PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OE THE NELSON AND COLLINGWOOD DISTRICTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 2, 3 January 1871, Page 4

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OE THE NELSON AND COLLINGWOOD DISTRICTS.

By.E. H., Davis. Collingwood District. ; Immediately on leaving the town of Collingwood a large tract of alluvial ground is entered on, which stretches away some eight ".or nine miles in a south-westerly direction, tHis plain is bounded on the . north-west . by the Aorere River, on the northby:the sea, and on the east by the Te Para Para ; towards the south-west the " drift deposit of which' it is composed ends on the slopes of slate and schistoze hills near -Bedstead Gully, &c. The most striking features about this fiat land are the succession of terraces by which it rises as it recedes further inland, and also a few islands of limestone and schistoze rocks, which here and there rise up. above the level of the surrounding drift. The driftis composed almost entirely of quartzite, quartz, and schist in rolled pieces ; but in a few instances I noticed the presence of subangular fragments. ' Gold may.be found in all parts "of the drift, but only in payable quantities in a few localities ; which appear to me to be those places where the materials have been resorted, and the gold concentrated by the action of running water, subsequently to their original deposition. . ~,~ One of the most remunerative diggings ever discovered in this system of drift was that on Appoo's Flat, where at one time upwards of 300 diggers were employed, and all doing well; from what little information I could gather, it appears that as soon as ever the yield of gold fell off, the men gave up their claims aiid went to the West Coast, the consequence is that while the best of the ground has been worked, there still remains a great deal untouched which would pay a moderate dividend for working. At present the flat is quite deserted, except for one "hatter," who seems to work a few hours a day, and says that he can do very well as long as he remains a " hatter," i.e. without any mates. The wash- dirt in this particular place consists of brilliant white quartz, and quartzite with ferruginous stains. About the middle of Appoo's Flat a shaft was sunk, 120 feet in depth, some men in the neighborhood told me that it bottomed, the drift and found that it rested on limestone, others again assert that the bottom of the drift was not reached, both however agree in stating that there was no water to contend against, and they agree about the depth. The junction of the schistoze slate and limestone must be somewhere under Appoo's Flat, for on passing up the gully quartzite and quartzoze schist are encountered, striking nearly, north and south, the latter carrying numerous quartz vein 3. The bed rock of the upper part of Appoo's Gully is a crystalline limestone, which is overlaid near the Para Para by a half decomposed granite, the strike of the limestone is north and. south, the granite seems to make to the east near Ernests Saddle. The schist and- quartzite which are found in the lower part of the gully continue to the north ' in.a-line.' parallel to Glengyle Gully, forming the hills on its western side, to the south they continue past the head of Lightband's Gully, through the Pioneer Company's ground, and are i,l found again in Coles' .Gully ; the limestone evidently rests on this in isolated patches. In Bedstead Gully, a blue altered^ slate is found under the schistoze rocks, it ' crops' out to the surface near the outlet of Coles' Gully, it can be traced up Bedstead and over into (Doctor's) 'Gully. ; It is certain that there are no rocks in their normal condition within a considerable area on the eastern side of the Aorere • River, except perhaps parts of the limestone. That there must be an immense area of metamorphic rocks is evidenced by the extraordinary accumulations of drift, composed, entirely of pebbles and boulders derived' irom that description of rocks. . ■■y\ ./ALLUVIAL WORKINGS..' ]'[ ' ' i A few. parties are- still engaged. in tbe' different gullies, on this class of diggings, •who as a rule are earning a living, but very few are doing more ; some of the best claims, are Lightband's, Hit or Miss, and thW -Glengyle. The Glengyle has been 1 steadily worked for a number of years by the same party, who seem to have unlimited "faith in its capabilities, as for the last i two or three years they have been" engaged *■' in removing the debris from a slip which .filled;, the awhqle of their workings^ , and- » has almost entirely prevented them from '* gettihg- any.; gold during .that period ; -they: hope however to be able to resume^opjpra-.. ■; tions some #me -this summer. 'TPhe' gold -. occurs ,in fpur .dißtinct beds, the, ldwest of *whi'«^ °? ; *?^^^ii^f'^eds' l l^''\lsty blue-' 'miillocky' ••-''•^^difet|:2nd,'- : cream-cjDl(ired gravel ; 3rd, 7 tt&f&msk&& grays l ' S J^> Wgh dirt # iricjp^golif j underneath ;this.*is sand and /;-r-^'de^^ i^jkeddmg -'•«.*i_s}_^ 'J y.Y V { y :W& : *:P'yW''WYPWa. '-'*■'•■*■ ■■■• ■'„

