20
DONNELLY'S CREEK REEFS.
The only other quartz reefs worked to any extent in the Ross district were in the neighbourhood of Donnelly's Creek, at a much lower elevation than the Cedar Creek reefs, and within a mile or so of Ross Township. From the creek itself, and from the terraces on its southern bank, a very large quantity of alluvial gold was won years ago, much of it being specimen; and as the gold was heavy—the Roddy nugget of 99 oz. found there was the largest located in the Dominion—the general opinion was that it had not travelled far, and much searching was done in the hope of finding the reef or reefs from which it came. A few small reefs or leaders were found, from which crushings were taken that yielded up to an ounce of gold per ton, but in all cases the leaders failed to live to any distance in any direction. One of these was worked in what was known as Donnelly's Creek Mine by a man named Yarworth, who in 1895–96 took out 299 tons, which yielded 160 oz. gold. Another was worked by H. Osmers, who took out, between 1908 and 1910, small crushings totalling 432 tons, from which 616 oz. gold was recovered. The reef was only a little over 1 ft. wide, and was found, when followed, to come out to surface again only 40 ft. below the outcrop, showing that it was contained in an earth-block shifted by faulting from its original position.
FARMER CREEK REEFS.
That well-known old prospector Antonio Zala did a lot of work on small reefs in this locality, about four to five miles west of Ross, in the “nineties.” Two reefs, known as the Captain Russell and the Helvetia, were opened up, but they were found to be in very wet and broken country, and the quartz only occurred in blebs or boulders. Zala erected a small battery close to the reefs in 1896, and took out a crushing from the Helvetia which is said to have yielded 8 oz. gold. A parcel of 900 lb. from the Captain Russell is said to have yielded at the rate of 15 dwt. gold per ton. The results of the work being unsatisfactory, the locality was abandoned and no further prospecting has since been done there.
MOUNT RANGITOTO REEFS.
In the early “seventies” attention was drawn to a small reef outcrop in an isolated belt of greywacke surrounded by granite, and probably underlain by it, immediately south of Mount Rangitoto, in Totara Survey District, about eight miles south of Ross. The reef or lode was a mixture of quartz and pyrites, with a minor amount of galena, and the Mount Rangitoto Silvermining Company was formed to work it for silver. A considerable sum of money was spent in development and the erection of treatment plant. Samples of the ore sent away were reported to have shown high silver values. Mr. W. Skey, Colonial Analyst, mentions[1] that two samples sent to Germany yielded silver at the rate of 17 oz. 19 dwt. and 16 oz. 6 dwt. respectively, and that Professor Bickerton and Mr. Isaac Lewis had made assays which showed 69 oz. and 46 oz. silver per ton, while Professor Kirkland, of the Melbourne University, is said to have obtained results from the ore equal to 735 oz. silver per ton.
- ↑ Twelfth Annual Report on the Colonial Museum and Library, 1878, p. 33.
