About
a mile and a half north of the town the remains of shallow workings on
an area known as the Greenock are to be seen. It is said that. £46,000
worth of gold from 1-oz. stone was obtained from shallow " makes " here
by different parties. This line of lode is evidently on the same belt
of country as are the Isis formations to the south. I notice that the
sulphide of lead (galena) is not so conspicuous in the quartz,
formations as to the south, but sulphide of iron (mundic) is abundant,
with zinc and a little copper. Here, at the Greenock area, a line of
auriferous lode, with but the shallowest of its points of deposition
broached, presents ample inducements to the miner.
To
the east of this line a party is at work on a line known as the
Devonshire. The stone is said to have averaged 1 oz. to the ton, and
the wrorks, I believe, are down 120 feet. Going north from
the Greenock area through the next half-a-mile of country, a line of
shallow works takes us on to a set of poppet legs that mark tlie
Federal Company, which sunk a good shaft to a depth of 200 feet, opened
the formation it went for, and crushed therefrom 100 tons for a return
of 2i> ozs. of gold. And yet the " makes" at the surface here
returned from f> ozs. to a few dwts. to the ton. This belt of
gold-slate country (in parts showing free gold in the slate) has been
surface-prospected from this point south to the Lancashire mine, and
its lode systems are yet to receive comprehensive attention.
From
the Federal mine to St. Arnaud is 12 miles, and the country all through
this distance is composed of ranges similar to, though not so high as,
those previously passed through. Further west from the Federal a.rea
are situated the waterworks for the supply of St. Arnaud. Through the
12 miles of golden country to the latler place no apparent sampling of
the numerous lines of lode formations has been carried on, except near
the town, where remains of limited efforts are to lie seen. I noted
that the whole country has bad its corrugated mass thrust more to the
west on proceeding northwards, and expected to find the cross-lode
feature of quartz formation more in evidence in the foot ranges and
hills. In St. Arnaud the first opportunity to inspect deep works
presented itself, for here mining operations have reached a depth of
1,500 feet. Before descending the Lord Nelson mine, where such a depth
has been reached, I found, in tramping the hills around, that the lode
structure is similar to that observed throughout the 60 miles examined
to the south. The same class of corrugation of the rock-beds, the same
class of gold-slate, the same class of structure in favoured position,
the same class of dyke intrusions, and the same class of sulphide
associated with the gold. As expected, however, the " makes " of quartz
in the lode formations are longer in extent, and the cross-lode feature
is more in evidence. 1 must remind my readers that in the Moonambel
region, to the south, the cross lodes run from the south-east to the
north-west, but here, the rule is, they run from the north-east to the
south-west. It is evident that this difference in the strike of this
class of lode is due to the twist strain imparted to the Pyrenees
district by the thrust from, I believe, the granite elevation to the
north-east of it, that culminates in the Yowang range, to the north of
St. Arnaud. This thrust appears to have " headed" the northern part of
the whole mountainous district round to the north-west slightly, and
thus the strike of the strata, and of the lode systems whose lines run
nearly parallel to the strike of the strata, run nearer to the
north-west than is the case with the general strike further south.
Besides, we have the cross-lode feature here, in emphasis,
