MINING OUTLOOK.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 12

MINING OUTLOOK.

HAURAKI FIELD. EXPERT'S VIEWS. -OUT-OF-DATE REGUIATIONS. ■ . (By E.M.) No. I. That mineral field comprised in the •districts from Te Aroha mountain to the Great Barrier Island is of striking interest to. one familiar with most of the great mineral fields of the world, ■and the more so because of its extremely localised development. Prospectors and others have assured me the field has "only been scratched." They are not far wrong. They say that if this field lad been in America, Germany or Japan, it would have been systematically prospected. I should say that if it had teen in any one of those countries it would have been a hive of industry from end to end, but it would have been governed" by a very different mining law to that of New Zealand.

I Geologically speaking, this mineral :field possesses many fascinating studies. I know of only two fields, one in the United States of America and the other in I.urope, presenting geological characteristics at all resembling this one. The '.records of development to the present <lay do not, by any means, open a complete book for the geologist' 3 reading; lather do they present just a tantalising elimpse at one or two page 3. I have perused a very excellent bulletin of geological survey of tlie central divisions of the field, butlt is many years out of <late and requires re-writing in the light of later knowledge. The of the Tβ Aroha division ie inadequate. I have not seen any record of geological survey of tie Barrier Island section. Stages of Development. : In one respect the whole field 'resembles other fields. It has passed .-through that early stage of history, the "gold rush," -with all its attendant -excitement, hopes and disappointments, "rich finds and "wild cats" and its long record of mistakes, mismanagement, -under capitalisation and share gambling. It is now passing through its second stage. The third stage will come when development is commenced on modern lines such as are known in other lands. The second stage interests me greatly ■because it is a repetition of history that I have seen enacted on many other fields. In fact it so faithfully copies the details thai; it bears witness to the truth of that oft quoted maxim "history repeats itself." I should call it the futile stage; rather hard word, perhaps, but it will well serve its purpose if it helps to shorten this period of history repetition. I suppose this futile stage must run its course, but surely the immortals, Gilbert and Sullivan, never had better material than the well meant,but ludicrous provisions of a Mining Act a quarter 'of a - century out of date* .and the comical administration by non-technical men of the iaost technical industry on earth. After a study of the maze of rules and regulations I can well imagine a comic opera on the Department for the Discouragement and Prevention of Mining. Alluvial ana Quartz Fields. It is somewhat bad form on the part of a visitor to criticise the manners or institutions of a country, particularly a country where such warmhearted hospitality and kindly reception meets the stranger -within the gates as I have experienced in prospecting and mining camps all up and down the field. The real genuine prospectors and miners of this field are the salt of the earth, the most intelligent set of men I have met on any great mineral field. Their rough and ready exterior covers hearts of gold and their primitive camps are palaces of a W>ble hospitality. I have found Zealanders not only possess a sense of humour hut rather seek well meant criticism. I write, because I wish to help, in some small measure, an early development of a great and wonderful mineral field. Be it understood, however,_that I labour under the disability, of the stranger who has not all the intimate facts of local knowledge at command, and if that disability leads me into error here and there I trust I may be pardoned, because I "mean well. I have heard and read of the alluvial fields of the' South Island and the efforts of the administration to aid the unemployed people. It seems to me that wonderfully good work has been done in that regard/ But the Hauraki or Cpromandel Peninsula —it seems to be alternatively named—ie not' an alluvial field and its administration cannot sensibly be based on the same measures as an alluvial field. Yet the Department of Mines : cheerfully attempts to so base it, a thing that has never yet been successfully done in the wide world. The result is deplorable, i Ten-Acre Lots. >

: The whole of this mineral; field: was .searched by the miners of the early days; they were keen, alert, experienced and seasoned men.. 'They searched , for ;the easily won therich leader; the surface reef or the "pocket" junctions. Did they miss much? Tihey, were not the 'type of men to miss much. Tine; day by day history of the present times.shows they knew their game,, well arid truly knew it. Following them '.. came the .deeper workings that were, sunk on the reefs and prospects they had found. Is it seriously supposed that, inexperienced anen, the unemployed, can follow after such a band as the early diggers on a ! quartz field arid discover easily won and *'free" gold, Lβ., gold from free milling etone, so rich that it can be worked : without much expenditure of capital and *o near the surface that it can be recovered without costly development 1 Yet it was actually proposed by the New Zealand Department of Mines to reserve some areas of this field, subdivide them into ten-acre prospecting claims, and distribute them amongst the unemployed. Ten acres in a quartz field! The unemployed might -grow cabbages on their claims, of course. Ten acres is a reasonable thing on an alluvial field, but the height of absurdity on a quartz field. Quite obviously, if a gold-bearing reef were located on a tenr acre 'section, no capitalist would- be found insane enough to supply development money for such a microscopic area. Perhaps the usual uninformed critic who writes first. and thinks after will tell me there-have been mines of less 1 area. Quite'so. I am well aware of the fact. But .there will not be any worth ■while- mines' of that area on this field from now on, for reasons obvious to mining engineers, and for the, -reason, also, that the early diggers did not leave easily won surface gold lying about promiscuously for the unemployed amateurs pi 1933 to casually pick up. '

The Department of Mines to-day neecle technical men familiar. with modern ruining practice on the world's great fields. Neither the Minister nor the Under-Secretary can be blamed for the absurdities that are so apparent; they are not technical men. This field should be in charge of a first-class administrator, holding high certificates in geology, metallurgy and mine managership and having experience in the chemistry of the great treatment plants and highly technical processes in use on the great minefields of the American Continent, South Africa, and Australia, processes that seem to be utterly unknown in New Zealand. Cumbersome Procedure.

Even in the "pegging" of prospecting claims the New Zealand law clings to outworn tradition. The corner and angle pegging system is long out of date. It has been superseded by the system eo admirably set out in the Canadian law. The prospector who takes up a prospecting claim is in for no end of trouble. Firstly, his application has to be made out in quadruplicate, whereas duplicate is sufficient. Then he pays court fees and a year's rent, but he may wait months while his application goes to one or another Department, to an inspector or to the Minister. What either the inspector or the Minister knows about it is not clear. Then he gets a whole year of tenure 1 At the expiry of that period he goes through the whole process of corner and angle pegging; quadruplicate application and reference from warden to Departments again, with the risk that someone may rise earlier that day, peg the same ground and get it! Why should he not have the right of renewal on , payment of the rent? Insecurity of tenure is a defect 1 in any Mining Act. In addition to the rent our prospector must spend £3 per week on the claim. The married unemployed prospector receives. 30/ a week. The reason behind the expenditure provision is a good one, but it is utterly out of place on that field. I suppose regulations found necessary on the alluvial field have been applied, without thought, to this quartz field and so the futile stage must run its course. One wonders what on earth possessed the New Zealand Government to grant freehold titles on a mine field. The whole position bristles with absurdities. The Mining Act is, in a mining sense, prehistoric, and regulations made under it display the amateur and non-technical mind at every turn.