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either case the driving of the cross-cut should he continued to the- 
anticline (centre country), in which a saddle reef has been proved to 
exist. • 
The cap of this saddle reef outcrops at the surface at 800 ft. north 
of the main shaft, and from a crushing of 16 tons broken from the 
west leg immediately under the turnover the payable return of 10 oz. 
10 dwt. was recovered. Later a vertical shaft was sunk to a depth of 
37 ft., at a point 40 ft. west of the cap, and a cross-cut driven through 
the west and east legs. On the former, drives were put in for 45 ft. 
north and 30 ft. south, and a rise was put up to the cavity from which 
the crushing previously alluded to was extracted. Along the surface 
the east leg has been traced and sampled for a length of 300 ft. The 
average width is 2 ft., and the manager considers that the average yield 
from the portion tested will be about 10 dwt. to the ton. 
It has been supposed that the west leg of this reef is the Lord 
Roberts reef, but that such is the case is improbable. The Lord Roberts 
reef, so far as it has been opened up, is conformable to the lines of 
stratification, and ,so resembles a leg, but it is associated with a dyke, 
with which it and the accompanying spurs are probably genetically 
connected, and may extend indefinitely in depth, whereas the west 
leg of the saddle reef is truly bedded, will become gradually attenuated 
in depth, and, before reaching the syncline, will probably thin out 
altogether. If the pitch (12° south) of the saddle reef is sustained 
over the stretch between the outcrop and the Lord Roberts shaft, the 
cap of the reef should be found a few feet below the depth of the 
present bottom level. 
Southward from the main shaft shallow prospecting shafts have 
revealed the existence of numerous spurs or fiat-makes pitching 
southerly at angles between 10° and 30°. In many of these visible 
gold is found, and from any of them Mr. Gilbert can wash promising 
prospects—from three or four spots prospects equal to 5 dwt. or 6 dwt. 
to the ton have been obtained. These veins could be attacked from a 
north level from the main shaft, and it is likely, when the mine has 
been further opened up, and after the erection of a ten-head battery 
(say, in about six months’ time), which has been recently purchased, 
that attention will be given to this part of the lease. 
The alluvial deposits in the vicinity obviously derived from the 
degradation of the Lord Roberts reef and spurs were, it is said, very 
rich, and it is thought by local miners that if water were available 
what remains of them would pay to sluice. Frenchman’s Gully—the 
head of Bushy Gully, which falls into Sailor’s. Creek—whose source is 
at the Lord Roberts shaft, was rich in nuggets, and from the surface of 
Old Dick’s Gully, 10 chains further south, and one of the heads of 
Sailor’s Creek, £600 worth of gold was puddled immediately below 
where the reef crosses. 
More prospecting than has yet been done will have to be carried out 
before it will be possible, with any degree of certainty, to estimate what 
the future of the mine is likely to be, but enough is known to justify 
serious exploitation. I would advise that, pending the erection of 
more powerful machinery, with which to sink to a depth where the 
products of decomposition pass over into sulphides (as has already 
