137 
Blue shaft. Until recently it was considered that the workings at the 
1,582-ft. level were deep enough to cut the Uorth Blue shoot, but, after 
over 400 ft. of driving had been done at this depth, it was recognised 
that the reef, if it exists so far north, should be found at a greater depth. 
The work done at the 1,582-ft. level was not without value; most of it is 
practically in centre country, so close to it, at any rate, that over nearly 
the whole length reliable pitches have been obtained. These, when 
plotted on in Mr. Cundy’s plans and read in conjunction with the pitch 
of the country in the Uorth Blue workings, show beyond question that 
the beds in which the payable lower portion (the cap) of the reef is set 
in the Uorth Blue have not yet been reached in the Blue United shaft, 
but though they point to this being the case, they do not show beyond 
doubt that'the Uorth Blue shoot of stone lies at a greater depth than the 
bottom of the shaft, 1,982 ft. 
The position is this; There is a distance along the line of reef of 
about 2,015 ft. between the shafts. Of this length, the Uorth Blue, at 
a depth of 1,790 ft., has opened up 1,040 ft. north from the shaft, and 
the Blue United, at a depth of 1,528 ft,, has driven 415 ft. south from 
the shaft. In the ISTorth Blue the average pitch of the beds over 
1,040 ft. is 10° ISr.; in the Blue United the average pitch over 415 ft. 
is 28° IST. Between the two faces there is a stretch of 560 ft. of 
country, the structure of which we are entirely ignorant of, excepting 
that we knew that at the surface it pitches northerly. When the plot 
of the average pitch in the United is curved up through the unknown 
strip to the plot of the average pitch in the Uorth Blue it is seen that 
the country in the face of the north drive at 1,790 ft. in the ISTorth Blue 
pitches underfoot at between 100 ft. and 200 ft. south of the shaft at a 
depth of 1,928 ft. in the Blue United. That fixes, approximately, the 
position of the rocks, but the difiiculty in the way of placing, even 
approximately, the position of the reef is the fact that its pitch in the 
North Blue is apparently 5° or 6° less than that of the beds. Uor 
that reason it can. hardly be called a saddle reef proper. Its lower 
portion—that part which rides on the so-called saddle—quite resembles 
that very rich false saddle in the Great Extended Hustlers, which 
further north—in the Hustlers Reef—became evenly bedded, and. as a 
saddle reef properly so-called, was worked pretty well throughout the 
length of the lease. I am inclined to the opinion that the North Blue 
reef will behave similarly, that somewhere inside the boundary of the 
Blue United—'about where the pitch of the country reaches 20°—the 
neck of the reef will shorten—possibly the slide on which the neck is 
built will disappear altogether—and the shoot of stone in the shape of 
a saddle reef will continue, northwards, and may be found by driving 
southward from the 1,928-ft. cross-cut in the Blue United. 
Above the 1,928-ft. cross-cut there is a height of 180 ft. of unpro¬ 
spected ground, in which there is ample room for the occurrence of a 
saddle reef. This country could, and should, be prospected by a cross¬ 
cut from, the plat cut at a depth of 1,902 ft. 
A careful section of the 1,982-ft. cross-cut has been made, and com¬ 
pared with the beds bounding the North Blue reef. The beds do not 
match. 
[11.12.14.] 
