Appendix 6.
Auriferous Reefs Of The Bendigo District.

In my examination of most of the reefs of this extensive district, I was kindly accompanied by Mr. G. B. Douglas, the manager of the Bendigo Deep Level Company, and I am indebted to him for much of the information about the yields, workings, and other particulars, given in the following descriptions.

Logan’s Reef and Cromwell Co.—This celebrated reef, in the possession of Messrs. Thomas Logan, B. R. Baird and G. W. Goodger, the latter of whom was kind enough to show us through the workings, is without question the richest and best defined in the Province, and has been very extensively worked for nearly half-a-mile in length, but is traceable for perhaps three-quarters of a mile further east in strike. It cuts through nearly horizontal, very quartziferous mica schist, at a strike of E. 5° S., dipping with slight bends for about 100 feet from the surface, close upon vertical, and then bearing gradually to the north, at an angle of 75°. Its walls are especially well defined and even, and there is a clayey ferruginous casing on either. According to Mr. J. Parry, the mining manager, its thickness in the present workings, ranged in places from two to six feet, but the average was about three feet. It did not, however, consist of quartz throughout, but there were larger and smaller mullock patches, the larger ones with a step-like outline at the top, of which some carried very good gold. The quartz shows a fine seamy structure, and is of a brownish colour and ferruginous near the surface, but in depth assumes a bluish colour, whilst becoming more and more strongly impregnated with pyrites, galena, and zinc blende (Black Jack). The gold occurs both in the seams and in the mass of the quartz, but was on the large scale not found evenly distributed through the reef but to be accumulated in shoots dipping eastward in strike at rather sharp angles. Thus in places the quartz paid hardly a few dwts. of gold per ton, but was succeeded by such paving over two ounces, and this again by a shoot yielding up to and above six ounces per ton. The average yield from different working places, has for some time been over three ounces per ton. In the lowest part of these present workings, a few feet above the bottom of a whim shaft 260 feet in depth (there are two shafts, 170 feet and 114 feet deep, worked by derricks besides), one of the rich shoots paying up to six ounces per ton, has been struck, which dips at an apparently sharp angle eastward into the page 202so-called "Golden Link" ground, where the reef was first opened and most extensively and successfully worked. The deepest shaft on this line of workings, which have for some time been at a stand-still, is 330 feet, and excellent gold (3 to 6 ounces per ton), from large quantities of stone, wrought either side, was obtained to about 150 feet in depth; below that the quartz became gradually poorer, and from near the bottom, where the water grew very troublesome, it paid only 7 dwts. per ton. There is every probability, however, that the rich shoot just noticed as existing at the bottom of the whim shaft, will be struck on further sinking. In parts of these workings the walls of the reef came close together, whilst in others they were up to 10 feet apart, both quartz and mullock, which filled these wide places, paying over 6 ounces per ton throughout. Towards the east the reef deteriorates very much in quality, and there are only a few places, one at about 4 chains and another at 2 to 3 chains still further on, where it has been superficially worked, and paid up to 16 dwts. per ton. Good looking leaders, running at acute angles towards the reef, have been struck here and there along the line worked, but none have been followed, and not a single prospecting crosscut has been driven throughout the whole extent of the workings. Whilst showing occasional outcrops, through the Golden Link ground, the reef came to a point in the line of the present workings, and whilst sending out two strong branches, one on the north the other on the south, it itself continues in the centre, but dips rather sharply in strike westwards as indicated by its disappearance down the pretty steep slope of the hill, on which the workings are situated. This feature has, however, only been properly understood lately. For whilst the workings on the main reef were carried on westward from the Golden Link ground, the northern one of the two branches—which soon assumes the same strike as the main reef, dips also close upon vertical, and shows a strong outcrop of massive quartz, in places 3 to 4 feet thick, down the slope of the hill just noted—was mistaken for its continuation, and worked for some distance eastward into the hill slope, i.e., towards the other workings—and for about 130 feet in depth, paying in the average 16 dwts. per ton. The fact of its becoming poor and thin in the face at that depth whilst the workings on the main reef, but little in advance, showed the latter rich and strong, and appear to run gradually more S. out of the line, induced Mr. Parry, the manager, to drive a cross-cut south, which at 42ft struck the main reef, rich, and nearly 3ft. thick. From this point, which has been since connected with the main workings east, a drive is being carried on westward—the reef continuing of the same thickness and richness—and will soon extend beneath the gully at the foot of the hill. Touching the southern branch of the main reef, it is of a rather mullocky character, and also soon assumes the strike of the latter, with a nearly vertical dip—its thickness ranging from 9in. to 2ft. It has been worked up the slope and near the top of the page 203hill in several places—at one rather extensively—by open cuttings, but the returns were not very satisfactory. Still there is chance of its proving perhaps very rich near the foot of the hill, whence it is seen disappearing westward underneath the alluvial of the gully, at a point where it would be struck by a cross leader which has been worked up to within ½ chain on the south. This leader, which is from 3 to 6 inches thick, and runs rather crookedly towards it at a mean strike of N. 40° E., and dipping N.W. at 65-75°, has been worked for about ½ chain in length by a shallow open cutting, and the quartz obtained is said to have been very rich. The mode of exploitation adopted for this mine is by underhand stoping—some of the steps or stopes being from 20 up to 40ft. high, and there were large places left open overhead, very unsafe for the men working underneath, and which ought therefore to be filled with waste to guard against accidents. As I have already given, at another place, my opinion on the comparative merits of overhand and underhand, stoping, I need only remark here that I should certainly advise the owners of the mine to prosecute its future working in depth by the overhand system of exploitation. The crushing machine of the Cromwell Company (manager, Mr. Edward Rigg,) lies at the foot of the range near the mouth of the Bendigo Creek, about 1½ mile from the reef. It consists of 13 heads of revolving stamps in two batteries, fed by hand and driven by a waterwheel. The coffers are shallow, and the gratings have 122 holes per square inch; formerly such with only 100 holes per square inch were used. As gold saving appliances serve common amalgamating tables, and 10ft. of blanket strakes, 4 for each battery, with an inclination of nearly 2 inches per foot. For the treatment of the blanket sand, serve a revolving barrel and shaking table. Owing to the large quantity of pyrites and other ores in the quartz, the saving of the gold is very difficult, and though Mr. Rigg carefully superintends the working, I feel convinced of both gold and quicksilver being lost in considerable quantities, and that it would pay well to treat the large heap of tailings accumulated near the battery. Before leaving this splendid mine, I may mention that the fortunate owners have very materially enhanced its value by the late purchase from the Aurora Company of a fine water race, capable of furnishing sufficient water power, not not only for working pumps and hoisting gear for a main shaft, but also for effecting crushing on a more extensive scale direct at the reef, and thereby saving the heavy expenses at present entailed by the carting of the quartz so far to the mill, over a difficult road.

