107 
The Indicator Mine. 
About 3! miles E. 10 deg. S. from Buxton, on the southern flank of the 
Cathedral Range, is the Indicator mine. Its .height above sea-level is 
about 1,900 feet. Tlhe country-rocks are Silurian mudstones, sandstones, 
and shales, of grey, black, and brown colours, amongst which are some 
good examples of “paper-shales”—shales which split up into unusually 
thin leaves. The strike of these beds at the adit is. N. 30 deg. W., and 
the dip at the mouth of the tunnel is W. at 70 deg. Near the puddling 
machine lower down the gully the dip is E., indicating the existence of 
an anticline to the east of and close to the present workings. Intersecting 
the Silurian beds is a dyke of dioritic character. It is from a few feet 
to 30 or 40 feet wide. The strike of this dyke is a little to W. of N. 
Iron pyrites occurs both in the dyke stone and in the Silurian beds, but 
the pyrites in the latter decomposes very readily. A thin ferruginous seam 
partly runs in the dyke itself, and for part of its course it follows along 
the western side of it. The same vein also cuts through the shales and 
mudstones. Where the vein i$ in contact with the dyke, or within the 
dyke, it bears gold in places. 
The gold from this vein is of great purity, and of very remarkable 
character. Much of it consists of long, slender, splinter-like pieces, with 
crystalline characters. Some of the splinters are J-in. long, and not more 
than i-ioth inch wide at the broadest part. The ends of some terminate 
in beautiful small crystals, while the sides are in some cases fluted. A 
little quartz is attached to some of the splinters. (See plate.) 
In the small gully, a short distance above the hut, a tunnel has. been 
driven 70 feet into the hill on the western side of the gully. The direc¬ 
tion of the adit is W. 30 deg. S. About 50 feet along the adit a branch, 
15 feet long, has been driven in a northerly direction. In it the small 
ferruginous vein has been traced in the Silurian beds, but it runs out at 
a low angle to the horizon and terminates against the dyke. 
At 70 feet along the main tunnel the small vein has been worked to 
below the floor of the adit, when the water prevented further sinking. 
The vein is |-in. thick, and the strike is about N. and S.; it goes down 
nearly vertically. The auriferous shoot pitches northerly. Higher up the 
slope of the hill, a shaft was sunk in the dvke for no feet, following the 
small vein down, but water prevented deeper sinking. At 60 feet further up 
the rise a shaft, 40 feet deep, was sunk in the dyke, which is over 30 feet 
wide at this point. Gold was obtained in the vein, but the principal 
shoot has gone underfoot below the tunnel level. To the N.W. of the 
present workings is a deeper gully which the dyke crosses. By driving an 
adit in on the dyke the mine could be tin watered for some depth below 
the level of the present adit; and besides, the whole of the ground could 
be prospected from the surface downwards to the level of the suggested 
tunnel. Where the dyke crosses the anticline it should be well tested. In 
the branch from the adit what looks like an anticlinal arch occurs, but 
it is rather indistinct. A little more driving here should prove whether 
it is centre country or not. 
The dyke persists for a long distance, and the lower side should be 
systematically loamed, so as to locate anv other shoots of gold along its 
course. This occurrence is well worth following up. 
Between the above site and Buxton are alternate ridges of Silurian 
and granitic rocks. It is stated by Mr. Emil Stagel, who is at work with 
Mr. Johnson on the “ Indicator,” that gold can be obtained bv washing 
