At the Paratoo mine, copper is present in a zone at least 1000 feet wide, possibly over a strike length of about 1350 feet. It is not yet known over what proportion of this area copper occurs in workable amounts. Opencuts have exposed two main lines of lode separated by a zone about 200 yards wide which has not been explored. Much of the copper is stratiform, and copper-bearing beds dip at 50 to 70 degrees to the south-east. Where partings and coatings of malachite are thicker and close together an orebody of significant grade results; in poorer material the partings are few, thin and widely separated. The overall pattern is that of a relatively low grade deposit, containing bands, lenses and irregular pods of richer ore. Though there is presently much activity on the property, the emphasis appears to be on the extraction of ore, and there is little exploration aimed at proving and assessing reserves for future operations. At present, it seems doubtful whether 500 tons of 4% copper ore can be produced per week. Alternatively, even if this amount were initially produced, it is not known how long such efforts could be maintained. Even if the average grade were no more than 1%, such a deposit might be an economic proposition, providing the reserves were sufficiently large, and so a planned exploration programme is imperative. The outcome might be a mine that would extract a greater proportion of copper and have a longer life than a project based on chasing higher grade ore which would be more difficult to extract in depth.