C—2c

16

The first reference to the occurence of cinnabar in New Zealand is in " The Reports and Awards of the Jurors, New Zealand Exhibition [Dunedin], 1865," p. 404, 1866, where it is stated that " Mercury united with gold to form amalgam, and also with sulphur as cinnabar, was received from Waipori, where both occur in the auriferous alluvial deposits. . . . The cinnabar is in roundish pieces of varying size, sometimes as large as peas, soft, and occasionally almost pure ; indeed, the ease with which the ore is broken up forbids the idea that it has been transported from any great distance. It is found on several of the Otago gold fields, and rolled fragments are sometimes found embedded in the older Tertiary quartz cements." The statement that grains of cinnabar occur in the Tertiary sediments has not been confirmed by later observers. F. W. Hutton and G. 11. F. Ulrich give various particulars of the Waipori and Waitahuna occurrences of alluvial cinnabar in their " Report on the Geology and Goldfields of Otago," pp. 149, 186-87, 1875. A lode from which the alluvial cinnabar found in the gravels of the Waipori and Waitahuna districts may reasonably have been derived was discovered in 1899. For further particulars concerning this deposit see, — Mines Reports, 0.-3, p. 28, 1901 ; C.-3, p. 85, 1902; C.-3, p. 139, 1903; and C.-3, p. 95, 1904: Mines Record, vol. 3, pp. 152 and 219, 1900; vol. 4, p. 481, 1901 ; and vol. 7, pp. 139-40, .1903: N.Z. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 19, pp. 44 45, 1918. Rolled grains and fragments of cinnabar .have been found in many other localities in Otago —in the Dunstan and Obelisk ranges, Potter's Gully, and in the Serpentine, Nevis, Nokomai, and Waikaka valleys (Hutton and Ulrich, op. cit., pp. 32, 149 : S. Herbert Cox, " Notes on the Mineralogy of New Zealand," Trans. N.Z. Inst,, vol. 14, p. 450, 1882 : Mines Reports, C.-3, p. 64, 1906 ; and C.-3, p. 9, 1908: N.Z. Geol. Surv., Bth Ann. Rep., 0.-2, p. 152, 1914). A cinnabar-bearing lode has recently boon discovered in the Waikaka Valley, in Section 6, Block XI, Greenvalo Survey District. Tho alluvial cinnabar of this locality has probably been derived from this lode. On the surface cinnabar is found in. a band of soft broken and weathered rock which from samples seen by officers of the Geological Survey .appears to consist of somewhat silicified greywacke. The mineral occurs in small scams, impregnations, and grains throughout a thickness of 10 in. to 24 in. Throe winzes sunk on the deposit are respectively 50 ft., 40 ft., and 25 ft. dee]), and 100 ft. has been driven on the lode at a depth of 25 ft. The lode strikes 40° west of north. The prospectors intend to explore the, deposit further. This lode, in its general features, seems to resemble closely that of the Waipori district. The only other locality in the South Island from which cinnabar has been recorded is at Taipo, in North Westland, where a small fragment of cinnabar was found in 1900 (Col. Lab. 34th Ann Reja., pp. 16-17, 1901). The specimen may have come from, the valley of Seven-mile Creek, a tributary of Taipo River. In 1905 a small piece of cinnabar-bearing stone shown to an officer of the Geological Survey was stated to come from that locality. A similar occurrence is recorded from the Wairarapa district. A small boulder of greenish sandstone veined with cinnabar was found in the bed of Waiohine River (Col. Mus. and Lab. 18th Ann. Rep., p. 50, 1.883; Rep. Geol. Explor. during 1887-88, No. 19, p. 4, 1888). Cinnabar has been reported to be present in small quantity in several of the auriferous lodes of the Hauraki Goldfield. As early as 1866 it was identified by Skey as occurring in some of the Thames lodes (F. W. Hutton, " Geological Report on the Thames Goldfields," p. 7, 1867). It was found in some of the mines at Te Aroha (Col. Mus. and Lab. 19th Ann. Rep., p. 37, 1885 ; N.Z. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 16, p. 91, 1913). Alluvial grains are found in the gravels of Karaka Creek (Rep. Geol. Explor. during 1868-69, No. 5, p. 21, 1869), in the Wharekawa, Homunira, and Wharekiraupunga districts (N.Z. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 15, p. 59, 1912), at Owharoa (Trans.' N.Z. Inst., p. 339, vol. 23, 1891), and at various other localities in the Hauraki Peninsula (C.-3, p. 58, 1887). The only deposits in the Hauraki district likely to have commercial value are the siliceous sinters at Manga,kirikiri Creek and near Kara.ngahake. The first mentioned, which is in the Kauaeranga Valley, six miles from the town of Thames, was discovered in 1897. For a description of this deposit see — Mines Record, vol. 1, pp. 293, 445-16 ; Mines Reports, C.-3, pp. 59-60, and C.-9, p. 8, 1.898; N.Z. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 10, pp. 55 56, 1910. The deposit at Karangahake, found in 1906, has been mined to a small extent. A full description is given on pp. 119-121 of N.Z. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 15, 1912. The most valuable accumulations of mercury-ore in New Zealand occur in North Auckland. The presence of cinnabar and mercury in this district has been known for many years (F. W. Hutton, " On the Occurrence of Native Mercury near Pakaraka, Bay of Islands," Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 3, pp. 252-53, 1871), and many references to them occur in the geological literature (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 14, p. 450, 1882 : Mines Reports, C.-2, p. 17 ; C.-3, p. 187, 1893 ; C.-2, p. 15, 1894 ; 0.-2, p. 17 ; C.-3, pp. 257-59, 1895 ; C.-2, p. 12, 1896 ; 0.-2, p. 9, 1897 : Rep. Geol. Explor. during 1892-93, No. 22, p. 53, 1894 : Trans. N.Z. Inst. Mm. Eng., vol. 2, p. 48, 1898 : N.Z. Mines Record, vol. 2, pp. 311-19, 1899). Tho fullest account of the cinnabar-deposits of Ohaeawai is in the N.Z. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 8, pp. 87-92, 1909, and of those of the Puhipuhi district in N.Z. Jour. Sci. and Tech., vol. 5, pp. 173-77, 1922.

Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, not. given; printing (875 copies), £19. *

Authority : W. A. G. Skinner, Government Printer, Wellington.—l 922.

i'rtce Oct.]