In this district there have not been any regular reef workings page 221carried on for a long time past. I collected, however, some information on the principal quartz mine once worked, and examined also, conducted by Mr. Innes, the mayor, Mr. McDougall and other gentlemen interested in quartz-mining, two promising reefs formerly prospected.

The Old Criterion Company’s Reef.—This reef, which had once a high reputation in the district, runs in the flat close along the Arrow River, near Arrowtown. Judging from the old surface workings extending for about 5 chains in length, it strikes W. 35° N. and dips at 80 to 90° eastward towards the river, crossing the country—a soft mica schist—both in strike and dip. There have been rich drift-workings close alongside of it. The following particulars about the reefs and the operations of the old Company, were kindly furnished to me by Mr. H. J. Cope:—The reef was discovered in 1864 by a Victorian quartz miner, and is the one first opened in the Province. It consists of a clayey mica-schist mullock, enclosing veins and bunches of quartz. Besides being worked for a good length from the surface, a shaft was sunk on it to a depth of 120 feet, from which it was worked out from 90 feet down, up to the surface, and 70 feet in length. There was not much water coming in at the bottom of this deep shaft. Another shaft was sunk on the reef at the south-east end of the open workings, about 40 feet deep, and it was followed from this for 80 feet in length. In the main-workings it was at first taken out from one to four feet in width, but another manager subsequently broke into what has been considered the foot wall, and worked several feet of it, which paid nearly as well as what had been previously taken. A leader was found joining the reef which also contained good gold. The yields from the crushings ranged at first from ½ to l½ oz. of gold per ton, average about 1 oz., but gradually fell off to ½ oz, which would not pay at the time, and the mine was therefore given up. The gold was no where completely lost in the workings; but the best seemed to occur in a shoot, dipping westward in strike. The company had a small battery of five heads of stamps, with a common amalgamating table and blanket-strakes in front, the whole poorly constructed. Much difficnlty was experienced in clearing the boxes on account of the mullock being of a very clayey nature, and all accounts agree that a great deal of the fine gold was lost. The management was altogether very bad, for it took about twenty men to keep the small battery going. The shares of the company were at one time at a very nigh premium, and the coming to grief of the mine subsequently has been the principal cause of destroying confidence in quartz mining in the district, and that prevented the latter from being properly prospected since. Considering all the different points relating to the auriferous character of the reef, the workings, management, &c., in connection, I cannot help coming to the conclusion that the reef certainly deserves another trial, and that this, page 222if effected in an economic and systematic manner, and with, the use of good crushing machinery, might likely prove a very profitable speculation.

The Cornish Reef.—This lies on the Crown terrace, about a mile eastward of Arrowtown, and has lately been taken up by M‘Whirter and party. It strikes S. 40° E., and dips very nearly vertical, i.e., south-westward, at about 85°, showing well-defined walls, with thin clay casings, and crossing the country—a fissile nearly flat-bedded mica schist—both in strike and dip. Its thickness is nearly five feet, of which one and a half feet along one wall consists of good-looking quartz, full of pyrites, the remainder of quartziferous mica schist mullock. The prospectors found good gold in the quartz, and opened the reef by a small shaft, since collapsed, and a small drive; but none of the stuff has been crushed. Running at nearly right angles across a steep gully, the reef could be easily opened in strike by adits, either side, attaining, at but a short distance in, a depth of at least 150 feet beneath the surface of the bounding hills: and this trial it decidedly deserves. There is a good fall for the waste down the gully, and from a race higher up on the Crown Range a sufficient supply of water might, perhaps, be secured for a small crushing machine. About 15 feet above the reef a good-locking, well-defined leader, about one foot thick, is exposed in the gully, which strikes E. 15° to 20° S., and dips at an angle of 80° southward—a course according to which it ought to join the reef at a short distance towards the west. To prospect this leader would also be advisable.

The Columbia Reef.—It lies about a quarter of a mile from the former reef higher up the gully, near the top of the terrace, being exposed in a narrow rift in the southern hill slope. It strikes S. 25° E., and dips close upon vertical. Thickness from six to eight feet, mostly composed of solid, rather hungry-looking quartz. It has been prospected by a shallow trench, about 40 feet in length and gold is said to have been seen in the quartz; none of the stone has, however, been crushed. This reef is not as promising looking as the foregoing; yet, as it could be easily opened by a small adit in strike, it might not be unadvisable to give it this trial.