ance. The later portion of the vein from 2470 on, is heavily mixed with black slate, and at times the vein looks more black than white. All through the first portion of the vein small quantities of free gold were found, specimen assays or selected bands running often high. I append some of the assays made.

The mill product fell considerably short of these figures.

At the 2387 feet point, I cut a chamber, with the intention of sinking a shaft on the vein for some distance, to see if the rock below was not better than the tunnel rock. The cutting out of the chamber disclosed the vein to continue still beyond the tunnel, as marked on the map of the vein. The quartz holding the slate particles continued for 3 feet, more or less, but on testing by the hornspoon (in preference to fire assay for gold quartz), showed no gold.

Overlying these 3 feet of quartz is a narrow band of slate, generally 2 to 3 inches thick, marked (b) on the map of the vein, on which a 12-inch layer of solid ribbon-like quartz rests, marked (c). This is overlaid by 12 inches of slate, on which, again, 3 feet of quartz rest with, I'may say, amygdules of slate scattered through it, their average size being about inch by inch; this portion is marked (e). The vein terminates with an inch or two of black powdered slate gouge, after which the solid hanging slate comes.

On testing the ribbon-like quartz by the horn-spoon, I obtained quite a lively color of gold. To test this portion, however, more thoroughly, I took about 35 lbs. of an average sample from this ribbon quartz, and, after passing it through a 60 sieve, worked it all by the horn-spoon. The remaining gold I collected with mercury, which I afterwards retorted, and the gold I obtained, referred to the ton, amounted to a little more than $9.00. I prefer this method of assaying the gold ores, as coming nearer to practical mill results.

The shaft, however, was not sunk, as the financial embarrassment of the company overtook us the very day the drill was pointed down

Elevations of account of the

wards. The dip of the vein at this point is 64° 05'. the vein at the 2470 and 2480 points, I append on assay results obtained here. (See Plate I, Fig. 2.) At 2400 and 2450, an upraise in the vein proved to be of little importance, and was soon abandoned. I should say this point was badly chosen, for, just here, a fault filled with decomposed quartz and clay sets in and across the vein from the footwall.

At the 2529 feet point, the footwall of the vein is talcose slate; at 2583, the talcose slates shade off gradually into the greenstone. After the vein leaves the tunnel, it becomes again dryer, and after passing two quartz feeders, follows on through black slate, intercepting between 2950 and 3020 a few greenstone stringers. The slate here was variable, changing frequently to the hard trap-like slate. (See Fig. 3.) About 3043, the final greenstone out-runners again come in from the east, which are soon pressed out in wedge shape by the following schistose rock assuming locally a western pitch, instead of an eastern one, as the country rock generally has. On finding the tunnel again close to the vein, by diamond bore 11, the tunnel was swung parallel to the course of the vein, as it did not pay to run on the vein, since the latter contained its gold only in sulphurets of iron. I affix some assays of diamond bores.

The last assay I made to ascertain the richness of the sulphurets, which were very heavy and in abundance at this point. In borehole No. 12, I also found part of a core of dark-green serpentine, holding a thin leaf of pure gold, which specimen I regret I sent to the eastern office. Gold in talcose slate I saw frequently on the estate, but this is the only instance I noticed it in the dark-green serpentine. To test the quartz east of the old vein, which there showed so poor (60 cents), I ran diamond bore No. 13, which struck a more

or less solid 5 feet of quartz about 100 feet east from the tunnel. The quartz seams of bore No. 12, behind the vein, are evidently feeders to this quartz of bore No. 13, which was dark-blue in appearance, and showed specks of gold in several instances. Assays of these cores were not made, as the works closed down while the drill was still running. The old vein has either been run out or has been pinched locally to a narrow clay seam, at any rate, I obtained nothing but a seam of quartz at the point where the vein ought to

have been. Furthermore, the dark serpentine which formed the hanging wall up to 3063, has given place to what they term locally. the coarse greenstone, and only traces of dark serpentine, narrow bands, are found between 100 and 150 feet from tunnel. The quartz vein discovered by bore No. 13 is either an entirely new one (an eastern vein), or else it is a side branch, and then the best part of the main vein, which has run off between bore No. 10 and bore No. 12.

Returning now to the main tunnel, I append an interesting sketch of the tunnel face at 3091. (See Fig. 4.) It shows the change of the compact greenstone to the talcose schist and the dark serpentine, on the joining of the former with the black slate.

Further on, the tunnel face continues in black slate, changing, off and on, into trap slate and vice versa. The total length of the tunnel. when the work stopped was 3331 feet.

The boring in the tunnel was done by the Burleigh rock drills, the tunnel size, which are attached to a carriage, arranged to mount four drills. As motive power, compressed air was used, which is furnished by a No. 7 compressor, and conducted from the air-tank to

the drills by a 6-inch pipe. Water is supplied to the drills through a 2-inch pipe, from a pump situated at the tunnel entrance. This water supply I found adequate to the four drills constantly running, and the diamond drill beside. To form an accurate idea of the work

done by the Burleigh drills, and the repairs necessary, I kept records of the 8 drills we had, debiting them with the repairs, and crediting them with the work performed, expressed in feet bored.

Ventilation in the tunnel is effected, in addition to the escaping compressed air, by the old Princeton exhaust fan, which, after I encased it and put a stack on it, does the work admirably well, although it was officially condemned as insufficient, and a new Baker blower ordered before I came to the estate. The exhaust pipe is 11 inches in diameter, and made of common sheet iron, instead of galvanized iron. I kept this exhaust pipe always about 400 feet from the heading, where I found it cleared the tunnel most effectively. Blasting is done by Hercules powder, and the centre cut system is employed. The local procedure is as follows:

In blasting the face of the tunnel, 30 holes are bored from 5 to

6 feet deep, according to the nature of the ground, 12 holes in two straight lines forming the centre cut and nine on each side.

The centre cut is always charged with the stronger, No. 1, powder, excepting holes 1 and 2, which are charged with No. 2, and so are also the first bottom side-holes charged with No. 1, they having to lift a considerable space of ground. Naturally, the centre is blasted first, and the sides are brought down after the cut has come out. For the side-holes, No. 2 powder is used. Cut and first side-holes are charged at the same time; the connection with the side-holes is, however, only made after the full cut has come out. The holes are fired with a battery, in this case the Farmer's battery. The item of reloading is often of considerable account in this tunnel, especially when the ground is knotty and the trap slate is run through with seams of the greenstone. In my opinion, it would be well to try a stronger powder for this ground; I should like to try the mica blasting powder there. For reloading, as a rule, No. 2 powder is used, and the quantity consumed in reloading with very tough, short, breaking, knotty ground, amounts sometimes at the end of the month to about four-tenths of all the No. 2 powder used. Let me quote one month's operation :