The Reliance Company.—This Company, managed by Mr. J. Mitchinson, of Bendigo, to whom I am indebted for information about it and the district generally, holds the ground westward of the Cromwell Company, in the line of Logan’s Reef, commencing at foot of the hill repeatedly mentioned in the foregoing description. Misled by the workings of the neighbouring company, before the page 204true position of the main reef was discovered, a fine whim-shaft was sunk to a depth of 170 feet on the line of the northern branch of Logan’s Reef, close to the eastern boundary of the Company’s lease, and right at foot of a high vertical precipice of mica schist. The upper 50 feet sunk through consist of drift, below that the reef branch was struck, but the quartz proved not payably auriferous, and also soon pinched out, the walls coming close together. There was water coming in at the bottom, but not very strong. When afterwards understanding how Logan’s main reef really ran, the Company abandoned this shaft, and sunk another southward abreast in the supposed line round the foot of the high rock precipice; but this, according to a subsequent mining survey, seems to lie a few feet beyond the correct line. When I saw this shaft, it had penetrated to a depth of 100 feet, and, curiously enough, through nothing but small, angular, and washed drift from top down, whilst a very strong influx of water had made its appearance—features which, considering the vicinity of the rock, clearly indicate the existence at that place of a deep kind of pot-hole or gulch. As the water was too strong for further hand-bailing, Mr. Mitchinson intended to shift the whim from the other shaft to this one, and he may by this time already have ascertained whether, what seems not unlikely from the close neighbourhood of Logan’s Reef, a deposit of rich washdirt exists at the bottom of the hole.

