Minerals of New South Wales. By A. Liversidge, MA., F.R.S.
(Trabner and Co.)—The minerals of New South Wales, excluding gold, of course, have only of late years been considered by their possessors worth the trouble of mining, and New South Wales is no exception to the rule that the discovery of gold completely, and_ for a long time to come, displaces all other mining pursuits, however profitable, and it is not till the "gold-fever" has lessened' that men turn their thoughts to less exciting though more reliable kinds of mining. Gold, indeed, and the pursuit of it, still form the greatest mining and mineral interest, and this is not unlikely when we are told that out of a total area of 310,700 square miles,. 70,000 are proclaimed as gold area, besides what is known to be also auriferous. The period of the actual discovery of gold in the. Colony seems to have been a much-debated question, but to the out- side world the date seems identical with the first rush in 1851. In. the year 1852, the greatest yield was obtained, £2,660,946 ; the next greatest being that of 1862; .22,467,780, in consequence, no doubt, of the rush to Lambing Flats in 1860. It sank again, to reach £1,643,582 in 1872, and was in 1886, £366,294. Mr. Liversidge describes with full particulars the most famous nuggets found in New South Wales. Next in order coal should come, the coal area being stated at 24,000 square miles, a portion of which is of great value. Iron exists chiefly as luematite and magnetite, the former by far the chief ore. As coal and iron are looked upon by most as the best indication of indus- trial wealth, we give the figures. Coal in 1886, 2,830,175 tons ; iron, 3,685. The production of the latter seems to have diminished lately. Tin and copper are considerable items in the mineral wealth of New South Wales, and in 1886 were mined to the extent of 4,968 tons of tin, and 4,027 tons of copper ore, thus being of more value than the produce of iron ; 4,802 tons of lead were raised, bringing the output next to tin in value. The value of the silver mined increased sevenfold within two years, and in. 1886 was £197,244. Oil-bearing shale and diamonds, with zinc, manganese, and antimony are also mined profitably. Mr. Liversidge has given an exhaustive account of the minerals of New South Wales, and besides numerous statistics, has also furnished his volume with many analyses, and a very good coloured map, showing the different mining districts and interests. This is a useful and much-needed volume, as it is the first complete monograph on New South Wales minerals, we believe.
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