GOLDMINING INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 53, 26 November 1930, Page 10

GOLDMINING INDUSTRY

Minister Hopes for Revival f - PROFESSOR’S COMMENTS By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, November 2S. That thorough prospecting was necessary if there was to be a revival of gold mining in the South Island was the opinion expressed- by Professor R. Speight, professor of geology in Canterbury College, this morning when the announcement of the Minister of Mmes that there was a possibility of a boom starting in the south was referred to hl p'rofessor Speight deprecated the idea of a boom, as a boom would have to burst. On the West Coast there were areas that might repay investigation, but the country was extremely difficult and onlv experienced men could undertake prospecting there. In the granite country near Reefton there might be certain prospects of obtaining gold in payable quantities, and the old workings which were abandoned owing to the lack or suitable machinery could possibly be opened up and extensions made. In some parts of Otago, too, there was gold to be found, and with dredges more powerful than had been used in the past it could be got in certain rivers such as the Clutha, the Shotover and the Kawarau. ~ , , Professor Speight could not say definitely whether or not there were any chances of a large output of gold being obtained in the south, but he stressed the importance of steady and scientific prospecting. Isolated boring was in most cases fallacious, for either gold was ohtained from only one piece of ground which was not similar to the area surrounding it or' the area containing gold was not tapped.