Regarding the chance of the existence of that reef in the ground, I think it is very good, judging from the strength of the reef in the nearest part of the Cromwell Company’s workings; but touching the striking of it by the shaft, all depends upon its angle of dip westward in strike: for the steeper this is, the deeper will the shaft require to be sunk, though should it be flat, the reef might actually exist at the bottom of the gravel hole. The northern branch of the reef, on which the first shaft has been sunk, crops out on top of the precipice and is traceable for a good distance down the smooth western slope, where several old shafts from 50 to 75 feet in depth are said to have followed good quartz, whilst numerous auriferous specimens have been found along the line on the slope. Considering this, it would, no doubt, be advisable to prospect that reef-branch systematically along its line, and more extensively near that one of the old shafts, in which the best indications are said to have been obtained. The southern branch of the reef looks not at all unpromising, where it crops out at the foot of the hill, and would also, in my opinion, deserve to be well prospected.

The Aurora Reef.—This reef, which has been abandoned for the last two years, but from its really good prospects, certainly deserves another trial, runs about ¼ mile north of Logan’s, at a strike of E. 5° N., and dipping northward at 75-80°. The only accessible portion of the old workings is an adit driven in the strike of the reef though in a rather irregular and crooked manner, a length of 700 feet, from a gully in which the crushing machine also stands, near by. page 205Similar to that on the Conroy’s Gully Reef, this adit was also a very injudicious undertaking; for it lies only about 70 feet beneath the highest part of the hill into which it penetrates, and the greater portion of the reef had been worked out by shafts and open cuttings when it came to the end. Had it been continued about another 400 feet, there would have been a prospect of some 200 feet of Backs to work up to a place at the surface, where in a superficial opening the reef was found 12 to 14 inches thick and paid, according to Mr. Douglas, 22 dwts. of gold per ton. In the adit, the reef was first struck on the left-hand side at 500 feet in, but the adit runs up to that point in such a manner—curving; in and out—as to render it probable that along the whole or part of the above distance, the reef exists still undiscovered in the left hand wall—a supposition that might easily be proved by small cross-cuts. At the point of the adit, where it first appears, it is very thin, but very quickly increases to five feet in thickness, and a shaft sunk on it from the adit 58 feet deep, proved it to continue regularly downward, and to gradually widen to six feet at the bottom. Adjoining the shaft is a cutting 20 feet long and 15 feet deep, in which it is also left nearly five feet thick underfoot throughout. The quartz from both these workings paid from seven to nine dwts. of gold per ton; but as it is indeed very rich in mostly arsenical pyrites, and the gold saving appliances of the machine are of the usual imperfect kind, and were, as it is said, very badly superintended, I feel quite convinced that a great deal of gold and quicksilver was lost in the tailings. Beyond the just-mentioned cutting, the reef has not any more been prospected underfoot in the adit, but some distance further on it is seen five inches thick in the roof of the latter, and continues of that thickness right to the face, the hanging wall being especially well defined. Judging from this behaviour on the whole, I strongly suppose that the stone followed in the shaft and cutting represents a good and strong shoot, which dips at a rather sharp angle eastward in strike. As regards the old workings, they extend for a length of 280 feet, and the reef has been taken out right to the adit. The stone was there of a very ferruginous character, and ranged in thickness from one to five feet—average, about 2½ feet, Extremely rich patches of golden quartz were found in places, and some of the crushings produced 2 oz. 16 dwt. of gold per ton; the average yields varied, however, from 16 dwts. to 1 oz. per ton. At the eastern end of the workings the reef splits into two branches, and a tributors’ party who worked there last, followed the northern branch for some distance, and realised from 8 to 13 dwt. of gold per ton. Further east, on the opposite rise of a little gully, intersecting the line of the reef, they sunk two shafts—one about 75 feet in depth—for prospecting the branch, but, strangely enough, though the line of the latter across the gully is clearly apparent, neither of the shafts lies on it, but one too far north, the other south, and a cross-cut between the page 206two has still good chance of discovering it. Some five or six chains further along the line from this point are the last workings of the tributors, consisting’ of several shafts ranging up to 60 feet in depth, from which the yields varied from 8 to 12 dwt. of gold per ton. Beyond these, there are no workings on the same line for a distance of over a quarter of a mile, where we come to those of the Victoria Company—an open cutting—from which 38 tons of stone were raised that produced at the rate of 14 dwts. of gold per ton. This yield of gold being too low to pay for working, carting, and crushing combined, the place was deserted. Touching the southern branch of the reef, it has been superficially prospected in several places for over a quarter of a mile in length, and proved to be auriferous, but not payably so. The, through long neglect, somewhat dilapidated crushing machinery of the old Aurora Company consists of two batteries of five heads of revolving stamps each, driven by a waterwheel; common amalgamated copperplate tables and blanket strakes 14 feet in length, lying at a pitch of nearly two inches per foot. Small remnants of blanket sand near the tail-race proved, on examination, to be rich in finely divided quicksilver and amalgam.

