SEARCH FOR GOLD

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 81, 17 March 1933, Page 12

SEARCH FOR GOLD

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE WEST COAST POSSIBILITIES. AREAS NOT PROSPECTED. “Gold did not peter out in the Westland fields,” said an elderly son of the Coast when discussing the prospects of a revival of the mining industry the other day. “The first wave of miners to the Hokitika, men from Otago, who carried their swags over the ranges or pulled iu open boats around the coast, men who pourecJ over the Tasman from Victoria, sought an Eldorado, and some of them found it. “The aim of every man was not a living, but a fortune. After favourable sea conditions the black sand of mils of beach was full of fine gold that had come down the rivers from nature’s mighty crushers, the glaciers, becoming finer and finer as it moved, to be thrown back on the beaches by heavy seas. The first ‘black sanders,’ according to the records, found some patches of rare richness. One to two pennyweights to the dish was not an uncommon yield. Individual miners, whose most efficient plant was the cradle or the long tom, got as -ruch as 100 ounces a week. “It was not surprising that Hokitika soon became the largest town in New Zealand, with its port and roadstead crowded with shipping. In these days it was through Hokitika that New Zealand received most of tbe news from the outside world. As a matter of fact, the news of the fall of Paris in the Frapco-Prussian War was Brought to Hokitika by pigeons taken out to a ship from Australia. ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. “From the beaches operations spread to the alluvial areas, where the gold was ‘easy’ and by degrees methods became more advanced, surface sluicing being succeeded by hydraulic sluicing. In this period there was huge expenditure by private concerns and by the State in constructing water races over long distances. “The next phase in South Westland was dredging and during tho boom in that form of gold winning no fewer than 200 dredges were established, some with not much chance of success, owing to mismanagement, over-capitali-sation and other causes. It is significant, however, that within two years of the first rush of 1864 tho maximum output of gold was obtained. “But although the ‘easy’ gold was soon secured, the field did not peter out in the ordinary sense of the term. The industry dwindled because of the greater attractions offered to men in the timber and other industries, where the wages were relativly high. The fact that the exodus took place from this cause is a fairly clear indication that the average return from gold was not very high. Probably the average miner never made more than a living, The sons of the old miners thought they ' could do better on wages and they wanted raoro certainty. Actually u I generation drifted away to Other things and, as is usually the way of life, those other things held them.

BACK TO THE FIELDS. “Now, under the influence of the depression, combined with the fact that ■ gold commands a price much higher than any old miner received, there is a movement back to the fields. Much of the knowledge of the past has been lost, but it will be learned again, and no doubt some very agreeable discoveries will be made. 1 have no doubt that, as is the case in Central Otago to-day, good patches will be found and in many directions claims will ‘pay wages.’ At present m6st of the claims ih operation are around ole! workings—l do not refer, of course, to the various dredging enterprises, but to individual mining. Under the Unemployment Board’s scheme, however, there will be comprehensive and systematic prospecting on a wide scale, and profitable though less fevered industry may result. ’ ’ Tho possibilities of the future are indicated in a bulletin by Dr. James Mackintosh Bell, issued by the Department of Mines in 1906. “A very great deal o? the drift of the Hokitika area,” it. states, “has not been thoroughly prospected, though the leads most apparent on the surface have for the most part already been worked. There is, however, undoubtedly much of tho precious metal yet hidden away in the gravels which is not so evident superficially. From surface examinations it is quite impossible to say where these leads are, and tho only way to ascertain their exis’ leave is by systematic prospecting, shaft sinking, test pitting, etc., in favourable localities, where reassortment by river or wave action of gravels which wore originally auriferous has been known to have taken place. LITTLE FRESH KNOWLEDGE. “Of favourable localities, the most prominent are perhaps the following:— The various terraces of the Arahura Flat below' Humphry’s Gully; the prominent terraces around Rimu and Woodstock; tho old channels of the Hokitika river near the Bluebottle Terrace; the i old channels of Kanicri Creek north am 1 i ■:'<( Cardiff Terrace; and the old son between Lake Mahinapua and

the sea and northward from Lake Mahinapua ast of Mahinapua Creek toward the mouth of the Hokitika river.” Since that report w r as prepared some of these areas may have received some attention, but, generally speaking, knowledge of this and every other goldbearing area of the West Coast has not been greatly enlarged in the interim. , Since the dredging boom burst, private enterprise has been chary of spenciug money in mining or too much preoccupied with other pursuits. But confidence is returning, and apart from the activities of the Unemployment, Board a good deal of interest is awakening. It was explained by- one Hokitika authority that with electric power now available to pump water in many places to higher levels than could be touched by the old races, large aicas of ground may now be investigated, and, if rich enough, worked. Several ventures are maturing and may help to usher in a new cky for mining. ESSENTIALS FOR PERMANENT E. Another expert saiJ that in New Zealand, as in every other auriferous country, the first phase of mining was a feverish rush for the rich deposits that could easily be secured. The aim was to get the most money’ in the shortest time without a thought for the permanence of the industiy. That phase had passed and with it, he hoped, the “flo-

tution industiy,” which was more concerned with getting easy money out of the packets of the public than with winning it from Nature. The second phase, which might have permanence if handled in a businesslike way, was now beginning. It would see long-range enterprise that concentrated on comparatively low grade deposits which could be exploited profitably if efficiently worked by machinery. The Rimu Flat dredging concern was an example of this. The ground had been bored systematically and the company knew fairly accurately the return per yard of each month's working. With this knowledge, tbe main question was the cost per yard. I’ropositions of this nature require a considerable amount of capital. To secure it from the public it is essential that there should be confidence in the promoters and in the stoim and accuracy of their test figures. Obviously, therefore, preliminary investigations should be in the hanou of engineers whose names are a guarantee of good faith. “N'.Z. Herald.”