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outcrop for some distance, after which an adit was commenced a little lower down the hill, and, at the time of my visit, was constructed for a distance of about 100 ft., 30ft. of which was following the lode, The size of the lode varies considerably, being from 18in. to 3ft. in width; and a number of leaders are found running through the country-rock, most of them showing gold. At the point where rich stone was found, two leaders had junctioned with the lode, and gave it a width of nearly 4ft. The stone near the junction is fissured, and contains dabs of sulphide of antimony and darkcoloured bands of carbonate of lime, about -Jin. in width. Free gold shows in the white quartz in the sulphide of antimony, and, upon close inspection, it may be seen in the pyrites also. At the present face the leaders are about 2ft. in the hanging-wall; the reef is about 2ft. in width, and is free from the above-mentioned minerals, with a little gold in the pug at the footwall. The lode is enclosed with fairly-defined walls, and has an underlie to the north. The mine is situated at about 800 ft. above the sea-level, and gives good facilities for working, as a straight line for an aerial tramway can easily be got to connect the workings with the crushingbattery lower down the creek. Only 3 tons of stone from this reef have, so far, been tested, which, according to the battery returns forwarded—as required by the Act—yielded 440z. of gold. This 3 tons was crushed by a one-stamp battery, which had been erected a little below the Julian Mine for the purpose of crushing any quartz which might be found in that mine while Curtis Brothers held it on tribute. The party now consider their discovery to be of sufficient importance to justify the erection of a ten-stamp battery lower down the creek in order to work the mine. They have purchased the battery belonging to the Specimen-hill Company at Boatman's, and, at the time of my visit, were removing part of the plant for erection at Langdon's. Notwithstanding the rich stone that has been found, there is still, in my opinion, a doubt as to whether the lode is not a portion of a large slip from higher up the range, and it would in all probability have been far more advantageous to the mine-owners had they prospected the ground further, and tested the lode for a greater distance, before incurring a large expenditure in the erection of a battery. The rich stone which has been found would, no doubt, tend to lead not only Curtis and party but many others to believe that this lode would be likely to continue some distance-into- the range; but having only tested it a short distance below the outcrop, and only driven about 30ft. in the lode, there is no saying to what depth the lode may be found to continue down, or if, as previously referred to, it proves to be a portion of a large slip it may cut out in driving along at the present level. It is to be hoped, however, that the reef will be found going into solid country, and if this should be the case the property is likely to be a valuable one. The ground to the south and east of the Victory Claim is taken up, but no work has yet been done to prove the reef on this property. The Julian Claim, comprising an area of 32 acres, was formerly known as the Langdon Extended. A considerable sum of money has been expended on this property in the past, and some rich specimens have been taken out of leaders, but so far no permanent lode has been found. Further up the hill than the point where the present adit is being constructed by the Julian Company is an antimony lode, some 18in. wide, and containing gold, which is said to have an assay-value of £9 per ton. The Julian Company are constructing an adit along Curtis's western boundary with a view of cutting the lode discovered by the latter, and taking the direction of the adit on the lode in Curtis's ground. It is, however, questionable whether they will meet with it in the direction they are driving. Curtis Brothers offered to let the Julian Company drive along the course of their reef to the boundary, but the latter thought this would be only prospecting Curtis's ground, and constructing a level to which Curtis Brothers contributed nothing. This would, however, have been far more advantageous to the Julian Company, as it would have proved whether the lode found on Curtis's ground continued to the Julian boundary or not, and the information thus obtained would probably save a needless expenditure of both time and money in looking for a lode in a direction in which they may not find it. The Julian Company's adit-level is, however, now in for a considerable distance, and it will be very soon known whether the reef will be met with on their ground or not. TOTAEA DISTEICT. Cedar Greek. A few years ago there was a considerable stir amongst the miners here on account of rich stone having been discovered in the bed of Cedar Creek, which resulted in the whole locality being taken up in mining leases. None of the claims here, however, proved on working to contain payable ore. The only work now being carried on here is by Manera and party, who are prospecting in the ground formerly held by the William Tell Company. Donnelly's Creek. Donnelly's Creek. —There has been a considerable amount of prospecting work done here from time to time for over twenty-five years, but no rich discovery has ever been made, or a lode of any great dimensions ever yet discovered containing gold. There are small quartz leaders found running through the slate rock in which gold is found.. According to the battery returns, 157 tons of quartz has been crushed, which yielded 90oz. of gold. It may be stated that in connection with this mine there is a small crushing-battery erected, consisting of five heads of stamps, which is quite sufficient to crush all the auriferous quartz that has been found yet in this locality. C. Porter's Claim. —This claim is situated near the junction of the two branches of Donnelly's Creek. He found a quartz leader on the surface, from 6in. to lOin. wide, and worked this down for some distance, the quartz yielding about loz. gold per ton ; but for a long time he has been engaged in driving a low adit-level to cut the leader he found at the surface at a lower level. He sunk a shaft for some 50ft. before commencing this low level, and found the quartz leader widened out to about lft.
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