30 
observations made in the open cut it would appear that neither the tunnel 
nor Gordon’s shaft is deep enough to cut it. A good deal is to be said in 
favour of the project, as there is also of further prospecting Blucher’s and the 
Sarah Bernhardt' reefs, and the trenching of the syenite dyke at Granite Hill, 
at the head of the alluvial gully. It is unlikely that much will be done with 
local capital, as the Prospecting Association is not financially strong enough. 
[3.12.12.] 
THE GOLDEN REEFS, DEREEL. 
By E. J . Dunn, F.G.S., late Director, Geological Survey. 
Dereel, about 1,050 feet above sea level, is situated in a direction a little 
west of south from Ballarat, and to the Golden Reefs the distance is 22 miles. 
The rocks are slates and sandstones of Ordovician age, which strike N. 15° W. 
and are bent into anticlinal gold synclinal folds. The soil is yellow. 
Shafts have been sunk and a quartz reef worked to over 100 feet in depth 
on the Golden Reefs line. Further north and a little west of this line aurif¬ 
erous quartz from 1 foot to 3 feet thick has been worked to shallow depths along 
the outcrop. The strike of this reef is N. 17° W., and the dip is vertical; the 
surrounding rocks are soft slates and sandstones. Within 3 feet of the surface 
gold in a rare and most interesting form occurs in compact white quartz. This 
is wire gold, which varies from the thickness of an ordinary pin to one-eighth 
of an inch in thickness, and up to 1J inch in length. These are in perfect 
crystals that have grown in length, and they must have grown to their full 
length first of all, and then the quartz must have formed around them. Several 
ounces of this gold were found in quartz that would be generally considered 
of barren character, judged by its appearance. 
The prospectors considered that the best plan to test the formation at 
lower depths was by tunnelling, and this has been done from the west bank 
of Pinchgut Creek. The tunnel is driven W. 20° S. for a total distance of 
313 feet. At the mouth of the tunnel the dip is west, at 25 feet a syncline 
occurs, and at 60 feet is a fault that strikes about north-east, and dips 80° 
S.E. ; the beds between the syncline and the fault dip east. To the west of 
the fault the country dips west. At 150 feet the Pinchgut reef is supposed 
to have been cut. This reef, which was worked extensively further northward, 
dips 80° W., and is conformable with the country. It here consists of quartz 
and mullock. About 50 feet further west is another syncline. From the 
second syncline to the end of the tunnel quartz spurs are abundant —inter¬ 
secting country that dips east. At 300 feet auriferous spurs, ranging from 
3 inches to 2 feet thick, intersect the country. A level is driven 55 feet 
northward, and at the end the spurs show strongly, and carry rich gold. A 
level has also been driven southward from the tunnel for 70 feet, and the 
spurs show in the face. The pitch of the country is 4 ° in a northerly direction. 
At 40 feet north from the tunnel in the level a chamber has been cut 12 feet 
wide and 20 feet high. There are four spurs in this height ranging from 
6 inches to 24 inches thick, and all auriferous. They all dip at a low angle 
to the east. At the face in the north level the beds are vertical, and some of 
the small slate bands have the appearance of indicators. 
Dish prospects washed from the spurs in the north end gave prospects 
equal to 3 or 4 oz. of gold per ton, and the last crushing from the north end 
gave a result of about 2 oz. per ton. A previous crushing gave 37 J oz. of gold 
from 20 tons of quartz. A ten-head battery is being erected on the west bank 
of Pinchgut Creek to treat this stone. The tunnel has to be driven still 
further to prospect for other channels. 
