and can be traced for miles to the north and south. Its southern extension is known in one part as the Bet Bet, and
here are the remains of much shallow works for rich returns. No real
mining-has been carried out anywhere on its line, the quartz
occurrences of which await the coming miner. This line of lode systems
is only one of many whose outcrops show in the surrounding ranges, none
of which have been sampled. In the town itself a first-class crushing
mill, with twenty 1,000-lb. heads, Gates'rook breakers, automatic
feeders, and Wiltley tables, remains motionless, and this on the
outcrops of another system of golden lodes, on which there is a
splendid winding plant. A shaft sunk 1(50 feet is equipped with a
10-in. pumping column and a 10-in. engine. This first-class equipment,
practically new, is unfortunately idle. The lode structure here is of
the enlarged wing class, inclining to the west in strata dipping east.
Thus the minor lines of drainage in the gold-slate underlie at about
right
angles to the underlay of the lode, and the slate bars being alternate
with . bars of sandstone, the stone is rich or poor according to its
contact with slate or sandstone. A high-grade surface patch, associated
with slate, worked here, in the first place, apparently led to the
expectation of long and continuous mining on ounce stone.
Disappointment was consequently felt when the average proved to be low
even in dwts. Even in the shallow works opened there are evidences of
managers having done their best to realize the average ex-"pected —
searching for patches at a greater cost per ounce of gold won than
would have been the case had they mined great widths of the lode with
its wall country en masse. This striving for big average yields
in lodes having intermittent deposition is a mistake. Better have a
continuous 5s. per ounce from low-grade ore, worked systematically,
than an occasional 20s. per ounce from a lode being "rooted" for its
richer parts. This venture was conducted by an English company,
designated the Mother o' Gold Consolidated Mines Limited, and it was
known as the Church Union mine. There are great widths of payable
low-grade ore in its area, with a large proportion of gold-slate
situated on either side of the channels in which the quartz is stored.
I found slate in the mullock heap containing fine gold distributed in
its layers—layers which represent the many lines of drainage that feed
into the "filter packs" represented by the wide "makes" of stone, and
by the floors, carrying vein quartz, going out from the main bodies of
quartz to the east and west. Not less than 40 heads of stampers should
be going here, crushing ore from at least 30-ft. widths of gold-bearing
material. Forty heads would treat 1,000 tons per week, and the cost all
told, mining and treatment, should not exceed £400. This means 2 dwts.
to the ton. A shilling per ton profit means 5 per cent, on £50,000. The
question now arises whether or not can 2-1/4 dwts. to the ton
be got from this Church Union mine ? I think the residents of Eunolly
and its neighbourhood should give this matter attention, considering
that there is a full equipment of ore-raising, ore-treating, and
water-pumping facilities
