THE FAIRFIELD GOLDFIELD.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5797, 19 January 1887, Page 3

THE FAIRFIELD GOLDFIELD.

[town and country journal ] Some ten months ago an Italian named Caster, while travelling along the main road between Grafton and Tenterfield, camped alongside a paddock on the Fairfield Bun. His attention having been atracted to the splendid growth of grass on the other side of the fence, he chanced to catch sight of a piece of quartz, which, on closer inspection remind sd him of the stone at Mount Browne, from which field he was returning. He at once procured his dish and started prospecting, with the result that in several placeß he obtained a good color. The following day, having assured himself that the locality was highly auriferous, he started off to obtain the protection he required to reap the reward for hia discovery. On interviewing Mr Smith, the owner of the property, he succeeded in coming to terms, satisfactory to them both ; and he then began mining operations on his own account. After working a short, time, and becoming impressed with the opinion that a large capital and expensive plant were necessary to the proper development of the claim, he out his interest to a local syndicate £240. The syndicate, in turn, took ; others Into the venture with it ; and the result was that " the Prospector's" claim, as it is appropriately called now boasts a fifteen-stamper battery, . and is valued by its possessors at over £60,000. It has no thoroughly defoed reef, and the stone is mostly decomposed porphyry ; while immediately suiYoundlng the claim are porphyritic and basaltic rocks. All th°> gold found is in this decomposed rock and a red and blue vein of clay, which is mixed with' quartz grit. In a report recently made by Mr Min-ing-surveyor Sullivan to the Mines Department, he said that he had found these to be highly auriferous, three dishes of the red and blue -clay which he saw washed yielding respectively 7dwt, Bdwt, and 18dwt. At first the lode was opened out by a trench 20ft long, 6ft deep, and 6ft wide ; but latterly a shaft has been sunk a little to the south of the trench, and excellent prospects have been obtained. As soon as Caster's discovery became known a -"^-BleS&y^kPJJsh set in ; and numerous claims were pegjpSaSiiqut. To-day the Prospector's claim is the centre of a flourshing little mining township ofk^me 400 inhabitants, with numerous places orf business Sites have reached a high pricta and as -the flighty amateur mining element, which is 00 strong a characteristic of aT&I present day rushes, has not yet put i) i appearance, a very large amount of Sj ;dney and other outside dapitaThas been v ivested in the field. In effectthere' ls every indication to warrant the belief tha will prove before long tob^one of the most prosperous of the/STew South Wales goldfields. S To the west of Prospector's claim is the lease of Kellyjipfffparty, who have sunk a shaft 50ftoj2*#o a reef 6ft wide, giving an averag^TOßpect of 3oz to 4oz to the ton. IppjfiS^tfqbrity of the other claims on the field' are about half-a-mile to three quarters of a mile distant to the north-west on a ridge 300 ft high, formerly called Mount Pleasant, but since designated Mount Carrington, by which name it is now generally known. Numerous leases have been taken up along the crest and sides of this ridge. On the summit of Mount Carrington is a six acre lease held by Bourke and party, where there is a great body of quartz, from which some Bplendid assays are reported to have been made. Strauss's claim is situated near the base of Mount Carrington, a little over a quarter of a mile from Bourke's claim, and is considered by Mr David, of the Mines Department, and others who have visited it, to be in all probability on the same line of reef as Bourke's rich vein. There are two different veins, which traverse a reddish grey felstone. Both these strike in a northerly and southerly direction, and dip-to the west at a steep angle. The chief reef is composed of a number of parallel quartz veins, from lin to 7in in width, divided one from another by slices of decomposed reddish felstone, frequently containing pyrites. The quartz veins have arußty appearance down to a depth of 24ft from the surface, owing to the iron pyrites having been converted Into oxides of iron to that distance. Below this line of decomposition, or water level, some of the quartz veins have a bluish appearance, and contain brownish-black and honey colored sulphide, of zinc, as well as iron pyrites. Several remarkably fine specimens of this'sulpide of zinc, or blende, have been obtained from this mine, show-, ing solid pieces of bright gold embedded in zinc ore. At present the quartz veins with the Intermediate felstone are being worked out for a width of over 7ft. A large Bhaft measuring 9ft x 3£ft has been sunk on this reef to a depth of 28ft ; four men being constantly employed. In Mr Strauss's second shaft, 16ft deep, a vein of quartz nine inches wide is being worked. This vein, in places, shows a remarkably symmetrical grouping of the ores. Two layers of comby quartz form the centre of the vein, on either side of which are ranged layers of massive iron pyrites Jin thick. Next come two layers of quartz, containing a little sulphide of zinc ; then two lavera each |in to \\n thick of solid sulphide of zinc, bounded on either side of the country rock. Between Straußs's lease and Fairfield are several other claims, all of which show good prospects, i while in one of fhem (that of Fogwell and party) a rioh-looking copper lode has been opened up.