of
the leg-like structure of quartz formations, and the runs of the
gutters appear to have zig-zagged down the valley from one leg to the
other, as other breaks in the rocks took the surface waters along the
lines of least resistance.
As
at the Berry Consols Extended mine, at Allendale, the way to mine these
large deposits of wash-dirt is to take broad stretches in a face,
independent of whether they carry much wash or little, for it matters
not how thick the wash-dirt is, the gold, rich or poor, will be found
on, or very near, the bottom. A venture known as the John "Woods
Company, which operated for a time in this valley, is said to have met
with a lot of payable wash-dirt, but I hear that the management
confined work to the "deep ground," and neglected higher deposits of
thin wash that no doubt are payable.
The
Kempson Company is working on a tributary valley to the main one,
further down on the latter's course than the area lately held by the
John Woods Company, and here operations proved that great widths of
wash-dirt deposits were equal to loz. 12dwt. per fathom (6 feet square)
of surface. The wash-dirt deposits of the Berry Consols Extended do not
average more than 1 oz. to the fathom, and yield dividends, about 250
men, all told, being employed. Boring operations have shown the depths
and extent of wash for miles down the valley from the Kempson's works,
and it appears as if only a limited outlay of capital is required to
open and drain the Kempson's area to insure a long run of successful
mining. There was a time when Allendale people would do with nothing
less than 5s. dividends. Then managers had to pick and choose for the
richest parts of wash deposits. Now they are content to let managers
work for the best average yield from wholesale panelling " over hill
and dale," through narrow gullies and lagoon-shaped pools of wash-dirt.
There was a time when Stawell people would do with nothing less than
ounce quartz. Now their managers mine for best averages on bulk stone,
and the result is more even and more lasting. What Kempson's requires
is money enough to open and drain an area 40 chains long by 10 or 15
chains in width, that it might be drained well before panellers are put
to work.
In
conclusion, it may be remarked that other main lines of lode
formations, associated with other parallel lines of arches in the
corrugated strata, are to be found both to the east and the west of the
line already opened in Stawell. There is no reason to suppose that
these lines will prove to be poorer in gold than has the line already
worked. The line opened was gold-bearing at its outcrop, hence it was
mined first. The other lines do not show as much at the outcrop, but
they may have favoured situations on their lines just as rich in gold.
They are in reserve for the miners of the future, as is the greater
part of the line opened, both in the " old ground " and in that stretch
of country on the line of mines, as it shows on the low ranges for
fully 10 miles to the north-west of Stawell.
