Fig 6.—Sketch section showing structure of the Armagh lode, Bloomiield. Scale, about 20 feet to the inch.
These
lines are evidently legs from arches to the east and west of the main
lode. The prospectors have opened works on one of these side veins,
which, though small, shows gold freely. There is the usual dyke
material associated with this lode and also the gold-slate. Old works,
principally on the main body, but not exceeding 50 feet in depth, show
that great quantities of material have been put through the mill from
it. In addition to the main body of lode stuff, there is no telling
what may be met with to the east and west of it in leg " makes " from
other arches. Its outcrops, with those of other lines of lode parallel
to it to the east and west, can be traced away into the deep ground of
Allendale to the north, and south through the high ranges of
sedimentary rock to the east of Creswick. Only one point of outcrop,
other than the Armagh point, has been opened and sampled. This was at a
point known as the Working Miners' mine, immediately east of Creswick,
where a main shaft is down, I believe, 300 feet. Yields obtained varied
between 2 dwts. and 30 dwtsv but a want of system in mining,
and a want of big facilities for crushing ore, led to failure on more
than one occasion. I hear that this Working Miners' mine has lately
been taken up again, and that its lode formations are to receive the
treatment they deserve.
In
Creswick, on the Indicator belt of country which comes north from
Ballarat, a lode formation known as the Nuggety has been worked
occasionally by small companies during the last 30 years. The quartz
occurs here in large and small irregularly-shaped "makes," nearly
vertical and running, as do all the lodes of the district, nearly north
and south. These formations have wing-like thin formations of quartz
running out from their sides, and at points where lines of vertical
drainage intersect these flat veins nuggety gold is frequently met with
exactly as is the case with the flat veins of quartz in Ballarat East.
One of the nuggets found here at 80 feet down turned the scale for, I
believe, 126 ozs. The large blocks of stone carry gold, also, when
associated with slate, and one of these, 20 feet in width, yielded an
average of 7 dwts. to the ton, while another, taken from 8 feet width,
yielded 18 dwts. per ton. This mine has also been acquired by a
company, and new works are to be proceeded with immediately.
