GOLD PRODUCTION

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 110, 3 February 1931, Page 10

GOLD PRODUCTION

Assistance for Prospecting

DEPARTMENT’S PROPOSAL

Relief of Unemployed

With the two-fold object of helping the goldmining industry, and assisting in the relief of unemployment, the Mmes Department is placing a propostion before the Uneniployment Board by which the Board would subsidise the money for prospecting on a£l for £1 basis. It is felt that parties of men, led by one experienced prospector, could in this way be engaged in profitable work. In connection with the proposal it is ' also worthy of mention that it W’as mining booms, chiefly as a result of concentrated prospecting for minerals, which came to the rescue during the bad slumps that were experienced in New i Zealand during the latter part of last century.

When in the South Island last week the Minister of Mines, Hon. A. J. Murdoch, visited the Lawrence district, and spent the best part of a day in Gabriel’s Gully and Weatherstones area, where there are huge deposits of a blue gold-bearing conglomerate not unlike cement in appearance. It was suggested to the Minister that his department mlgh assist In the finding of methods by which the material could be more profitably worked than at present. A peculiarity of the conglomerate is that it is as hard as rook until exposed to the weather, which eventually breaks it up, and this factor has enabled the substance to be worked for a number of years. Companies are at present operating at both Gabriel’s Gully and at Weatherstones. The Gabriel’s Gully company is sluicing the material,. but before it goes through the successive sluicing processes it has to be left for long periods exposed to the weather. It is the work of the company to obtain a method by which the material can be pulverised at low cost so that it can be treated only once and its entire gold content obtained. It is estimated that if such methods can be found no less than £5,000,000 ckn be taken out of the area at present being worked. But this is only a small portion of the conglomerate, and if the whole deposit, many miles in length, could be worked possibilities would be opened up which would be much greater. Weatherstones Area. In the Weatherstones area there is an estimated amount of 413,000,000 tons of gold-bearing material, and prospects up to 16/- per ton have been obtained. Experts do not consider for a moment that such yields could be obtained all over the areas, the prospect in Gabriel’s Gully, for instance, being 3/3 per ton. It may be stated in explanation of the possibilities of the material, however, that if the whole of the Weatherstones deposit alone could be worked and averaged, 2/6 per ton gold, valued at £50,000,000, could be obtained. Reference to his southern visit and the gold-mining industry in general was ' made by the Minister last evening. During his term of office, he said, his department had made 57 grants to 17 companies and 40 prospecting parties in twos or more. The department had a- proposition which it "would put up to the Unemployment Board by which it would supply money for prospectors on a £1 for £1 basis. It could utilise a number of men to send out in parties led by one good prospector. He was hope--ful "that the board ■would agree and so help to extend mining operations. Low-grade Ores. In .the Thames district an attempt was being made to work low-grade ores which should be profitable. The trouble in the past had been that a profit was not possible for small companies, but now an endeavour was being made to find means of treating the material. The whole mining industry was one that was ever uppermost in the minds of the people. Its success had been- somewhat jeopardised in the past by the starting of “wildcat” schemes and the taking of money with little hope of gain. The department was now keeping' an eye on the industry and hoped in the near future to see it on a sound basis. The industry was pressing on to success, and he hoped that it would have an added; impetus in the near future. - • After seeing the immense possibilities of the areas iii the Lawrence district he was sure that if means could be devised which would eliminate wasted effort very considerable profits should be made. It would be his department’s duty to endeavour to find the required methods, and. his staff would spare no pains in discovering a satisfactory solution. The only means that had occurred to him was the use of a series of rollers which he had seen in operation in cement works. -He was anxious, however, to hear the result of a test in Wellington, where a ton of product was being treated with a view to finding a solution. Export Vallie for 1930. In conclusion the Minister said that there were large gold-bearing areas on the West Coast and in the Thames district, and it was the duty of the department to try to improve the position. The largest amount of gold exported since 1857, when the records had been first kept, had been in 1866, when 735.3760 z. valued at £2.844.517 had been exported. The lowest amount exported had been in 1860. The export in that year had been 45380 z., valued at £17.585. The quantity of gold exported for the year 1930 had been 133,7310 z. valued at £550,637. The figures for the years 1929 and 1928 were as follow: 1929, 116.848 oz„ valued at £4,80.212: 1928. 118.7220 z.. valued; at £489.584. It would be seen that the figures for 1930 had shown an increase over those for the two previous years, and it. was to be hoped that this year the increase would be even greater.