the geology oe -nelson. 
95 
copper ore does not occur in a regular lode ; by which I mean 
a metalliferous dyke of different mineral composition from that 
of the rock of the mountain. As is usual in serpentine, the 
copper ore occurs only in nests and bunches. The richer 
deposits of copper ore form lenticular shaped masses, which, 
when followed, may increase to a certain distance, but then 
disappear again in a thin wedge. Where these nests are large 
and rich, one alone may sometimes make the fortune of a mine. 
The richest found on the Dun Mountain appears to have been 
that of the Windtrap Gully, from which pieces of native 
copper (some of them weighing as much as eight pounds) were 
extracted. These nests of copper ore occur in the Dun 
Mountain in one continuous line, as if a rent had taken place 
in the serpentine rock, into which copper had either been 
injected from beneath, or deposited there by the operation of 
some causes which science is unable to explain. The green 
and blue silicates of copper are surface minerals, which are 
only of value by showing the direction of the fissure in which 
the real ore may be looked for at a greater depth. At a 
certain distance below the surface, they disappear entirely, 
and it is only by the broken and softened character of the 
serpentine that the miner is enabled to follow the fissurefromone 
deposit of metal to the other. The occurrence of the best 
indications of copper ore on the surface over a continuous 
line of about two miles, affords good ground for supposing that 
considerable quantities of ore are contained in the mountain ; 
but, on the other hand, owing to the manner in which the ores 
occur in isolated bunches, mining operations in such a region 
are always attended by less certain profits than where the 
metal is deposited is a regular lode ; and I may be allowed to 
express a hope that the Dun Mountain may prove to be al] 
that the Nelson people could wish. 
In Croixelles and in Current Basin, where copper mining 
F 
operations have been carried on, the indications were very 
obscure, and the result has proved that there is no reasonable 
ground to expect a profitable copper mine there. More 
promising specimens of copper ore have been obtained from 
D’Urville’s Island. The character of the ores met with there 
is quite the same as in the Dun Mountain. 
I will add a few' words about chromate of iron. This 
