RICH COUNTRY

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 1 November 1927, Page 5

RICH COUNTRY

GOLD IN NEW GUINEA.

GREAT RESOURCES. OTHER MINER ALS -FOUNT). BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. Received 11.15 cv.m. to-day. SIDNEY, Nov. 1. The mining warden of the New Guinea goldfields, as the resuit of adventurous visits to many parts of the gold area, expresses the opinion that tremendous mineral wealth will be obtained from the fields. He says that the alluvial miners have hardly touched their claims yet. No underground work has been attempted, but the line of the reef, thirty feet wide, can be traced bv the outcrop for five miles. Prospectors have expressed the belief, although he did not identify himselt with the opinion, that it contained twelve million sterling worth of gold. He had made what he considered to be a very conservative estimate of the value of the reef, and had reached the conclusion that it would pay twenty ounces to the ton at a value of £2 4s per ounce. The stone was easily worked. In Edie Creek specimens iiad been found giving 70 per cent, of gold, but they were of an earlier age than the newlv-distovered reef. Some prospectors believed that the field was richer than Kalgoorlie. New Guinea was a country of enormous wealth, and almost every mineral had been discovered. Prospectors were obtaining platinum, in addition to gold and other valuable minerals, and there were also many indications that the country was oil-bearing. He bad been astonished to discover at an altitude of three thousand feet millions of acres of wonderful country, similar to northern and western Queensland, and admirably suited for sheep-raising. It was land where there were no droughts, flies, wild dogs, or pests of any kind, well drained and with a dry climate

Discussing the difficulties of prospectors ,the warden said that the absence of machinery made anything but the most primitive methods impossible. Six aeroplanes were at present carrying passengers, mails and gold between the fields and the sea, but they were unsuitable, except for comparatively light loading. One company was obtaining a larger type of plane from England, capable of carrying a- heavier load. It would probably be possible then to carry to the fields parts of a battery. The future of the fields, to a great extent, depended upon transportation by aeroplane.