SHOTOVER GOLD FIND

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 July 1932, Page 4

SHOTOVER GOLD FIND

i. £1 — c. ■' . '■ AFTER TEN YEARS' SEARCH. Hope Springs eternal in the miner’s breast. For ten Ml’ “Ned” Oxenbridge and his son, at varioustimes assisted by relations, worked conscientiously on his claim on the Shotover. The returns provided nc more "than 2/6 to each member of the party until a month ago when the miners struck a rich reef (says the Dunedin “Star”). For the’past four weeks the paddock has produced 20oz of gold weekly and the estimate of 5,0000 z has been based bn these returns. Men who know the Junction Hydraulic Elevating Syndicate’s claim consider that it might produce 5,0000 z, hut the probability is that the yield will be less. At last the patience, perseverance . and hard work of Mr Oxenbridge and party have been rewarded. Their claim is approximately eight miles -z from Queenstown, being lour miles up . the river from Arthur’s Point, in ex.'t.remely rough country. : years,ago the same syndicate obtained about £25,000 from the Shotover less than a mile below the present claim, but. £iost of the reward for their efforts was returned to the ~ river in the shape of machinery and gear. Some of the plant is now being ; used in mining the new claim. In Working the claim, Mr Oxen.l bridge showed skill. A shaft was

sunk into the bank at ihe side of Ihe river, a depth of 17ft below the surface of the water, and a tunnel was then pierced under the bed of the ’ river. Four weeks ago ihe tunnellers struck the reef, Wing drum; were con- „ structed out into the river, the course of which was directed iu the other bank, and the party mined upwards to the bed. The water supply presented a problem,"’but the party built a dam, fed by a creek, on the hillside 500 ft above the claim, the pressure of water available for working the claim being 2001 b. The spoil is being lifted from the paddock by a suction pipe. In.the first week of working two cubic yards of wash produced 17oz of gold, and a lump of pug reef showed an ounce of rough gold all round it. Wash-ups have recently been delayed on account of the extreme severity of the frosts, the water in ihe pipes being frozen to a depth ot tin'. The cold is so groat that water can b<- used for only three hours daily. The rich returns to date have led to estimates being made of the value of the claim. But no one knows when ih<- party will lose the reef. The. ground is ‘fpalchy” in gold. When the pia-sc-nl pudduck is completely worked whig dams will be constructed from th<- opposite bank, another shaft will be sunk, an.l workings. The ground is very stony, but it is certain that the claim will be; proved an exceedingly rich one.. The Successful and lengthy mining of the claim depends on Hie vagaries of the’ Shotover, a river noted for its sudden rises. At- present the wing dams are 2ft. above the 'water level, but a rapid thaw in the back country would cause a suspension of . opera tions. Mr Oxenbridge has long had great faith in the auriferous country of the Shotover district, and he has persisted in his search for gold fer .:rmny years. His son, Charles, too, has shared his father’s faith, while the male : relations in Invercargill have spent

periods of two years or more at a time on the river. There are only six shareholders in the syndicate. “It would not be advisable for amateur miners to be attracted to that part of the Shotover in the neighbourhood of the Hydraulic Elevating claim, as there is no payable gold on the top of the ground.” said a young Dunedin man io-day when lie returned from a siny with the Oxenbridge party. “'They would probably get a few colours, but they would not be repaid if 111ey worked the ground ont. ”