"FOSSICKING"

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3443, 15 March 1932, Page 2

"FOSSICKING"

PIONEER SPIRIT NEEDED. SOME MAKE IT PAY. WHEN CAUTION IS NEEDED. The attention is turned to "fossicking" and prospecting as the result of the high price of gold, has proved profitable owing to the greatly increased exports of the metal, but it has also given the official in the Mines Department a good deal of extra work in convincing a great army of all sorts, of people that, from the point of view of Government assistance, all is not gold that glitters. In fact it has been found that the best returns in gold won come from the men who seek no assistance whatever, but set out themselves, in the old pioneering spirit, to learn the business, and live as best they can while doing so. It has been found that some of the men who come expecting outfits and a subsidy rarely go further when these are not forthcoming. Old miners, of course, have naturally turned to their former occupation with the increased prices for gold, and are nearly all out prospecting or fossicking, or already working claims. "Heaven Help Those . . ." For the new chum who means business there is only one way to set to work, and that is to make for the territory he fancies most, and here he may obtain assistance from the Mines Department regarding prospectively profitable country, and either work in somebody else's claim to gain experience, or talk to enough old hands to recognise the main things he must know. Thenceforward it is purely his own initiative, observation and capacity for going without what he has become used to regard as necessities that can help him, added to a capacity for .endurance and work. Nobody will lead him to rich auriferous alluvial deposits, nor point out a reef which will repay expenditure. He must fend for himself, pack his own supplies, shoot own meat (if any), and work hard if he wishes to make a competence. It is not always the "back of beyond" that provides the gold, however. Recently on the West Coast a man panned six ounces of gold in a morning from a creek that was not far from the haunts of man, and some alluvial workers near Murchison have averaged weekly bankings of dust and flake gold that would make many city workers open their eyes, especially those who have experienced severe prunings of the pet shrubs in their financial gardens.

Alluvial Most Popular Field.

It is after all the alluvial field that offers the novice the best return. To recognise gold-bearing reefs 'needs experience, and no small knowledge of geology is necessary to tell whether the country is such as will repay expenditure on opening up a find. Some of the shaken lands in Westland are so tumbled about that, after a short distance, the reef vanishes, and whether it has gone up or down is a matter for guesswork. Development work is expensive, and though it is quite on the cards that a man with only some six months' experience may find a reef that he can sell, returns are apt to be long in coming. Fossicking, on the other hand, entails the possession of little but a pan and shovel, and if the creek bed or old river bed proves worth it, experienced men can put in rough washing plants with the timber on the spot.

It is interesting to note that 80 per cent, of the men who have'taken out miners' rights have gone to work without any assistance at all from the Mines Department. In some cases men a'nd their wives are out fossicking, many of them working from daylight to dark. Farmers in gold districts are putting in their spare time doing the same thing. A Cockney and an Irishman are living in a dugout and making a living, having nothing to worry about, and there are ma'ny equally picturesque partnerships, because there is something in picking a mate in the gold district itself, where the presence of anyone on the same quest insures the qualities needed.

The Company Promoter. The greatest bane of the Department, and official stated, was the unscrupulous company promoter, who had done more to spoil the gold industry than anyone else. Nothing should be done in this way regarding claims in an alluvial district until the ground has been thoroughly tested. After a reasonable test, the efficiency of which could be approved, it was time enough to approach the public. The same applied to reefs, which should be thoroughly proved by. driving and sinking, and having samples approved by an efficient mining engineer, before people were induced to put money into the venture. It was too easy a matter to pick out specimen samples of small rich deposits, and assays should always be regarded with caution unless vouched for by a competent authority. In one sample of melted gold there was even found

the impress of the wheel of a watch, showing that, whether there was any reef gold or not in the lump, a timepiece had been pressed into service to enhance the prospect.