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This article is taken from the Australian Town and Country Journal, 11th June 1870:
“THIS gold-field lies thirty-eight miles south-west of Bathurst, and twenty-four miles from Carcoar. I came upon it by a back way from Cowra, past the Macquarie Swamp; soon after passing which, and for six miles before reaching Trunkey Creek, the soil and character of the rocks change - the rocks turning an unwholesome green, and bearing an abundant crop of milk-white quartz. By mental arithmetic I calculated that this stone, when free of oxides and sulphides, and treated by such machinery as the Koh-i-noor and Brundah, at Grenfell or the Wentworth, might average as high as 1dwt. in a hundred tons. Dropping into Rocky Bridge Creek by two jumps or rapids of about 300 feet each, I found the broad alluvial flat to be a shaking bog, through which the stream had cut its deep and narrow channel. This aqucous spot appears, for some invisible reason, to be termed the Coal-hole; and here, as it had grown nearly as dark as the subterranean apartment usually going by that name, I camped at Mrs. Pound’s, the widow of an old settler, who came here twenty years ago.
“From here into Trunkey the milk-white stone stone prevails in profusion until I begin to entertain the opinion that Trunkey has built its reputation on the rock itself - not on its contents. The sandstone decreases and the shale increases as you proceed, and nothing of an igneous character is anywhere apparent. The whole country from south of the Macquarie Swamp to the Abercrombie River is, I imagine, of the comparatively younger palaezoic or Devonian system, and the quartz filling the interstices in the slate is of a calcareous and aqueous kind, highly charged with various minerals; but unless the stone was tinged with iron or sulphur I failed to see free gold. In one notable instance the stone narrows as it approaches the water (150 feet), the gold becomes purified, and keeps the centre of the vein, which is now very rich, but inaccessible by present machinery. The stone of this reef (Wilson’s) is of a different character to the others, having apparently more silica and less carbonates. It is abundant in pyrites, both of iron and arsenic, and in No. 11 south the free gold is visible in almost every stone wherever it is coloured red or blue.
“In other veins, again, the stone widens as it goes down, and as it does so becomes gradually barren of visible gold, but abundant in pyrites; and this, I should conjecture, would be the rule in this system, and Wilson’s Reef is the exception; until the slate walls closed in and excised them or reduced them to a non-payable width.
“Assuming this to be the case - and I think the greater experience of many practical miners will agree with me - then it is not too much to infer that not half the gold in these reefs has been obtained by the machinery at present on the ground, for this is constructed mainly for the securing of visible gold, whereas it is highly probable that in this peculiar stone, which evidently demands peculiar and special treatment, the greater proportion of gold is invisible, yet present. I have asked Mr. Wilson to take a mixed parcel of pyrites to Wentworth to be treated by Mr. Bellhausen; he has done so, and the result will be known in a few days. Should that be sufficiently encouraging, a pair of Golding’s pans and a small roasting furnace should be attached to one of the mills (say the Victorian), where the ore sand from every mill could be finished off - a concentrator being added to each mill.
“The reefs, if they will bear the title, are grouped together on the east side of the creek, running north and south, parallel with one another, and crossed obliquely by the road from Trunkey to Bathurst.
“The westernmost and the best is Wilson’s, and the others are named Chard’s, Crummy’s, Morning Star, Reed’s, the Pioneer, Wright’s, the Alma, Alexandra, Barrett’s, Musquito, Happy-go-Lucky, Pineridge, Pembrokeshire, and one new and unnamed. Of these the Musquito and Pioneer are not working; Barrett’s is two miles to the north, the Pembrokeshire six miles east, and the Pineridge ten miles south.
“In Wilson and Burns’s prospecting claim, Wilson’s line, the reef averages twelve inches thick at a depth of 136, and the crushings from this and No. 1 south have varied from 15dwt. to 4 oz. to the ton. The stone is of a superior quality, carrying iron oxides of pyrites abundantly, and exhibiting also a fair display of gold. The cap dips to the north, and the claims north will have to go deeper for it. Stone improves at the water, the gold becoming thicker and stone thinner, yet it often opens out wide and becomes poor. Its mineral character becomes more marked towards the north, where the water-line is 120 feet, and throughout the line a blue pyriteous slate accompanies the vein, averaging three feet on each side, full of pyrites, and with the pyrites a white malleable metal which sinks in mercury; and is very troublesome in retorting. (I have brought away a sample to test in Bathurst.) It is principally found at a depth of 125 feet, and may be silver. Out of the south shaft this company has crushed one paddock for an average of 3oz., and another for an average 3oz. 15dwt, blankettings reserved. Messrs. Chard, Wilson, and Hale, in No. 1 north, have three and four inch veins, in eight to ten feet of soft blue slate and sandstone mixed; water 118 feet, registered three months. In No. 2 south, which is at present the best claim on the field, the vein also averages twelve inches, but varies from six inches to three feet ten inches. The walls are, as usual, slate, and the foot-wall remarkably smooth and straight, and the casing is a soft slate. All the tributary veins carry gold, and increase in pyrites as they approach the water. Where the main vein bulges it makes white stone. This claim has three shafts, and 400 tons of stone up, which is estimated to, and very likely will, go 5oz to the ton. Gossan also accompanies the vein, and leaders of white stone trend alongside, but do not actually touch it.
