PANAMA MINES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9651, 7 July 1919, Page 5

PANAMA MINES.

Interest is being tafon in the lost mines of Panama, owinj to some recent finds there. Tberi are many of the old Spanish workilg abandon^ for various reasons scaiered" over the republic. • Many of thin were abandoned because of the] yellow fever scare, some because of johtical revolutions, and some beeaus of dishonest management. AMr Nathaniel Hill, of Colon, owns one of thee mines, which has been so long abanoned that he „cannot find it except at^reat expense, as the old trails are all fvergrown with jungle and tfee landmark on his chart completely unrecogßisaw. The mine was extremely rich oncejand is said to have been abandoned at the height of its productivity because f a long revolutionary period in thj province in which it is located. Gold occurs in practiciry every river in the republic. The ol Darien mine once produced more gld than any mine in the world andlgeqlogists are inclined €b believe tbatit is in a region which may yet dlelop like the South African Band, j In tho "Christian Seance Monitor" Dr. Makohn MoLaren, most eminent authority on gold mmm and author of a compendious volume m the subject, considers the Central ad South American goldfields as reay in their infancy. The diiSculti«Bof transportation have been the m n handicap in the development of thj mineral lodes in these countries, toother .with the density of. the.^ropifl vegetation, which covers the. eartj so that prospecting ia very troublsome, as contrasted with theba*e irican veldt and tho Australian deserts)/ The aeroplane is defined to be of enormous utility in i'cilitating proßpeoting for and openjg up mineral properties in the And«p valleys; Hydroplanes can fly iron} the Pacific to the upper waters of tl Amazon in a. few hours, while thereW-e good landing places for planes .4 many, of the snow fields of the jngher Andes, which have "never yet len explored at all. The aeroplane is most- ideal for transporting .precious nials, where the value is high in proptfion to weight and bulk, and the tit-saving is so important as well as je safety from robbery. Already plan«are tinder way to use planes in Peril md Colombia. 1 • '