derived
from the Silurian strata, not from the granite. The mining operations
practised are simply those of ground-sluicing on a large scale.
Considerable work has been done on the placers in Dargo district. The
thickness of the gravel is from thirty to forty feet. On Mitchell
River the gold-workings are confined to the creeks and the older
alluvions on the banks. The Wa-ranga fields, Sandhurst district, are
among the oldest Victorian gold-fields, and have been worked since
1853. The most important of the workings are in the vicinity of
Rushworth on a cement deposit, probably of the older pliocene. The
gravel is shallow, the deepest shafts being only from thirty-five to
fifty-five feet. This lead has yielded more than any other in the
district. Nuggety Gully, Cemetery Lead, and Coy Diggings are also
placers of note.
New South Wales.—The auriferous districts of New South Wales are considered the richest and most extensive in Australia.-f The
gold-fields extend, with short intervals, the entire length of the
colony, with a breadth of two hundred miles. Immense tracts in the
interior still remain unprospected, and in time may prove to contain
valuable gold-bearing deposits. Up to 1871 alluvial washings alone were
carried on, gold-quartz mining being neglected. At this period sixteen
thousand miners were at work. The product from 1851 to 1871 inclusive
is stated by Reid to have been £26,457,160. The gold regions are all
easy of access and are within two days' journey of the capital.
In
Bathurst, Tambaroora, Turon, Lachlan, Mudgee, Southern, Peel, and
Uralla districts water is scarce, and the discoveries of gold at
Temora, Montreal, and Mount Browne have attracted a large number of
miners from these places. Water is scarce at Temora also, but
fortunately a large amount of very coarse gold has been found. The
Montreal placers are near the sea-coast. The deposits are said to occur
in two terraces, and give evidence of having been washed back by the
sea.