“Thirty-six feet east of it, in the prospecting claim, is an eight-inch leader of solid stone, without gold, but thick in mundic. At 118 feet down they drove and crossed it, increasing in thickness and mineral. There is yet another vein, and of a different character, being loose, rubbly, weighty, and stained with carbonate of copper.
“No. 3 south is the ‘Great Western,’ and the manager Mr. Blackham, has my entire sympathy, both for the amount of work done and the superior way in which it has been done, considering the very scanty encouragement the ground holds out of present success. Three shafts have been sunk, six by four in the clear, sixty feet, 100 feet, and 170 feet deep, respectively, framed and timbered from the top to bottom. In the last a monkey shaft has been put down, and from it they have traced a leader 100 feet south, of a vertical and uninteresting character, averaging five inches in thickness, and receiving smaller leaders on one side. Gold has been seen in it, and fifty tons are now on their trial. The gossan, in places, resembles that of the Junction Reef, Belubula River, but vertical instead of horizontal. The underlay varies, but is mostly to the west. Mr. Blackham intends to cross-cut to the west for another vein, conjectured to lie in that direction. I am inclined to think, however, that the reef No. 2 is more east; and though No. 2 overlaps them somewhat on that side, they could reach it by opening out more south.
“No. 1 north found no reef at 140 feet down, and ceased work, partly on account of the water.
“On the whole Wilson’s line presents the best prospects and the most workmanlike appearance of any, and adjoining it is Wright’s, the prospecting claim on which line has put down four shafts, the depth reached being eighty feet; average thickness of reef, three feet.
“No. 1 north is now sinking a third shaft, and is also getting up good stone. The last crushing of twenty tons went 4oz.
“From no. 5 Crummy’s line, came those rich specimens which were exhibited in Sydney in November last. This reef appears to have behaved well for a time, but dwindled away both in stone and gold to a non-payable state, or else, as some say, has an unmanageable quantity of water. None of the other claims, and there were many, have turned out any account.
“The Victoria Company (Chard’s) has three shafts, and for forty-five feet down the rock is a mixture of sandstone and slate, after which it is all slate. The vein is about eighteen inches thick, an averages an ounce. A vein called the Black Reef, six inches to eighteen inches thick, runs more to the east in this claim. of this 100 tons has been crushed.
“On the Pioneer, the Victorian Company No. 2 south has three shafts down and 300 tons up. The depth reached is eighty feet, and average thickness of reef three feet.
“The Pembrokeshire Reef lies eastward by the track seven miles, across ‘One-Eye’ Gully and the Grove Creeks, which were at full flood, the Grove especially being deep and dangerous. The spur on which this reef is found is not far from M’Phillamy’s station, and the reef itself is from nine to fifteen inches thick, encased in slate, and spotted here and there with gold of a remarkable fineness. It is vertical, and shines with pyrites; and at some distance up the spur to the north is another vein more abundant still in minerals. There are two claims at work here, mostly held by Welsh miners. Mr. Stavely was our able guide here, who also accompanied us back to the Grove Creek.
“Two companies, the Victorian and the Sydney, hold respectively five claims of twenty-eight acres and four claims of twenty-three acres. The latter, or Sydney claims, are Sloman’s, Lowe’s, Smith’s, and Barrett’s. Tenders have recently been invited for working them on tribute, the successful tenderer offering 15s a ton for crushing at the company’s mill (the Lady Belmore), and seven per cent. of the gold.
“The Victorian Company work their lease both by wages and contract - wages, L2 5s a week.
“Crushing is nearly at a stand-still, for two months and a half of bad weather have rendered the ground thoroughly rotten from the top of the spur to the bottom of the creek, and drays are unable to get at the mills with anything like a load.
“The mills are four - The Victorian, Lady Belmore, Great Britain, and M’Laughlan’s. The first two are doing the principal part of the work, and the Great Britain is about to be removed. The Victorian is a fine plant of twenty head in four boxes with ample tables. The engine is of twenty-five horse-power, and the whole plant is ribbed and paled (or, as Mr. Jones, J.P., would write it, pailed) in with split timber, and supplied with permanent water by a splendid dam.
“The Ladt Belmore is a neat little plant of ten-head, in two boxes, driven by an engine of fifteen horse-power. The copper-plate tables here are like a looking-glass, and reflect great credit on our old and indefatigable acquaintance, Mr. Bennett, of Bungonia fame, whose washing, tomming, and retorting machinery is as usual complete.
“I am sorry to have to add that the dam belonging to this company gave way on Friday morning, at one o’clock, before a heavy freshet that came down with a rush, and without notice, by which it was supposed the Victoria dam at One-Eye must have burst. This, I am happy to say, was not the case, as it appeared all safe when I passed the same morning.
