13 
New Birthday Gold Mine, Goldsborough. 
The workings are inaccessible at present, but the manager, Mr. Nichol¬ 
son, shewed me the plans and explained the facts. 
Thi'9 mine occurs on a line of reef that has been worked at intervals in a 
northerly direction as far as Moliagul and for a mile in a southerly direc¬ 
tion. There are three shafts. The south shaft is 838 feet deep, and 
11 ft. 6 in. x 3 ft. 6 in., divided into three compartments, and, although 
not in good repair, it could be put right at a moderate outlay. The last 
work was done in a southerly direction from this shaft, and Mr. Nicholson 
considers the quartz obtained in that direction deserves further prospecting. 
Samples of the quartz shown me are thickly studded with arsenical and 
iron pyrites, and a little gold is also present. A cross-cut costing about 
^£300 would suffice to reach this body of quartz at a lower level and prove 
whether it is payable or not. 
The Queen’s Birthday main shaft is the middle shaft, and this is 
11 ft. 6 in. x 4 ft., in three compartments, with pumps. The shaft is in 
good order. 
The north shaft known as the Goldsborough shaft is 750 feet deep, but 
it is in such bad condition that it could not be used. 
The Queen’s Birthday reef strikes about N. 15 deg. W., and is about 
vertical. It follows along the course of the east wall and cuts through the 
beds. The Western reef dips west at about 70 deg. also cutting across the 
beds. The two reefs at their junction form a thick mass of quartz that was 
richly auriferous and from which the bulk of the gold wais obtained. As 
the west reef descended it dipped away to the west at 70 deg. Both east 
and west reefs were auriferous in places below where they junctioned. 
At a depth of about 450 feet from the surface a fault dipping west at a 
low angle cut off the auriferous quartz, and below that nothing has been 
found of value. Besides this fault another set of transverse vertical faults 
cut up and displaced the quartz reefs to the extent of several feet, in some 
cases transversely. Vertically the displacement is not known. 
A feature that is favorable is that the line of reef of which this mine 
has worked a short length with most profitable results extends for several 
miles in length with reef workings at intervals. Alluvial gold also has been 
worked up to this line at a great many places. 
What is still in doubt is whether the country below the 450-ft. level is 
productive. The Queen’s Birthday reef is in Ordovician country consisting 
of brownish quartzite and sandstone and slate of grey colour. Some of the 
sandstones are thickly sprinkled with brown spots showing where carbonate 
of iron occurs. East of the central shaft, black shales thickly studded with 
large and small cubes of iron pyrites were obtained. It appears 
probable tnat these beds are either high up in the Lancefield zone or at the 
bottom of the Bendigo zone, and as the Lancefield zone is not very pro¬ 
ductive in gold it is quite possible that sinking might mean entering a poor 
or barren zone. The central shaft is the most favorably situated for further 
prospecting the ground, but the further sinking of it is not likely to cut the 
continuation of the shoot of gold worked above the 450-ft. level, and any 
work done will be purely prospecting in unknown country. In this case it 
is fairly certain that the country rock below present workings is beneath 
the richer zones. 
[Report sent in 8.10.06.] 