The Lucknow Reef and Company.—The strike of this reef is nearly E. and W., its dip close upon vertical, and the walls are well defined. It has been opened along the surface for about 300 feet in length, the main workings lying on top of a spur, which it crosses at nearly right angles. As these workings were inacessible, Mr. Chas, Colclough, the original discoverer of the reef and present legal manager of the Company, kindly afforded me information about them, and gave me other particulars concerning the reef. The latter has been worked out to depths ranging from a few feet to sixty feet, and yielded from 8 dwts. to over 3 ozs. of gold per ton. In the main shaft the reef, which proved about one foot thick, was followed vertically down to a depth of about 100 feet, but there a body of stone made its appearance, rich in gold and arsenical pyrites, and showing a thickness of three feet, i.e., one foot of quartz on either wall, and one foot of mullock in the centre, and which was found to dip flat southward. The shaft was, therefore, turned on the underlay of this body, which was supposed to represent the main reef, and for a length of 14 feet followed it down to a depth of about 146 feet, where water was met with. A crushing from this underlay portion greatly disappointed, however, all expectations, for instead of several ounces, it paid only from 8 to 11 dwts. of gold per ton. As it was thought that the water would give too much trouble in further sinking, and also in order to provide an easy road for the stuff to the machinery standing in the gully at the foot of the spur, an adit was at once projected and started from near the machine without considering that the length it would have to be driven through hard, nearly horizontal, mica schist to strike the reef, and consequently its large expense was page 207greatly disproportionate to the small height of Backs, estimated at hardly 40 feet, to be rendered available by it; irrespective of that, in which most opinions agree, closer examination would have shown that the water in the shaft was mostly due to surface percolation, and might have been easily beaten by a horse whim. At the time of my visit this adit, which makes two strong angles in direction, had progressed to a point which Mr. Besanko, the mining manager, considered from rough measurements—(the want of a proper mining survey and working plans is here painfully apparent)—to lie sonth abreast, or already a little beyond, beneath the bottom of the previously mentioned shaft—the last one hundred feet having, at the rate of £8 or £10 per foot, been driven E. in the line of a flat slide which he took from its position to represent the continuation of the flat reef left in the shaft; and in this supposition he seemed to all appearances to be correct. But if so—considering that only a few small pockets of rich gold-bearing quartz had been met with in the slide along the whole distance, and that moreover but a comparatively small stream of water had made its appearance in the face, though there were nearly 60 feet of water standing in the shaft above—the prospects of the flat reef at that depth appeared to me to be far from cheering. On the supposition of its forming a block dipping from the shaft eastward in strike there was no doubt still of the chance of its being found of some thickness further ahead; however, in looking at the uncertainty and the expense or farther work, I advised the manager to discontinue driving on the slide altogether, and instead to open out eastward on a quartz reef, 9 inches thick and dipping vertical, which crosses the adit E. and W. some distance from its mouth, and in which gold is said to have been found when penetrated. In fact, there can hardly be a doubt that this reef represents the continuation of the main reef worked at the surface; for besides having the same strike and dip, its position in the adit—as ascertained by tape measurement—agrees tolerably well with that of the main reef, as given on a plan prepared by Mr. Evans, mining engineer, on which also a good length of the adit is marked. As regards the prospects of the proposed workings, I think they are very fair, judging from the character of the reef at the surface, and that gold has already been found in the portion crossing the adit; but it must not be forgotten that, as soon as the available Backs are worked out, opening of the reef in depth will have to be effected by shaft and requires pumping and hoisting machinery. The flat reef may either be a so-called "dropper," or represent a reef parallel in strike to the main reef, which, on crossing the latter in depth, shifted it a little southward; still, whatever its nature, I take it to be uncertain in extent and auriferous character. The portion left in the shaft might perhaps be easiest opened from a rise from the end of the adit. Touching the crushing machine of the Company, it consists of five heads of page 208revolving stamps, driven by a turbine, copper-plate table and blanket-strakes; a rippled tailing-race forming not a bad addition.

