GOLD IN FIJI

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume VLI, Issue 3422, 20 December 1935, Page 7

GOLD IN FIJI

IMPRESSIONS GAINED ON THE FIELDS. . (Specially written, for the “Gazette” by P. D. Horne, B.Sc.). Gold ! The word, is on every lip, and heard everywhere in the streets of Suva, the present capital of the Fiji Islands. • Likewise the name of Fiji is often to be heard in. the conversations of people living in the world outside this group of many islands for that alluring yellow metal —Gold —seems to have a remarkably magnetic “personality,” as it were, and sets many an idle tongue wagging. Actually gold was known to exist in the Fiji Islands many years ago, but not till 1928 was it perceived that ■there was a likelihood of it existing in anything like payable quantities. In that year a company was exploring the possibilities of properties in the vicinity of the Janawai River, a stream debouching into a big bay on the southern side of the island of Vanua Levu, or Little Fiji, as it is sometimes called. Somewhere about the year 1920 shipments of a cobalt ore were being ■ sent from the Islands. As cobalt is not in great demand, and the price is not high, it is quite possible that the reason for sending it was that it also had a gold content of some value, at events enough to warrant its exFrom 1920 on, prospecting for has been carried out in a more and more thorough manner, culminating in the discovery of the Tavua .goldfield, now described as being “famous.” Nature of the Country. The islands comprising the Fiji group are pre-eminently of a volcanic # ' nature. The basal rock of the islands is found to be andesite, and this forms the country rock of the gold-bearing lodes. At one period of history, the andesite rock has been covered and . often broken, by great flows of volcanic lavas, basalt rocks and fragmentary igneous material, this latter ejected by volcanoes and cemented by molten lava material. Where the volcanic lavas have been eroded by the actions of the elements,, the basal an-* desite mentioned can be seen exposed. Again, in many places, the continuity Ajf the areas' of the basal andesite, is ...MbrOken by the intruded peaks of acid ' andesite, known as andesite “bosses.’' These “bosses” bestow a typical physiographical featui’e upon the Islands. In the interior they produce much of the rugged grandeur of the country. The Tavua Field. At present the centre of interest is located in the Tavua field. Here are found the mining claims, of the Emperor, Laloma, Kevoere and numerous other companies or syndicates investigating properties on the field. The Tavua district, situated some one hundred and forty miles out of Suva, by the new Transinsular roadway, forms what, is known geologically as a structural basin; and the country all round consists of a basicandesite except in places where volcanic tuffs and breccias are found. The lodes or formations which carry the gold values are of altered andesite —andesite altered by the action of hydro thermal waters. In parts they are fairly silicious lodes but are not of solid quartz as recognisable in the gold-bearing veins of the Hauraki Mining District.' The lodes exist -y along a fault line, or sheer-zone as it L is tiermed, and the andesite of these has been mineralised by the solutions, carrying gold and other minerals, percolating up from below. According to reports on the mines by various people connected with them, the public is led to believe that the field is a wonderful discovery and will rival well known fields of Australia. Certainly there is gold in a restricted area on the Tavua field and quite possibly a good quantity will eventually be won, but from what I have seen, 1 think one is justified in saying that the value placed on the fields is much overestimated. Gold Production. There are two mines only in operation producing gold, the Emperor on the Tavua field and the Mt. Kasi on , the island of Vanua Levu. The latter mine produces in the vicinity of some six hundred ounces per month and is, the most promising concern in the place. The “Gold Boom.” Paper reports relate to us accounts of the fortunes that have been made ' from gold in Fiji, but it has practically all been won by gambling with the share-market and in company finance matters and not from the ground. If the fabulous wealth of which we . < are told exists in the industry in Fiji

and the mining world has faith in the enterprises, then it behoves it to develop the claims and to produce a true wealth won from the ground. At the present the “gold boom” is a misnomer and is based on wild speculation. The gilt-edge of great expectations is beginning to tarnish, the field is. entering a stage of setback, and this is being revealed by the present standing of the share values on the Stock Exchange.