67 
The attempts to work this deposit date back to the early periods of 
mining, and several companies have been formed and have failed. This 
is not remarkable considering the crude methods adopted for saving the gold, 
which cannot possibly be secured by the ordinary stamp batteries. The 
degree of economy that has been attained in cyaniding, and the low cost 
at which the process can be worked, point to this method as being most 
suitable for the class of ore under consideration. 
The mining hitherto done has been on the eastern slope of the hill below 
the manager’s house, and the material has been bodily removed from three 
open quarries on the hillside. Besides the material removed from these, a 
considerable quantity of the rock has been stoped underground. 
No. 1, or the lowest quarry, is about 200 feet long in a north and south 
direction, from 60 to 90 feet wide at the top, 30 feet wide at the bottom, 
and from 80 feet to 100 feet deep. This has been worked down to the level 
of the lower tunnel, which runs out to the hoppers of the battery, and like 
the other quarries the whole of the rock has been bodily removed and 
treated. 
No. 2 is a small quarry a little higher up the hill and between the two 
larger quarries. It is about 66 feet long, 33 feet wide and 60 feet deep. It 
communicates with the lower tunnel. 
No. 3, or the top quarry, is the highest up the hill. It is about 200 feet 
long; from 33 feet to 140 feet wide at the top, and from 40 feet to 80 feet 
deep. The whole of the material removed from these open quarries was 
oxidized and soft, and therefore easily broken down, but in the lower tunnel 
the unoxidized rock is present, and this would require explosives. The 
strike of the Silurian beds in No. 1 quarry is east and west, and the dip is 
70° north. The strike of these beds at No. 3 quarry is E. 20° N., dip vertical. 
The general strike where not influenced by intrusions is a few degrees west 
of north, so that the granite in this case has materially interfered with the 
strike of the sedimentary beds. 
Although so much mining has been done, and such a great quantity of 
ore has been dealt with, no reliable statistics are avaliable for estimating 
the auriferous value of the rock. Even where the quantity of gold saved 
has been recorded, the quantity lost has not been ascertained, and that must 
have been proportionately great in view of the primitive methods adopted. 
There are such extensive faces now open that very accurate sampling of 
the bulk could be done, and this is the first step needed. Trial pits are also 
required to ascertain how much of this country contains gold and could be 
worked at a profit. It is almost certain that a very low-grade proposition 
could be made to pay here if systematically handled in a large way with 
cyanide. A battery placed in Hell’s Hole Creek could be driven by water 
power, but if fuel should be required there is a splendid forest all round. 
Unless the rock could be taken from a face and worked on the open-cut 
principle it might not pay, but this method of work is feasible. Cyaniding 
under favorable conditions now costs less than 2s. per ton, and if this rock 
yielded anything like 2 dwt. of gold or upwards per ton, it should prove a 
workable mine. 
[30.9,10.] 
Woolf’s Mine, Tallangalook. 
About a quarter of a mile eastward from the Golden Mountain battery, 
and on Tallangalook Creek, a battery of ten heads of light stamps has been 
placed. The quarry from which the rock was obtained to feed this battery 
is situate on the north bank, 4 chains higher up the creek. This site is about 
