MINING NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 127, 1 June 1931, Page 4

MINING NEWS.

A GOOD WASH-UP. INVERCARGILL, this day. The manager of the Golden Terrace Extended Dredging Co. reports a wash-up of 65 ounces for six days' dredging. The ground is improving, with better prospects. PROJECT AT MURCHISON. Mr. J. A. Spencer, field geologist, is about to undertake an intensive examination of the Matakitaki River, near Murchison, in collaboration with Mr. John Henderson, mining engineer, of Christchurch. Arrangements have been made with an Auckland syndicate, and the survey will commence almost immediately. Should the recommendation of these experts be favourable, a company will be formed to dredge the area. The areas, which comprise some 10,000,000 cubic yards of alluvial gravels, have been already drill bored and shafted with satisfactory results, so far as values are concerned. Just before the earthquake occurred in 1929 arrangements had been made to sluice out a terrace consisting of talus (debris) from a high ridge rising behind this terrace. Mr. Samuel Bush and his family had recovered striated gold from this terrace in good-sized nuggets. The striations shown in this gold plainly reflect the trend of the glacial action, having exactlv the same striations and direction as the rocks from -which the nuggets were recovered. It was intended to sluice this terrace into the river and ther recover the gold by dredging. Then the catastrophe occurred, and the whole ridge and terrace wore hurled into the river. The river was dammed. Bush's farm was covered and unfortunately he lost three members of his family. After a time the river reasserted itself, and is now resuming its normal course. This means that the sluicing operation, which it was intended to do by artificial means, is now naturally done by the river, and that the gold is being taken into the catchment area below, which it is proposed to dredge, and which the engineers are about to examine. Mr. Spencer describes it as a fascinating problem, particularly as the area has already been proved consistently rich before the earthquake catastrophe, by both boring and shafting, and mainly on this account he urged that another engineer be appointed to assist and verity any deductions that may be arrived at. With the exception of three acres which were dredged 20 years ago, when undei somewhat primitive conditions, and with indifferent gold-saving appliances, 1/4 per cubic yard was dredged up in gold, as recorded in the "New Zealand Handbook," the areas are virgin, and no prosi pecting had reached below water level.