THE KARORI REEFS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10625, 2 June 1897, Page 3

THE KARORI REEFS.

la yesterday's isaaa wo gave an extreot from a contemporary concerning come teati of aiione taken from reefs on the Karoti reservoir reserve, Wellington, the lease of which Is held by Mr EL P. Cohen, ot Napier. Mr Cohen yesterday asked a representative of the Herald to call on him. He explained that the Information was made public somewhat prematurely, aa he dehired still further tests, bat as bo muoh had been disclosed he desired the fall facts to be made public He then showed a mass of correspondence bearing on the subjeot. There are seven reefs nncovered, blx varying from 2ft oo 2ft 61a in -width, the seventh going 7ft, Parcels of the stone from different reefs were sent simultaneously to the Ttmtneu School ot Mines, to Mr Charles Ratjen, asaayer, of Auckland, nnd to the Bank of New Zaa< land at Auokland. That sent to the Sobool of Mines was from the big reef, The ore was dry-ornshed, and yielded at the rate of 6dwt 7gra gold and Sdwts lgr silver per ton, the value being £1 5» I{i A parcel of 25001 bof the dry-crushed ore was subjected to hot puc amalgamation, and llawt lßjfrs of bullion, worth £2 4i 9d per ounce, was saved. This Is equivalent 'o lOJdwt bullion per ton, worth £1 3a 5Jd per ton. Tbls is do exceptionally Dear tho assay value aa to prove the ore to be very fiee milliner. In fuct 91 "8 per cent of the gold and 88 '2 per cent of the silver was saved. The report says :— " The gold occurs both fine and in moderately coarse grains, and Is readily amalgamated by quicksilver. Tho ore is eueiiy crushed and treated, mid if it can be onoily mined should piova very viilualilu. Takou in balk the ore contains Ri'ld flitch is too coarse to be wholly eavad by oyKulde. which will savo 65 per cent of gold and 57 per cent of the silver ; bat oyauldn conld with advantage ba used toftvcaDS fins

gold escaping amalgamation on platan or In pane, , Tl}e. ore honelsta of country rook containing jolntn ond lines of,fraoture, olonft whioh fine strings of anarlz oanylng gold ore arranged, and the gold is readily überoted by even ' rough pounding. . . If the Ore can bo easily mined and there in water available the cost of mining and treatment should not, In advantageous circumstances, exoeed half (he present valno of the oro, so that the God Is oor worth following up— that la, if the present paroel 1« a fair overage." The samples sent to Mr Batjen were from fonr of the •mailer reefs. The beat of these yielded 2oz 17dwt of sold aud loz 17dwt> of silver, worth £11 104 per ton. Another gave gold with a trace of silver, worth £5 6b 2d per ton, and the others proved worth £1 la 9d and £1 17s lOd per ton respectively. Three paroels from the smaller reels were sent to the Bank of New Zealand, and the assayer. Mr G, Barns, reports one to yield 2oz 9dwt gold and loz 12dwt sliver per ton, worth £9 19a 2d per COD) another giving gold and a mere traoe of silver, worth £1 5b per ton. The third wbb barren. There were a nnmber of saoka stocked in Mr Coben'B auction room. These contained ore from the different reefs, Opening one Mr Cohen took out a donblo handful of rock. Leas likely-looking ntnff for gold ooald hardly be conceived. It was apparently a fine sandstone, with very thin BtrlDgs of qnartz-like veins running In all directions. Oar reporter cmllrd incredulously as the Idea of payable gold belDg got from snoh Btnff, when Mr Cohen got a pestle ond mortßr, ctuehed the soft stone, nnd panned it off, the result being numerous speoks of rather I ooßree pold. Asked how he came to take I ap the adventure he explained that when I the Karori reservoir was being made some thirty yoars ago several old miners who were employed on the work found pros* pectn of gold In the earth. This was not payable, bat It was concluded that thore must bo roofs in the vlolnity. Search was made, but the sandßtnne-looklng reefs which were exposed on the surface were looked upon as so unlikely that they were not even tested. Some time ego a prospector made some testa of one of the reefs which seemed to Mr. Cohen good enough to jaetity expenditure la opening them up. There was at first some difficulty in getting a complete leato, but recently he was able to do co ond then set to work to havo thorongh tests mad*, with the above resnlts, He expresses himself as much surprised as anybody at snch stone carrying gold, Even in the rlohest samples none is visible to the naked eye, and the gloss only reveals speoks here and there,