Huge Greenstone Rock Found Near Greymouth

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30129, 13 May 1963, Page 16

Huge Greenstone Rock Found Near Greymouth

(From Our Own Reporter)

GREYMOUTH. May 12. Messrs Honey Brothers, who conduct a sawmilling business at Kaimata, recently discovered a huge nephrite jade boulder in the headwaters of the New river. The greenstone roc), was also 20 cubic feet and weighed about a ton. Mr P Honey first saw the huge boulder and his curiosity was aroused by the light green colour showing through the heavy carbonate coating of the stone. After a discussion with his father and brother, it was decided to build a special bush road of almost two miles to extract the boulder Transport Not Easy This was no easy undertaking as. in one spot, a gully 40ft wide and 18ft deep had to be bridged to carry the firm’s tractor. After descending a steep ridge into the river, the boulder was loaded on a special wooden . sled for transport by tractor to the home- site at Kaimata. On ascending the ridge, however, the boulder became unbalanced and slipped 60ft into a gully. Its recovery posed a problem, but after a Herculean task it was eventually landed near the road Float boulders such as this were carried during the ice ages from high on the Arahura mountains to be scattered throughout the alluvial gravels from New river in the north to Rimu in the

south. Many such boulders were unearthed during the gold digging days and exported to Germany. Float ooulders In Westland gravels are rare today and only by using helicopters can they be economically retrieved from the serpentine matrix high in the Arahura watershed.

Although nephrite jade has been found in many countries, as with Westland’s deposits, most of it has now been extracted. Westland’s is one of the world's best-qual-ity jades, but only a small percentage reaches top quality. After blows with a sledgehammer, a small quantity of the carbonated coating on the boulder found by Honey Brothers was broken to show the light green gemstone jade. The group will send the boulder to Christchurch for cutting. Only then will its true value be assessed.