53 
From the level a winze has been sunk to a depth of 330 feet; it is 
600 feet in from the mouth of No. 4 level and is known as No. 1 shaft. 
At 130 feet below the level in the winze there is a reef or “ floor ” which 
dips in a westerly direction at about 40 deg. The quartz averages about 
2 feet in thickness. In this mine, as in the Morning Star mine, Wood’s 
Point, the reef is richest in gold where it is near the wall of the dyke 
and the best quartz occurs where the fault in which the reef has formed 
has moved the upper portion of the dyke so that it overlaps the slate 
country below the reef. The reef in such a position with the dyke above and 
the slate below is most favorable for gold. The reefs cut diagonally 
right through the dyke (which is expanded at this part) to a length of 
about 350 feet by 150 feet at the widest part and measuring the reef on 
the incline. The whole of this for an average thickness of 2 feet is 
sent to the crushing plant. Beyond the dyke the reefs continue for 20 or 
30 feet into the slate country where they split up and die out. 
At 200 feet further in and south of No. 1 winze is No. 2 winze, which 
is 240 feet deep. At 90 feet below tunnel level is the 90-ft. “ floor ” or 
reef. It dips N. 20 deg. W. at 25 deg. and the average thickness of 
the quartz is about 8 inches and it carries profitable gold. At 60 feet the 
quartz reef dips southerly and averages 1 ft. 6 in. in thickness; it was 
richly auriferous. The total length of No. 4 level is 750 feet. Excellent 
returns are being obtained from this mine and there is a vast amount of 
work to be done in further exploration. 
A remarkable feature is the abundance of crystallized quartz. Fre¬ 
quently spaces or “ vughs ” occur in the reef and in these beautiful masses 
of quartz crystals are found. Occasionally the gold is crystallized also 
and embedded in the quartz crystals. Iron pyrites, stibnite, and crystals 
of calc-spar occur. So far as the workings have continued the dyke 
rock is in a more or less altered condition, and the problem that has not 
been solved at Wood’s Point will have to be faced here also, that is whether 
the gold will continue in the quartz reefs when unaltered dioritic rock 
is reached at greater depths. 
Mackey’s Quartz Mine, near Wood’s Point. 
Mackey’s quartz mine is at the side of the Frenchman and about 
6 miles from Wood’s Point, on the Gaffney’s iCreek-road. It is in a 
deep gully on the west side of the road and is about 2,200 feet above sea- 
level. 
The beds are slates and sandstones of Upper Silurian age. At the 
surface the rocks are yellow and grey in colour, and the soil is brown. The 
reef was first worked on the ridge south 150 feet above the gully. The 
mine is now worked by means of a tunnel driven from the gully-level for 
82 feet S. 30 deg. W. where the reef was cut. The strike of the beds 
is about N. 25 deg. W., dip about 70 deg. E. The reef is 2 feet wide and 
has been driven on for 70 feet southward. The strike of the reef is about 
N. 20 deg. W. At the southern end of the drive the quartz thins out to 
a few inches. The manager informed me that 20 tons of quartz from 
this part of the mine gave 70 ozs. of gold when crushed. The dip of the 
reef is east at the rate of 82 feet in the 135 feet of sinking which connects 
this level with surface workings. The pitch of the quartz shoot is south¬ 
ward. 
Northward from the crosscut the level is 134 feet long with the reef all 
the way about 2 1 feet wide; in the north face the reef is 6 inches wide. 
It is not quite clear whether the reef conforms in strike with the containing 
beds. 
