AUSTRALIAN GOLD

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 January 1928, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN GOLD

DISCOVERING DEPOSITS. A definite attempt to discover further gold-bearing ore deposits .in Australia is to be carried out in 1928. Professor Sir T. W. Edgeworth David, who reached Sydney by the Moldavia, referred to the value of geophysical methods in the location of sulphide ore bodies. In regard to the selection of Australia as a special part of the Empire in which to make experiments on the most up-to-date methods of discovering concealed ore deposits by geophysical survey, he said that one of the greatest objectives at the present moment, more particularly for the Commonwealth, in regard to metalliferous ore deposits, was to discover more gold. Hitherto no geophysical method had been invented which would reveal the

prospects of gold-bearing quartz, but the particular method to be applied in the first case in Australia, which was the electrical method, was capable of locating with great precision the position of sulphide ore deposits, such as sulphides of iron, magnetic pyrites, copper pyrites, sulphide of lead, and most varieties of sulphides of zinc. “Without in any way intending to anticipate the deliberations of the committee of scientists which has been appointed under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and which is to assemble on January 13 at Hobart to advise about the best possible sites for the commencement of the geophysical survey,” declared Professor David, “it seems obvious that the most important type of sulphide ore deposits to locate will be one either of gold-bearing character or one which consists largely of sulphide of lead, possibly also carrying silver.-, 'At the same time, provided sulphide bodies of a character such as copper pyrites or sulphide of zinc are proved to occur in large masses, even if they are not, in addition, gold-bearing, it may be possible to exploit them profitably. One must not forget, however, that in view of the vast and cheaply-work-ed copper deposits of Katanga, in the Belgian Congo, it has been found impossible of late for Mount Morgan, in Queensland, to compete, and even at the Mount Lyell copper mine in Tasmania, with its excellent scheme of hydro-electric power, it is difficult to carry on with advantage on account of that competition. On the whole, therefore, it would seem most desirable, if a suitable field can be found in Australia, to search by geophysical methods for concealed deposits of goldbearing sulphide ores or silver-bearing sulphides of lead. “It may be added that the conference in Hobart on the subject of suitable areas for the geophysical survey will be held immediately preceding the gathering there of a large number of scientists from Australia and New Zealand, who are to attend the biennial congress of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science.”

Professor David pointed out that two experts, Mr. Broughton Edge, who had been experimenting abroad, and Mr. A. N. Lewis, of Melbourne University, who had been sent to Great Britain to learn the intricacies of torsion balance surveying, would carry out the geophysical survey. The former will arrived in Australia in March to begin the survey for ore bodies in the locality decided upon.