SCHOOL OF MINES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7514, 18 December 1885, Page 3

SCHOOL OF MINES.

LECTORE BY PROFESSOR BLACK. Professor Black, who has just completed a course of lectures at the Thames, Ooromandel, Ohiuemuri, and Te Aroha, on Mineralogy and kindred subjects, delivered a lecture at the Choral Hall last night. There was a large and influential audience. Mr. G. Aiokin, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, presided. Professor Black, on coming forward, was received with hearty applause. He at once succeeded in arresting the attention of the audience. He has an eminently practical and earnest manner; and the lecture being entirely divested of technical phrases, the subjects were made not only comprehensible but highly attractive. He spoke for nearly two hours, and although the lecture was, it must be admitted, somewhat rambling it was none the loss interesting and instructive. He said he had to address them on one or two subjects affecting not only the prosperity of Auckland and the Thames but of the whole colony, for the more education and information they had as to the wealth of the mineral districts, and how to extract those minerals, the better for the colony. The object of establishing a .School of Mines was to bring this about. He was not in a position to pronounce any decided dictum aa to the mineral wealth of the Coromandel Peninsula from bis short visit of five weeks, for it would take years of study to ascertain those resources, and the best means of extracting the mineral wealth contained in the reefs. He never saw rock country similar to the Thames carrying gold, and had they brought to him a piece of the tufa and shown it to him in Dunedin, and asked him if it was a class of country which would probably carry gold, he should at once have said do. But here they found that this country, by which he meant tho rook country, contained splendid reefs, some of which produced four, five, and six ounces of gold, not to the ton, but to the lb., where geologists would say that no gold would be ound. That, he considered, was one of thefstrongest reasons for the establishment of a School of Mines—the requirement for special knowledge, for not only was the country peculiar, but the reefs were peculiar. He had recently been in the Success mine, and the manager had asked him to point out the reef, after informing him of the returns that had been obtained from it. He looked, but could see no reef, but could see a sort of wall. Here was indeed a reef without quartz, but there was gold through the formation. To deal with matters of this kind a School of Mines was essential, and required development and study. At the Thames they had not only gold and silver, but they bad copper, iron, antimony, arsenic, sulphur, and other minerals. Gold was chemically mixed with the sulphur, as was also silver, lead, copper, iron, antimony, and arsenic, the two latter being the greatest nuisances which could exist in a reef in regard to gold-saving, and they were the curse of the Thames. They had it in all forms, and it became a question whether it would not be better to do without copper plates, and have mercury troughs and long blanket strakes, for then they would not have the same loss of mercury which, when it became sickened, took away the gold. He urged that Auckland should give every assistance to the School of Mines now established. He then gave a clear and lucid explanation of the proper system of roasting ores, a process which he considered essential, and pointed out the importance of scientific knowledge of such matters to local industries by the production of sulphuric acid, of which they could produce any quantity they liked very cheaply at the Thames by the processes he had explained in roasting the minerals. He explained a number of the many important purposes to which this could be applied, including the production of chloric acid, and said all that was wanted was the knowledge of a few chemical facts. These were things which they could make cheaply here, and why then, he asked, should they send to England for them! They could make muriatic acid by salt from the sea and sulphuric acid. They could make nitric acid, without sending home for it at great expense, from the materials they had at their doors. Then sulphuric aoid only required bones to make superphosphate of lime. Professor Black also expounded » very interesting and ingenious theorv of how gold came into the reefs, and regarding the growth of nuggets. Regarding the School of Mines he did not think it would be any use establishing it in the city. It must be where the minerals, the mines, and the miners were, but he urned that the Auckland people should support it by contributing pound for pound, and that branches should be established in the various mining districts. They should get a first-class man to begin with, irrespective of salary, and let him direct and form the school. Professor Black concluded by a brief reference to the Freezing Company's Works, the Onehunga Iron Works, and other local industries. He referred to the latter as an argument in favour of a Sohool of Mines, In responding to a vote of thanks, which, on the motion of the Chairman, was carried by acclamation, Professor Black returned thanks. He would have been satisfied with the earnest attention with which they had listened to him as his only reward. He would take this opportunity to acknowledge the cordial and hearty co-operation he had received in Auckland and at the Coromandel Peninsula.