25 
established, and remains yet to be discovered. Nor has the inlet been 
clearly made out; there is ample room for this to be under the basalt to 
the east of the Ballark pre-emptive right. 
For some years past Mr. Atchison and party have been perseveringly 
exploring the plateau, or area on the western side of the Mooraibool River 
at Morrison Township, and they have put in a tunnel westerly for nearly 
2,000 feet. Cross-cuts have been driven 800 feet southward from this, 
and northward for 499 feet. Over the whole area opened up, an auri¬ 
ferous gravel that is about 1 foot thick is spread. The wash-dirt con¬ 
sists of well-rounded quartz pebbles, commingled with pebbles of grey 
sahdstone, derived from the floor on which the gravel rests. Thin bands 
of limonite, an inch or more thick, occur in the wash-dirt, and bind the 
pebbles together, adding greatly to the labour of breaking and reducing 
the quantity won per pick. The wash-dirt rests on a slightly undulating 
surface of conglomerate. The extent of the undulations only amounts to 
a few feet in the area so far opened out, as the wash-dirt is in the adit 
and cross-cuts almost throughout. The floor on which the gravel rests is 
a conglomerate of grey sandstone pebbles and boulders, well rounded, and 
bound together with clay. This material is just such as the rocks in the 
range to the north-west of the Ballark pre-emptive right would furnish. 
The conglomerate appears to have filled up an old valley. Some of the 
features of the conglomerate suggest a glacial origin, but no direct evidence 
could be detected. 
Above the wash-dirt are beds of clay, and coarse and fine loose drift; 
also sand and sandy clays covered by a capping of basalt. 
Mr. Atchison informs me that the wash-dirt yields from 1 to 2 dwts. 
of gold per ton, but the hardness of the material and the thinness of the 
auriferous band of gravel render it barely payable. The work already 
done has proved an extensive area of wash-dirt of this quality to exist, 
and if it were a little more productive, or if some cheaper method of 
winning the gold could be devised, there would be employment here for 
many men. 
The gold is scaly, and there is difficulty in saving the fine particles by 
the rough method of sluicing at present in vogue. To test whether much 
gold is lost in the tailings, Mr. Atchison, at mv request, has sent in a 
sample, taken from his tailings heap. A sample of wash-dirt is also to 
be dealt with. The tailings would cyanide well if there should prove to 
be sufficient gold in them. 
At the extreme end of the westerly adit the ground appears to be dip¬ 
ping to northward. This may be merelv one of the undulations, or it 
mav be a general dip in that direction. As it would be an im¬ 
portant matter to discover any distinct channel, Mr. Atchison has been 
advised to drive in a northerlv direction. 
Assay Results. 
Laboratory 
Number. 
Gold, per ton of 
Sample, 
dwts. gTS. 
236. Wash-dirt (quartz gravel) 
237. Headings (over wash-dirt) 
238. Cement over wash-dirt 
239. Tailings 
o 8 
nil 
5 21 
nil 
[Report sent in 12th June , 1905.] 
