34 
On the eastern side of Diamond Creek, at Nilumbik, this reef is being 
sunk upon, and southward it has been worked for three-quarters of a mile. 
The shaft now being worked is situate on the northern bank of Diamond 
Creek. Southward from this shaft, which is the end of the workings in 
this direction, the line of reef has been traced across the alluvial flat, and 
payable stone, from 2 to 3 ozs. per ton, is said to have been found; but 
the surface water was too heavy for the appliances used. 
The Allendale mine, nearly a mile still further to the south, is sup¬ 
posed to be on the same line of reef. The whole course of the reef 
appears to be in private property. 
Northward from the shaft the reef has been extensively worked, but 
not below the 300-feet level, except at the shaft, which is 500 feet deep. 
Besides the main line of reef, there are several branch lines that have 
also been extensively worked, and from which excellent returns have been 
obtained. These branches strike in a north-easterly direction from" the 
eastern side of the main line, and are locally termed “ diagonals." 
As regards pitch, the general trend of the country rocks is northward, 
and the pitch of the old shoots is also northward. 
The Union lode is of unusual character. It consists of a felspathic 
dyke, resembling the so-called diorites of Wood’s Point and Walhalla, 
with a quartz vein on the hanging-wall side, and another on the foot-wall 
side. The dyke* ranges from a few inches up to 20 and 3c feet in thick¬ 
ness. The quartz reef on the hanging wall ranges from 1 inch to 2 feet 
thick, while the quartz reef on the footwall ranges from 2 or 3 inches 
up to 2 feet, with occasional bulges still larger. These quartz veins 
appear to have been formed in spaces left by the shrinkage of the dyke 
on cooling, and, as a rule, the space left on the hanging wall wa)s greater 
than on the foot-wall, consequently the hanging-wall quartz reef is gener¬ 
ally the thicker, but the foot-wall reef carries the most gold; in fact, the 
hanging-wall reef has not been found profitable to break out. In 
some places the reef on the foot-wall side lies altogether within the dyke. 
At Walhalla and other places quartz veins occur traversing the dykes in all 
directions. This is not the case in this instance. From the nature of the 
dyke, the persistence downward of this lode may be calculated on; but the 
point which requires elucidation is the manner in which auriferous shoots 
occur. So far as workings have been carried on, the case appears to be 
that, although the dyke, with its two reefs, cuts through everything, gold 
in paying quantity only occurs at the intersection of the foot-wall reef 
and certain bands of the sandstone and slate country, and the slates are 
considered the more favorable. 
That such shoots are well worth searching for may be gathered from 
what Mr. Christian, the mine manager, states regarding former workings. 
Close to the main shaft is an adit, and Mr. Christian, senior, worked the 
lode about this level to the north, and is said to have obtained ^60,000 
worth of gold between the surface and the adit level on one shoot of gold. 
The last crushing recently taken from a stope below the tunnel gave a 
return of 542 ozs. of gold, worth ^4 per oz., from 520 tons of quartz. 
It is stated by Mr. Christian that about 2,500 feet of gold shoots have 
been worked north of the shaft on the main line, besides which a con¬ 
siderable length of profitable shoots has been worked on the cc diagonals. ’ 
Southward from the shaft the lode has still to be worked, and if it 
is correct that the Allendale lode is the same as the Union, then the inter¬ 
vening area is well worth prospecting. 
* Assay of dyke material shows that a trace of gold exists in the iron pyrites disseminated through it. 
