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.