121 
Brookfield’s Lease. 
On this lease the only lode so far discovered occurs on the western side 
of the mountain, 300 feet below the top. The lode, so far as disclosed, 
consists of a quartz vein ranging from 1 ft. 3 in. thick at the northern end 
to 2 ft. about the middle, and 1 ft. 6 in. at the southern end. The 
wolfram occurs in pieces ranging from the size of a pea to that of a walnut 
and even larger, scattered through the quartz, more sparsely in some por¬ 
tions than in others. The lode has been traced for a length of 3 chains, 
and appears to extend still further, both north and south. Only three 
small cuts have been made into the lode, from each of which about 2 cubic 
yards of material have been removed. The strike of the lode is N. 30 
deg. E. 
Evidently no effort has been .made to prove the value of this interesting 
discovery. As it stands this wolfram lode is certainly the best that is 
known in the State, and when wolfram is at anything over £100 per ton 
it should be profitable to work. The ore must be concentrated on the spot, 
and to try its value a shaft must be sunk to a depth of 50 feet on the lode. 
The material won in this manner would furnish a guide as to the average 
yield of the lode. The quartz would require to be crushed, and the 
wolfram concentrated. There would be littje expense, and no difficulty 
about this, owing to the high specific gravity of wolfram. The ore could 
be broken out of the lode and either brought down to the foot o*f the mount 
in sleds, or by means of a little tramway, and it could be dressed at one of 
the creeks. The concentrates could then be bagged and sent to the sea¬ 
board for conveyance to Melbourne. Bairnsdale or Mossiface would be 
the port for shipment. 
Wolfram is notorious for the wide fluctuations that take place in its 
market value, and it could not be profitably worked without special precau¬ 
tions. To successfully deal with this feature it would be necessary to 
mine the mineral, to> cleanly dress it, and then to send it to Melbourne to be 
stored until the market price advanced to what would be considered a pay¬ 
able one; then the wolfram, being quite ready for market, could be sold. 
Mining operations should proceed steadily, but the wolfram should not be 
sold below a profitable figure. 
This lode of what is a comparatively rare mineral deserves to be 
properly opened up, and its value practically tested; but it does not appear 
to be practicable for a co-operative party of miners, as they would not be 
able to wait for the rise in value necessary to render their labour profitable. 
At present the price of wolfram is about ,£47 per ton, but it rises to over 
£160 per ton. At the former price the lode could not be worked to 
profit, while at the latter price it would yield' a handsome return (equal to 
the price of 40 ozs. of gold per ton of wolfram). 
I was informed that a sample weighing some hundredweights was de¬ 
spatched by packing it out. The ore broken out must have been very rich 
to furnish so much. 1 Fragments of quartz containing pieces of wolfram 
are strewn down the slope below the lode. 
There is every reason to expect that careful prospecting would reveal 
• other lodes. On the top of the mountain many loose pieces have been 
found, but with the exception of a couple of trenches no work appears to 
have been done with the object of discovering lodes. On some of the 
surface stones orange coloured tungstic acid was observed—the result of the 
* decomposition of wolfram. 
An analysis of the wolfram made at the Mines Department Laboratory 
gave 70 per cent, of tungstic acid (W 0 3 ). 
\Re-port sent in 7th March, igo6.] 
