
evidence in support of the theory that the reef has been faulted, is as 
follows : — 
(1) The Oriental dyke and reefs cannot be trace'd south of the 
Oriental gully, while the Scandinavian dyke and reefs can¬ 
not be traced north of it. 
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