GOLD ON WEST COAST.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 153, 10 April 1933, Page 8

GOLD ON WEST COAST.

SCOPE FOR DREDGING. In an article contributed recently to the "Mining World" (London), Mr H. R. Young, A.M. Inst. C.E., M.A., Inst. M.E., states that gold mining in New Zealand is divided into three branches —quartz mining, alluvial mining, gold dredging. The total value of gold produced to date amounts to approximately £95,000,000 in value, of which the Auckland district has produced over £99 000,000, the' West Coast of the South Island £26,000,000 and Ofcago £31,000,000. From an inspection of the alluvial areas of the West Coast the author considers there is still scope for gold dredging on a large scale. What is really required, he writes, is a prospecting company with ample capital and equipped with the latest type of boring plant, and the gold contents of each bore accurately and carefully registered. Alluvial areas can be readily and simply obtained and provided areas are proved and thoroughly bored, gold mining need not be more risky than an ordinary commercial proposition, also provided that dredging areas are secured away from the effects of destructive floods—a great bugbear to gold dredging operations in the past. With regard to reef mining on the West Coast, the reefs are largely of the fissure vein type occurring in the

slate country and subject to expansion and contraction in width as when mined in depth. From the old township of Lyell these reefs extend to the Molnhinui River, near the coast, a distance of at least 20 miles. These reefs outcrop and are gold-bearing at various points, but no systematic testing in depth or by diamond drill has yet been carried out. At the southern end the United Alpine Co. at Lyell worked the reefs successfully for many years. Again in the Reefton district there is surely room for diamond drill exploration between the old Big River mine and the old Progress mine on the reefs which are known to exist there. There remarks also apply to areas in the Auckland district and in Otago which are still to be tested by the latest type of scientific exploration.