THE SAVING OF FINE GOLD.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10483, 23 October 1899, Page 3

THE SAVING OF FINE GOLD.

, The paragraph appeared: on Wednesday respecting the reported: discovery of an effective method of saving the fine gold found on the West Coast sea, {beaches, has caused a considerable omountjof comment i locally, and much scepticism pa. been expressed as to a high percentage of fine gold having, been saved.- . When itjis considered that' the.gold in t'he black sard, is-in some cases found in specks of a ss-thousandth j part of. a grain, th 6 difficulty injsaving it be- j comes apparent. On the other! hand, it is ' averred that the tailings on claim mentioned , by Mr. Young had bees tested wJiu quicksilver,' and it was found! that, to uli appearances, all the gold had b4eh recovered, j It must, however, be borne in mind,"that, so., we are given to understand, Mr Young V.i plant and spread of tables are 'stationing! and it does not appear that the same re&ull.-s I would be obtained on a moveible dredge. ' Such, at least, is the opinion of Sir Warden ' Macfarkne, Hokitika, who, in his report, to i the Under-Secretory of Mines, in June last, remarks that tbe difiiculty in, dealing with the Coast beaches is less in connection with the lifting of the material, and the pumping of the water, than with the disposal of the sand after living the screens. If it is dumped behind, as is done in most cases fcjy tbe Otago dredges, it wiil r on afceount of us nature, till up the hole dredged, and practically the some stuff will be treated over and over again. Otago engineers appear to consider that any departure from the present methods of carrying the whole of the appliances on the hull of the dredge would be against the success of the operations. " Hut in dealing with the Coast sand beaches, largely composed as tltey are of grey and black sand, a stable foundation for the tables is an 'absolute necessity", with a spread of table, say 120 ft, hi crose-socti6n', to deal with 50 tona per hour. Thi3, Mr Macfarlane says, could not be -obtained cm a moving dredge, snd other methods than those ■in vogue in Otago will require to be applied The necessity for a. large spreadj>f tables is in order that, instead of the stuff being two or three inches thick on rfche tables, which would occur on the usual sized tables, it lias a chance to spread about a quarter of an inch thick on the larger ones, and the fine gold has an opportunity of getting through this on to the matting. As a matter of fact, there are no dredges on'the.Coast dealing with black sand, and the suction dredges, wWch were tried some years ago, proved a failure. Dredging experts express the opinion that where the black sand is found well mixed with gravel, it can be treated successfully, and a large percentage, if not all of it, can - be saved. Several chums of this nature have baen successfully floated, but until the saving of a large percentage of pure beach gold by an ordinary dredge has been demonstrated, there murt always be an element of doubt in the ca» from the investore , w>int of vie-*-. Provided an effective method of saving tie gold ie discovered, the returns should be highly profitable, but in the absence of any clear demonstration that a large percentage can be saved, the risk incurred is proportionately great

(PRESS ASSOCIATION , TXLKORAK.) AUCKLAND; October 21The Waihi return far the month is £24,308, from 882S tone of atone. DUNEDIN, October 21. Stock Exchange sales: •—tfentral Electric, 30s: Ettridk's, 12s 3d; Gibbston, 2d; Gold Queen, 8s 9d; Hartley and Riley. 160s and 157s 6d; Kelly and Casey, 1* 6d; Klondyke, 10a 6d: Ophir, 10s; Sailor Bends, Us 6d; River Molyneux, 3a. The following gold returns 'are reported •- — Inch Valley, 15%0z; Maaorbnrn, 26ioz; Golden Terrace, 18oz 15dwt llgr; Tuapeka, 220z 9dwt. : ' DUNEDlN,'. October 22. Dunedin Stock Exchange galea: —Hartley and Riley, loOa, 157s 6d; Ophir, 10s. At premium—Central Electric, 30»; Gibbscn, 24; Gold Queen, 8e 9d; Kelly and Casey, Iβ 6d; Klceidyte, 10e 6d; SaUor's Bend, lls 6d; River Molyneux, 3s. At auction—Premiums— Ahaura River, 6d; OrweH Creek, 4s • Halfway House, 7s 10d; Gibbston, Id; 2s; Cardrona Valley, 3d discount.