18.—REPORT ON THE NEW BIRTHDAY MINE AT GOLDS- 
BOROUGH,NEAR DUNOLLY. 
(j By A . E . Kit son, F-G.S.) 
The main reef in the lease was discovered* in 1867 by a party of men 
who were making an excavation to hold water for testing the surface deposits 
in the vicinity. Highly auriferous stone was there exposed, and a mine, the 
Goldsborougli, opened up. Rich quartz was obtained down to 300 feet, 
from which dividends amounting to £20,000f were paid up to the time 
operations were suspended. Later on, another company, the Queen’s Birth¬ 
day, was formed to work the same reef on its southward extension. This 
company sank two shafts, the main one being 1,147 feet, and the other 248 
feet, south of the old Goldsborougli shaft. After obtaining 100,504 ozs.| of 
gold down to a depth of about 600 feet, the mine was abandoned until the present 
company took a lease over the ground. This company has made the north¬ 
ern shaft its working one, and has continued it to a depth of 623 feet. Levels 
have been opened up at 201 feet, 273 feet, 334 feet, 404 feet, 510 feet, and 
610 feet. From the shaft, cross-cuts have been put in easterly to cut the reef, 
along which drives have been extended at all the levels. In the two lowest 
levels cross-cuts have been put in for some distance east of the reef also. 
All the levels were examined except No, 1, which is not at present accessible, 
being stowed up with material taken from other portions of the mine. 
There are two well-defined reefs, known as the eastern or main reef, and 
the western or Tambaroora, in the ground already explored. Most of the 
w r ork by the present company has been done on the eastern reef. This reef 
varies from 5 to 30 feet in thickness, and underlies partly to the east and 
partly to the west. In the upper levels it underlies east with the strata at 
high angles with a splendidly defined hanging wall of hard dense siliceous 
whitish sandstone, plentifully charged with crystals of pyrite, and containing 
threads and thin veins of quartz. The rock shows considerable signs of 
alteration, and has somewhat the appearance of some of the more siliceous 
dyke stones. 
This hanging wall, called the “ eastern wall,” has been traced down 
to the 400-ft. level, and for a further depth of 50 feet in a winze sunk 
from that level to the 510-ft. level. At this point the reef takes a roll 
and underlies to the west as far down as operations have yet been 
carried out. It may be mentioned, however, that at the cross-cut from the 
shaft in the 610-fit. level, the reef underlies west in the back of the drive, 
but in the floor it is rolling over to the east. This is probably merely a small 
local twist and may not affect the general course of the reef. In the 273-ft. 
and 334-ft. levels, the reef lies against the “eastern wall” for the whole 
length of the drives, except at a few places in the latter level where a 
thin parting separates them, and it consists of quartz, with few, if any, 
included pieces of strata. At the 400-ft. level, however, it touches the wall 
only at some places. At this depth the strata are much broken, and the 
reef consists of a mixture of slate, sandstone, and quartz, forming what is 
locally termed u a horse of mullock,” and the reef material is mostly 
from a few inches to a few feet away from the wall. 
* Report of the Gold Commission, 1890. Walker, Neglected Gold-fields Report, No. II. 
Spec. Rept. Dept. Mines, Viet., 1894. 
t Records of New Birthday Company, supplied by the legal manager. 
