DISTRIBUTION OF GOLD MIXES IX XOETH CAEOLIXA. 61
The Nugget (JBiggers) mine is situated 12 miles southeast of Concord, near Georgeville. The principal operations during the past three years have been hydraulicking on a gravel channel, similar to that at the Crawford mine in Stanly county. The gold is coarse, usually in nuggets. Quartz-veins carrying argentiferous galena have also been superficially explored.
The Rocky River mine is 10 miles southeast of Concord. The country is chloritic schist striking X. 20° E. and dipping 70° 1ST. W. Several lenticular quartz-veins, lying more or less with the schists, have been explored. The quartz contains pyrite, galena, blende and chalcopvrite. During 1895 Mr. Wayne Darlington, M. E., carried on some prospecting work on one of these in a shaft 130 feet deep, the total length of the drifts being about 200 feet. In the 80-foot level the quartz was 2i to 3 feet thick; but it pinched out at 130 feet. Some of the ore was heavy in sulphurets and rich in gold. Crosscuts have exposed parallel quartz-bodies. However, it appears that no regular quartz-vein can be depended on. The more or less silicified schists enclosing the quartz are impregnated with sulphurets and intercalated with small quartz-stringers, which, taken together, will make large bodies of low-grade ores. It is in such that the possible value of the mine must be looked for.
The Buffalo mine, 1 mile northeast of the Rocky river, presents similar conditions.
The Reed mine is 1-J miles southeast of the Rocky river. It is the site of the first discovery of gold in North Carolina. In 1799, a 17pound nugget was found, and in 1803 one weighing 28 pounds. The placer ground was worked vigorously in former years and much nuggetgold taken out. The estimated yield from 1804 to 1846 is $1,000,000. During the year 1895 work at this mine was revived, but it appears to have been simply of a prospecting character and short-lived. On April 11, 1890, a nugget weighing 246.83 ounces Troy was found. It contained 120.87 ounces (10.072 pounds) fine gold, and 5.99 ounces fine silver. During the latter part of 1896 placer work was being carried on in a small way. The chloritic schists are accompanied by a large body of greenstone, intersected by numerous quartz-veins varying in thickness from 4 inches to 3 feet. Some of these are gold-bearing, and were formerly worked by a shaft 120 feet in depth.
The Phcexix mine is situated 7 miles southeast of Concord. The country schists are accompanied by a large mass of diabase, in which the auriferous quartz-veins are confined. The main vein is the Phoenix, which was extensively and successfully worked under the management of Captain A. Tines, now of the Haile mine, S. C. Operations ceased here about 1889. The Phoenix vein strikes X. 70° E. and dips 80°
