78 
It would be advisable in future operations to sink on some of the best 
lodes that crop out near the river bank. Such a shaft as the Mt. Deddick, 
which is already 60 feet deep, could be utilized. It should be sunk another 
hundred feet and then the lode should be driven along. When the lodes are 
in the hills it is desirable to trace them, if possible, into a deep gully and 
there to sink on them, placing the shaft out of the way of the water-course. 
Until these lodes are opened up below water-level their real character cannot 
be ascertained. 
Very complete reports on this field have been furnished by Mr. James 
Stirling, Mr. Jenkins, formerly Metallurgist to the Mines Department, and 
by Mr. Ferguson, Assistant Field Geologist, but the (position has completely 
altered since these reports were made for the prices of copper, lead, and 
silver have been greatly enhanced and at present prices lodes that were 
formerly impossible to work at a profit would give handsome returns. 
The remote position of the Mt. Deddick field is an adverse circumstance, 
but for the present the point to be settled is whether the lodes contain 
sufficient ore to be worked profitably with better means of transport. If the 
prospecting operations prove that a mining industry could be established 
here cheaper transport would probably be provided in time. 
Copper Lodes. 
Besides the silver lead lodes of Mt. Deddick, which occur in grano- 
diorite, copper lodes have been discovered at several sites either in Heath- 
cotian rocks or in grano-diorite. As both these rocks are widely spread in 
the portion of Gippsland traversed, there is much room for systematic 
prospecting for both classes of lodes, and with the present high prices of 
metals ores that would be worthless a few years ago- could now be worked 
profitably. There is promise of much mineral wealth in this portion of 
Gippsland. 
The Copper Lodes at Accommodation Creek. 
The copper lode at Accommodation Creek lies eastward from Mt~ 
Deddick and is about 8 miles from the junction of Deddick or Jingallala 
Creek with Snowy River. It is about 16 miles a little north of west from 
Bonang. The camp on Hell Hole Creek is about 1,300 feet above sea- 
level. The country rock consists of much jointed hard siliceous beds of 
Heathcotian (?) age. The strike of the lode in S. 30 deg. E., dip north-east 
ward at about 60 deg; strike of country rocks N. 30 deg. E., dip 50 deg. 
N.W. (at north-west end of copper outcrop being worked). The lode is 
marked by a strong outcrop for a quarter of a mile and Accommodation 
Creek in its serpentine course cuts through it three times in that distance. 
The furthest opening to the north-west is on the north side of the 
creek and discloses 2 feet of quartz showing no copper ore. A couple of 
chains further along the lode and nearer the creek, the lode in the cutting 
shows 3 to 4 feet in thickness with good ore present. Still nearer the creek 
the lode is 5 feet thick. Green and blue carbonates and yellow copper 
pyrites occur for 30 feet along the hanging wall of the lode. Below these 
workings where the creek intersects the lode the latter is 50 feet wide with 
copper ores disseminated through it; the lode outcrops on the small hill 
and 4 chains further south is again crossed by the creek. At this site the 