“M’Laughlan’s is the oldest tenant on the ground, and one of the oldest machines now in action. The battery is of eight head, and the engine of ten horse-power, a vertical cylinder table engine of thirty-three years of age, with the boiler turned hind side before, and fire underneath; the heat being passed twice along its length and discharged up the flue by the same end as it entered. 600 tons have been crushed in this battery, the results ranging from 1dwt to 4oz to the ton - the price being 20s a ton, or 12s 6d for quantities over 100 tons. A novelty in the shape of a light iron frame, with a ripple, is fitted at the back of the gratings in the box, and in front is a narrow riddle (which is not quite new) through which the sand drops quietly on to the plate below. Sixty tons a week is the amount the machine is estimated to put through, not the engine, but the battery. The Great Britain, if complete, would be a fine plant; only twelve head or half the battery, however, is in position in three boxes. The engine is a double cylinder or twin of thirty-three horse-power, with a boiler twenty-seven feet x five feet six inches; but the site is a strange one, alongside the centre of the lady Belmore drum, low down, without any means of getting rid of their tailings, which have to be discharged into half-a-dozen slabbed pits, and turned into a tail-race. The tables are modelled after those of the Wentworth mill. The battery has crushed a hundred tons from Wilson’s for an average of 2oz.
“The following are a few samples of yields from various reefs or claims : - The Trunkey Creek Company, 8 1/2dwt to the ton; No. 1 south, Crummy’s, 4 1/2dwt to the ton; London Company, 23dwt to the ton; Wright’s 5dwt to the ton; Wright’s 11dwt to the ton; Crummy’s No. 5, 2dwt to the ton; Enterprise Company, 12gr to the ton; Pioneer, 7 3/4dwt to the ton; Alexandra, 62dwt to the ton; American Star, 4 1/2dwt to the ton; Musquito, 4 1/2dwt to the ton; Crummy’s No. 5, 48dwt to the ton; Black Reef, 8dwt to the ton; Chard’s, 8dwt to the ton; the New Reef, 37 1/2dwt to the ton; total, 234 3/4dwt Divided by 15 - 15dwt average per ton.
“I do not infer from these figures that 15 3/4dwt are a fair average result per ton of the Trunkey stone, but I don’t think they are very wide of the mark. But the best stone being omitted in the above table, the following figures from an authentic source may be relied on - viz. Crushed to date May 21st, 1687 tons = 1710oz. Trial crushing 235 tons = 540z. For the low average of the trial crushing, the district may thank the prseiding genius of the Enterprise Company, who caused seventy-seven tons of blue slate to be crushed for a total amount of 1oz 18dwt 20gr, or an average of 12gr to the ton. In this reflection on the manager of this unlucky company, let me be not misunderstood - gold may be in other rocks besides quartz, but to crush seventy-seven tons of slate, totally wanting in metallic signs, is a novel and striking method of advancing the interests of a company just starting to work.
“Another singular mode of advancing the interests of this gold-field generally is the system of suspending leases from working for months together. There are far too many notice papers to this effect posted on windlasses and trees on every part of the field. By what clause of what Act, or by what rule of equity are lease suspended at all ? I can discover no clause in the regulations which sanctions the suspension of labour on leased claims for three, seven, and ten months. The vital conditions of a mining lease is continual work; for the holder of an idle lease is a dog in the manger - he will neither prove the ground himself nor let anybody else do it. The greater part of Trunkey is under leases, and the greater part of the leases are suspended - some the whole of the current year, some more; while scores of miners are walking about, seeking unoccupied ground and finding none, after proving and showing that the ground in suspension contains payable stone.
“Most men agree that the leasing system is a great privilege, but abuses of privileges accompany them in like proportions. If a contract is broken it is null, and if the terms of a lease are not complied with the lease should be cancelled. It is idle to tell a amn who lives by his daily labour that by a slow and tedious process this can be done. Tell him that by ‘proper representation’ (a process well known in an adjoining colony) the power that granted the lease can also cancel it, and he will piously bestow his blessings on the system, the power, the gold-field, and you - shoulder his swag, and depart.
“On the other hand, let us not discourage capital, for certain species of mining cannot be worked without it. It is the abuse of capital by agents, promoters, and middlemen that both sides have to watch; men, who boldly undertake mining works without means, having abundant faith in the great wealth and small mining knowledge of their ‘clients.’
“Victoria being in advance of New South Wales, it may not be unwise to extract a leaf from the book of Victoria’s mining experience, beyond doubt one of the most expensive, interesting, and fearful works ever compiled.
“The present phase of mining experience in New South Wales was passed through by Victoria some twelve years ago. Their advanced knowledge, dearly bought, may be summed up in the cardinal rules of the Ballarat agents, one of which I subjoin : - ‘Buy proved and established claims, avoid new ground;’ for the miner working for himself, and the capitalist working for other people, are two different things. It is cheaper to pay for what is already proved than to construct costly machinery to prove it ourselves.
“Bathurst, 6th June, 1870.”
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