368 The N.Z. Jouknal of Science and Technology. [Nov. 
contain a greater proportion of magnesium carbonate than is required to 
form a normal dolomite. 
“ Future prospects in Queensland’s magnesite resources rest primarily 
on the exploitation of the large belt of serpentine country on the 
Rockhampton district, the most important areas being around Marl¬ 
borough and Kunwarara, the distances of these localities from Rock¬ 
hampton being respectively sixty-five and forty-five miles. Mount Pring, 
near Bowen, also offers inducements for prospecting operations, and 
large quantities may exist there in the serpentine of the hills and 
mountains. 
“ The mineral in these three localities has been proved to be eminently 
suitable for making caustic magnesia, and the analyses given show that they 
are equal in quality to the best deposits in the world. In the making of 
dead-burned magnesia for refractory bricks these magnesites have been 
considered to be too pure, particularly in their freedom from iron ; but 
this can hardly be correct when it is considered that the Fifield magnesite, 
from which the highest class of refractory bricks by the latest methods is 
now made, is very similar in every respect to the Queensland magnesite.” 
Tasmania. 
W. F. Petterd's Catalogue of the Minerals of Tasmania, 1910, states 
that magnesite occurs in serpentine, Parson’s Hood Mountain ; in veins, 
Trail Harbour ; in Meredith Range, at Dundas, and at Heazlewood. The 
mineral, however, has been found only “ in comparatively limited quan¬ 
tity." Dolomite occurs at Heazlewood, Dundas, Magnet Silver-mine, Mount 
Claude, and near Mount Pelion. None of the occurrences seem to be of any 
commercial importance, and the Mines Department, Hobart, in answer to 
a recent inquiry, has stated that there are no known workable deposits of 
magnesite in Tasmania. 
New Zealand. 
Magnesite has been reported from Rotorua by S. H. Cox, from the 
Chatham Islands by S. Percy Smith, from the Collingwood district by 
W. Skey and S. H. Cox, from the Hokitika River watershed as small veins 
in serpentine by P. G. Morgan, and from Milford Sound by P. Marshall. 
It also occurs as streaks in the serpentine near Mount Griffin., north 
Westland. None of the known occurrences has any commercial value. 
Hydro-magnesite occurs to a small extent in association with the-copper¬ 
bearing lodes of the Dun Mountain district, and as a small vein in a 
railway-cutting east of Karangahake railway-tunnel (oral communication 
from Mr. R. B. McDuff). Brucite, the hydrated oxide of magnesium, 
probably occurs in small amount in the serpentine rocks of north 
Westland. Skey gives the ollowing analysis of crystals of magnesite 
from Collingwood, collected by S. H. Cox (13th Ann. Bejo. Col. Mus. 
and Lab., 1878, p. 23: Lab. No. 1951):— 
Carbonate of magnesia . , .. .. .. 94-82 
Carbonate of iron .. .. .. .. 4-87 
Carbonate of lime . . .. .. . . Trace 
Water .. . . .. .. .. .. 0-31 
100-00 
