The quantity of ore sent weekly from the mine to the port is from 430 to 450 tons, employing from 150 to 160 drays, and more than double that number of men. The total quantity of ore received at the port in December last was 10,000 tons, the average value of which at 20 pounds per ton, amounts to 200,000 pounds, and the price of shares, originally of 5 pounds, had, by last advices, reached 160 pounds.
Considering the gigantic scale of the Burra Burra mine, it was supposed that few other mines would be found in the colony that would at all approach it, that indeed, it had been the principal deposit, and that whatever indications other mines might give, they would soon cease in working, or produce so little as to be valueless. I confess that such was my own opinion--surprised at the immense size of this magnificent mine, I hardly thought it possible that in mountains, after all of limited range, mines of great value would still be found, and that discoveries of new mines were frequently taking place, and that too in situations where no such feature would be supposed to exist. On York's Peninsula for instance, immediately across St. Vincent's Gulf, opposite to Port Adelaide, and directly on the sea shore, there are two sections, on which copper ore is abundant. The position of this mine can at once be determined by the reader, on a reference to the map. The land is very low, and the rock formation, tertiary fossil, but the various and anomalous positions in which copper is found in South Australia, baffles all ordinary calculations--as likely to exist in the valley, as on the hill--at the sea side as well as inland: there is not a locality in which it may not be looked for and found.
The whole of the mountain chain indeed, is a mass of ore from one end to the other, and it is impossible to say what quantity, or how many of the richer metals will ultimately be found in a country through which the baser metals are, without doubt, so abundantly diffused. The quantity of gold hitherto discovered has not been important, but it is reasonable to suppose, that where a small quantity has been found, large deposits must be at no great distance. This gold however, like the baser metals of South Australia, is very pure, there being few component parts mixed with it.
From the various examinations of the hills that have at different times been made, it would appear that precious stones, as well as metals, exist amongst them. Almost every stone, the diamond excepted, has already been discovered. The ruby, the amethyst, and the emerald, with beryl and others, so that the riches of this peculiar portion of the Australian continent may truly be said to be in their development only.
With such prospects before it, there can be but little doubt that the wealth of South Australia will, one day or other, be very great, neither can there be any doubt but that the discovery of the mines at the critical period, made a complete revolution in the affairs of that colony, and suddenly raised it from a state of extreme depression to one of independence, even as an individual is raised to affluence, from comparative poverty by the receipt of an unlooked-for legacy. The effect, however, which the discovery had on its present prospects, and the effect it must have on the future destinies of that colony, can hardly, it appears to me, be placed to the credit of any ordinary process of colonization. It has rather been in the shape of an unexpected auxiliary, that this immense and valuable supply of ore has been brought to bear upon its fortunes, for the condition to which the colony was reduced at one time, was such, that it would have taken many years to have acquired the appearance of returning prosperity, but the discovery of the mines was like the coming up of a rear-guard, to turn the tide of battle, when the main army had apparently been all but defeated. The assistance the colony received was complete and decisive, and has seemingly placed her beyond the hazard of failure or reverse: but, admitting the state of depression to which it was reduced, and the length of time it would have taken to bring about a healthy change, I yet believe, that the favourable position of the province as regards its connection with the other colonies, the character of its climate and soil, and the energies of its inhabitants, would have ensured its ultimate success. Before the depression in 1841, South Australia had become a pastoral country, in consequence of the number both of cattle and sheep that had been imported. In 1838, the city of Adelaide had scarcely been laid out, no portion of it had yet been sold, when flocks and herds were on their way to the new market, and from that period, even to the present, there has been no cessation to their ingress--first of all, as I have stated, the Murray, and then the Darling, became the high roads along which the superfluous stock of Port Phillip and New South Wales were driven to browse on South Australian pastures, and to increase the quantity and value of her exports.
However low therefore the price of wool might have kept, the natural increase of stock would still have gone on, and if we may judge from the unflinching energies of the agricultural portion of the community, their efforts to develop the productive powers of the soil, would rather have been stimulated than depressed by the misfortunes with which they were visited. I do them nothing more than justice when I assure the reader, that settlers in the province from the neighbouring colonies, could not help expressing their surprise at the state of cultivation, or their admiration of the unconquerable perseverance, that could have brought about so forward and creditable a state of things.
I have already stated that the general outline and form of the Mount Lofty chain, bears a strong resemblance to the outline and form of the Ural mountains. But it is of trifling elevation, running longitudinally from north to south, with a breadth of from 15 to 20 miles. The metalliferous veins crop out on the surface of the ground, preserving the same longitudinal directions as the ranges themselves, and the rock in which the ores are imbedded, generally speaking, is a compact slate. As the Mount Lofty ranges extend northwards, so does the Barrier or Stanley range, over which the recent expedition crossed on leaving the Darling; no copper ores were found amongst those hills, but an abundance of the finest ore of iron, running, as the out-croppings of the copper ores, from north to south, and occurring in depressed as well as elevated situations, the rock formation being very similar to that of the more western ranges.
If we are to judge from these facts, it is very evident that strong igneous action has influenced the whole, nor can I help thinking, from general appearances, that the continent of Australia has been subjected to a long subterranean process, by which it has been elevated to its present altitude, and it appears to me that that action, though considerably weakened, is still going on. The occurrence of two slight shocks of earthquake felt at Adelaide, since the establishment of the colony, would further strengthen this opinion.
The copper ores of South Australia fetch a higher price at the Swansea sales than those from any other part of the world, not only because they are intrinsically rich, but because they are generally composed of carbonates, which are necessary to facilitate the smelting of the ores of sulphuret of copper from Cuba and other places. The necessity for sending the ores from Adelaide to some foreign port to undergo the process of smelting, will probably exist for a considerable length of time; until such time, indeed, as the electric process shall be found to answer on a sufficiently large scale to be profitable, or, until smelting works are established; but, the great difficulty to be apprehended in carrying on such operations would be the want of fuel, which scarce even at the present moment, would soon be more so--for there is not sufficient wood in the vicinity of any of the mines to keep up the supply for such a consumption as that which would be required; besides which, the cartage of the wood, and the expenses attending its preparation for the furnace, would materially diminish any profits arising from the smelting of the ores. In such a view of the case I cannot but think that the establishment of works at the mines will be found to be as unprofitable to their proprietors as to the smelter, and that such works will only be remunerative when carried on under more favourable circumstances--for it would appear that coal is the only mineral South Australia does not possess, and I am apprehensive that no bed of it will ever be found in the colony. I have ever thought the geological formation of the country unfavourable to the presence of coal, but, still, it is said to exist as a submarine formation close to Aldingi Bay. The discovery of this mineral in the province would immediately give to it, within itself, the means of the most unbounded wealth, and would undoubtedly fill up the measure of its prosperity to the brim.
By a late report of the Directors of the Burra Burra mine, it would appear, that they had made several successful attempts to smelt the ore, but, that the cost, having exceeded that of cartage to the port, and freight, the process has been abandoned. Parties, however, had offered to enter into an engagement to smelt the whole of the ore from the mine at about Swansea prices; notwithstanding the unfavourable circumstances under which such smelting would necessarily be carried on.