MINING NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 210, 5 September 1930, Page 3

MINING NEWS.

ALEXANDKA MINES.

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■WAIHI GOLDFIELDS,

DR. HENDERSON'S REPORT,

(Fro m Our Oim-Ogg-gfJ.,. A copy of the report by Dr. J Henderson, of the G . eo Wfi n tiflc Ind Industrial the Department ?* S«enWic an ection Research, h0 investigation of witli the ProPOf" 1 ,, ticffved by the Mayor, that area, has been receiveay^^^ Mr. W. M. ™nutt. Dr. t o£ accompanied by tne u of Mines , Mines and the +„ field investigation and subsequent to gsfleiai of the district g were local mining « p area s at Owharoa, Valley near coloured, soft and granular, the weathered propylitised Owharoa dacite. Mr. Bedford used a post hole borer which readHy penetrated 25 feet or, more; Over an area of many square chains fine cold may be found from the borings, and assays show that much of the rock contains gold to the value, of several shillings per ton. The lodes of Owharoa are of the stockwork type, and here, as in few_ other parts of the Hauraki district, the mineralising solutions seem to have impregnated the adjacent country. The prospects are encouraging, and the extent of the deposit should be ascertained." Concluding his report, after dealing with many geological features of the district, Dr. Henderson makes the following rather important announcement in regard to the probability of the existence of undiscovered ore bodies: "At Waihi the greater part of the lode systems are deeply buried beneath thick layers of post-mineral volcanic fragmental rocks. Other mineralised areas at present altogether unknown, and possibly containing valuable ore bodies, may be present under the rhyolitic lavas, tuffs and breccias of the Waihi Plain. It is clearly impracticable to bore systematically the large area these rocks cover on the chance of lighting on a mineralised patch beneath. There remain the methods of applied geophysics, which are now coming into prominence as a practical aid to mineral discovery and development. They are unquestionably of value in locating deposits covered by younger deposits, _ but the methods in use have distinct limitations, and too much must not bo expected as the science is not yet fully Since receipt of the above reppit the Mavor has been advised that the Minister of Mines, the Hon. A. J. Murdoch, is considering the question of assisting the propose prospecting scheme at Owharoa coyering the area of 500 acres, aad is obtaining a report in th** f»nae**wsa.