.The Hit or Miss claim on . the north side of the saddle which divides Glengyle from Appoo's .Gully, js.v.ery similar in character to Lightband's, which I shall next describe, this claim is the first I believe in which the method of hydraulic mining was adopted in its integrity, the same system is in use at the Glengyle claim, where they have 120 feet of pressure, and use 2fa inch nozzles with good effect. Lightband's claim on the south, or Appoo's Gully side of the saddle, promises to turn out very rich washdirt, and the party are sparing neither trouble nor expense to enable tbem to thoroughly and systematically exhaust their ground ; a shaft sunk 53 feet gives the subjoined sections: — 1. Yellow clay ... ... 15 feet. 2. Loose sandy quartz drift showing the " color "... 5 feet. 3. Red wash-dirt ..:-- ... II feet. 4. Blue wash-dirt with blueish quartz, and rich in gold not bottomed at ... 27 feet. The bedding; is westerly. Golden Gully is, I believe, almost abandoned, but does not appear to have been thoroughly exhausted. Lightband's Gully is also deserted. ' ; Reefs. . . 'Only one reef has as yet been worked to any extent, ' so that it is very difficult to come \ any definite conclusion regarding the ultimate prospects of the district; Haye had a -few days work expended on them but not "sufficient to show the character of the reefs, v*The Perseverance reef naturally takes precedence of all the others, as it is the only one which is at present yielding gold in notable quantities ; it is situated at the head of Bedstead Gully, exactly on the junction of the crystalline rocks and the slate, the one forming the footwall the other the roof. . The reef, as shown in the accompanying sketch section, dips to the east, varying considerably in the thickness of quartz and the amount of dip. The fissure in which the quartz occurs has been caused by the movement of one or other of the two rocks, through a vertical space of 12 or 15 feet; this movement has been slightly diagonal, viz., 25 degrees to the south of vertical; it is self-evident that if one of two hard, rigid, mammillated surfaces, resting and fitting on each other, be caused to slide in any given direction, it must form a fissure of greater or less magnitude, according to the size of the mammillations. The vein itself is not one continuous sheet of quartz, but consists of a quartz breccia, with a little slate and slate powder in it; and in one place, where the reef is little more than a quartz sand, gold may be washed but in an ordinary pan; very five specimens are also sometimes found in the solid parts of the reef. The fissure or reef is cut off by a cross course of blue graphitic slate, which seems to turn it round completely on to itself again. This slate is quite different to that ordinarily found in Bedstead Gully, which does not contain graphite, and does not, to my knowledge, appear anywhere on the surface; it is so soft that it is extremely difficult to carry without being crushed to powder. | The other claims are hardly worth menI tioning. The Masonic and Decimal are adi joining the Perseverance, but neither have yet done any -work to prove their ground. In Coles' Gully the Ophir and the Commercial attracted my attention; the former is situated -near the head of the . gully, and has a brown ochrey leader, running north 30 degrees west,'. dip east, nearly flat; the country is schistoze slate, a few tons have been extracted, and sent to the . Perseverance battery for trial, but they had not been crushed when I left. The Commercial, near the lower end of the gully, was opened on a- mass of quartz, which was .said to show gold;; the quartz is hard and white, sometimes containing white mica; strike north, dip east. There is one -claim wortfiyof particu- ; lar notice, as having been taken up to work for copper-ore. The lode is situated, about half . way between Appoo's and -Bedstead Gullie3, and may be traced on the outcrop for a considerable distance; a shaft has been sunk to a depth of 60 feet, and now jthe ; funds are exhausted .and' the woik at a, standstill. This is veryi&uch jto be regretted, as the lode .contains somefine specimens of chalcopyrite; and although the. matrix, is ,not suchias usually carries ores of that class, it is remarkably promising,^ as the- character of the lode is uniform, and aslong as such is the case a rich course bP'bre might be cut. at any . moment, if this-.sett was.in England or any"' other real mining country it would not be allowed to remain idle for .a, single' day, no, "metalliferous lodes aire uniform, for a few fathoms no ore. is found and then £ .rich c6urse is : cut-anil so fotf, the -manner " in which the ore occurs*, ih ytljij.' lode gives eyery hopey that it wnllit^i^e'ihlo bunches in di_ferent r iplaces : .though. (C where it is im.-; possible to ' m&icMgtf^ >,■ [i •"*.,.' -; 'PYAP<'-Y[P:YAiYj^'-y^.mi,l^ns. yg jfrelson Government Gazette, No, 40. A.y:\rA,WPjYs.Yl -^lirp.'-AyWl. 'A 4upyt-xiW : i ■ ■■■Yv'WW.YYY':.Ay.:Y ■. '? '.' .••-.,••• '„ ■■'■ ':.&!■'*.*&:

Brutal Mukder. — A crime of almost unparalleled magnitude has been perpetrated in the village of Shotts, by a man named Stephen Morris, a miner. It appears that the uqhappy creature attacked his mother, while the old woman was lying in bed, with a hatchet, and literally battered out her brains. Morris barred the door, and leaping out of the window, proceeded to the police .station, where he gave an account of what he had done. A New description of parachute shell, by means of which a very considerable extent of country can be effectively lighted up to enable the operations bf the troops ■at night to become discernible, was tried at Chatham, last week, under very satisfactory- conditions. Three of the shells were fired to a- great height from one' of the siege guns-p lanted within Prince Henry's Bastion ; when at an altitude of upwards of 600 feet they exploded, and a parachute descended, from which was suspended a vessel containine; a magnesium light of great brilliancy .-'which lighted up- the/whole extent of Chatham Lines, and the bodies of troops scattered about which were plainly discernible from all parts of the. garrison. : : On October 17, a tumultuous crowd at St. Malo endeavoured to prevent the embarkation of a cargo of copper on board an English ship.. Carts containing the cargo were upset ; the troops and gendarmerie on the quay were assailed with stones, and several of them were hurt. The ringleaders were arrested, with some women and children, aud the embarkation continues, under ihe protection of the troops and the authorities. Advices received on October 20, state that at Cherbourg and Barfleur ihe mob were greatly enraged against the English. The crews oftwoves-. sels wsre stoned, and the ropes of one of. the. vessels, the James, were cut whilst she was at the quay, and the vessels were obliged to leave to save ships aud crews rom furtber molestation.