Golden Crown Reef.—This is apparently a continuation of Logan’s Reef, from which it lies about 1½ mile distant to the east. The discoverers, J. Wrightson and Co., have not done much work on it as yet; but from what is disclosed, it seems to be of a mullocky character, and from 9 to 16 inches thick. A crushing of 17 tons yielded about 8 dwts. of gold per ton.

Claim No. 10.—This lies also in the line of, and about 2 miles distant from, Logan’s Reef. It contains a well-defined quartz reef from 2 to 4 feet wide, in which superficial prospecting has not disclosed any gold as yet; but near to this reef, on the south, and dipping towards it, runs a parallel leader from 6 to 10 inches thick, from which a crushing of 26 tons produced at the rate of 26 dwts. of gold per ton. The reef deserves, in my opinion, to be properly prospected.

The Bendigo Deep Level Company, managed by Mr. G. B. Douglas. This is a spirited and, in my opinion, highly promising prospecting enterprise. The adit, which at the time of my visit was only 10-12 feet in, starts from the Bendigo Creek, southward, into the high precipitous mountain side, in a direction nearly at right angles to several reefs presently to be mentioned, and also to the lines of the main reefs previously described, though at more or less considerable distances east of their workings. Thus, according to Mr. Douglas’s survey, it would intersect, at 60 feet in and 100 feet beneath the surface, the line of a reef 1 foot wide, which has proved auriferous; at 163 feet in and 300 feet below the surface, the line of the Guano Reef, a well formed reef, 2 feet wide, opened right above the line of the adit, and which has yielded from 15 to 26 dwts. of gold per ton from 5 crushings that ranged from 26 to 48 tons each. Next comes at 260 feet in and 450 feet beneath the surface workings, the line of Rroad foot’s Reef, also a tolerably well-defined reef of 2 feet in thickness, from which 3 crushings of [gap — reason: illegible]from 28 to 42 tons each, gave at the rate of 12½ to 14½ dwts. of gold per ton. Beyond this reef, at 400 to 500 feet in and about 500 feet beneath the surface, come two leaders, or small reefs, from which crushings have yielded 7½ to 9 dwts. of gold per ton. The line of the Lucknow Reef would be intersected at 700 feet in and 550 feet beneath the surface; that of the Aurora Reef at 1,400 feet in, and 700 feet beneath, and that of Logan’s Reef at 1,900 feet in and 1,000 feet below the surface; also two leaders, each about 12 inches wide – one between the Lucknow and Aurora, the other between the latter and Logan’s Reef—of which crushings yielded respectively 9 dwts. and 13 dwts. of gold per ton. A great collateral advantage the site of the adit has, is that from the Bendigo Creek running past its mouth a never-failing supply of water could be procured for crushing purposes, motive power included. The adit has been commenced only wide enough for single tramway, though page 209I think double tramway-width would have been far more advisable. What I would especially recommend to the company is to start as soon as possible work with a good boring machine driven by compressed air, which would save special ventilation of the adit, and to use gun cotton, or better still, Nobel’s Dynamite, for blasting.

