PEGASUS TINFIELD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1873, 2 April 1889, Page 3

PEGASUS TINFIELD.

The preliminary report of Mr A. McKay, assistant geologist, on the tin deposits of Stewart Island, has just reached the Minister of Mines. Mr McKay states that in the lower part of the valley gold was formerly found, but not in payable quantity and it proved particularly difficult to save, ©wing to the presence of what was called black sand, but which is now known to be “ stream” tin. The “ wash ” in the face of the old gold washings was only 12in or 14in, and Mr McKay was told that a dishful of this only washed £oz of tin, so that unless the stuff could be rapidly turned over and disposed of, this ground would not pay for washing. Higher up on the eastern side of the middle basin the wash everywhere appears too thin to pay unless it is much richer in tin than is reported to he the case. On the western side the wash is thicker, and on the Tasmanian claim it is said to be fully 6ft thick, yielding good prospects of tin. In some parts of the flat the wash is alleged to be 13ft thick, but this is not yet proved. The east branch of Pegasus Creek shows fairly good wash, 2ft to 4ft, yielding freely. Stream tin was also found at the survey camp to the southwest of the southern end of the “ tin range,” at an elevation of 570 feet above sea level. The tin here is not associated with gravel sand. It is coarse in grain, and a clean sample; the wash, hower, is only a foot thick, and the prospects seldom exceed half an ounce of tin per dish. Stream tin is widely distributed on the low ground and table land near Pegasus and South Creeks, but Mr McKay fears that it is too thin to pay for working. The deposits of lode tin are confined to a small area at the south end of the tin range, but he thinks that others may yet be found. As to the paying prospects, Mr McKay says that more must be done before he can pronounce decidedly, but he is confident that tin ore will continue to he found both to the dip and along the eastern side of the range from the southern quarry to the northern outcrop of Black’s lease, and he sees no reason to think that tin is absent irom the middle and north tin range, or from the lower part of Pegasus creek on Todd and Harvey’s freehold. Prom the considerable abundance, though perhaps not in paying quantities, and the wide distribution of stream tin along Pegasus creek and the coast of the main watershed of the island, Mr McKay infers that other and much richer deposits may yet be found m situ.