The Alta Reef.—This reef has been deserted for a long time, though its prospects seemed encouraging enough up to the last for an extended trial. It lies about three miles E.N.E. of Logan’s mine, and seems, from what could be seen in some of the old workings, to run in a rather crooked way, at a mean strike of E. 3° to 5° W., and to dip nearly vertical. Walls apparently not very well defined. Its thickness seems to have ranged from 2 feet to 6 to 8 feet in places. Eight crushings realised at the rate of from 3½ to 19 dwts. of gold per ton.

A peculiar feature in the reef was the occurrence on the south wall of masses of a very heavy, yellowish-white mineral, which proved very troublesome during crushing; and on examination of the spoil heaps from the workings, I discovered specimens and recognised it as "scheelite," or tungstate of lime. As this is a mineral that most frequently accompanies bismuth ores, there might be a chance of the reef carrying these ores in depth, or of their occurring in the immediate vicinity. The reef has not very judiciously been opened by two adits of 90 and 140 feet in length, and at the respective depths of 64 and 80 feet, whilst, according to Mr. Douglas, an adit from the opposite side of the range, where the machinery stands, would at a length of about 680 feet have struck it at a depth of 280 feet, and crossed besides four other reefs, of which one yielded 14 dwts. of gold per ton, from a trial crushing of 12 tons.

The crushing machine, connected by a long tramway and shoot with the mine, consists of ten heads of revolving stamps, in two batteries, driven by turbine; amalgamating tables of the usual pattern, and blanket strakes. Not being housed in, it is suffering much from exposure to the weather.

The Rise and Shine Reef.—This peculiar occurrence of auriferous stone—for it cannot be called a reef—lies about three-quarters of a mile east of the Alta machine. Judging from three small shafts, the only workings as yet executed—one 18 feet deep lying in the bottom of a gully, the other two shallower, sunk several chains apart on the slope of the southern range—it consists of a zone of highly mineralised mica schist of considerable width, and apparently striking N. and S.; dip uncertain. The stone worked out of the gully shaft, amounting to about 30 tons, is densely traversed with quartz veins in all directions, in which fine gold can freely be seen; and there is besides a considerable quantity of iron and arsenical pyrites present. Good prospects of fine gold can also page 210be washed out of a streak of loose stuff, resembling a casing, on one side of the shaft, whilst the fact that from below the line of the formation down the gully, and on the slope of the range, the alluvial drift has furnished rich returns of angular or not waterworn gold, is a clear proof of the richly auriferous character of the portion of the outcrop removed by the denudation. In reviewing all these different points, I think that the proper opening and working of this singular formation—which may likely represent a so-called "blow" leading to a defined lode in depth—would be a very profitable undertaking, more especially as there is a fine water-race near at hand to furnish the necessary supply of water, motive power included, for crushing purposes. If found to extend from the gully into the southern bounding range, it could there be opened and worked by an adit, lying at a vertical depth of perhaps near 440 feet below the top of the range.