ALLUVIAL GOLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19419, 30 August 1926, Page 6

ALLUVIAL GOLD.

Sir,—lt may be of interest to direct attention to an important phase in goldmining, which appears to have been overlooked in the past. Many rich alluvial fields havis been worked out and abandoned without a thought as to how tho gold got there; yet in many cases the origin is close at hand in the form of thernuiLVpipes or extinct geysers. In South Africa it is a recognised scientific fact that diamonds are formed in Nature's laboratory, maybe thousands of feet below the surface, where everything is in solution, and brought to the surface through thermal pipes in a solution of mud, which later hardens and is known as diamond dirt. In that country the elements and conditions are favourable for forming diamonds whereas in New Zealand the elements are present. foi» gold. Water is superheated by tho internal! heat to such an extent that an eruption is caused, often so violent as to cause an earthquake. The eruption forms a thermal pipe which continues to play for ages,, bringing volumes of nmd to the surface from the laboratory below, often* intermixed with the precious metals. The • erupted matter is not always payable though containing gold and sometimes-platinum. Other geysers build up hil|s of auriferous material highly payable.' The golden sands of the West Coast a,re probably of volcanic origin now submarine. The extrusion of gold by thermal action was advanced by a- geologist named' Page in a book published over 60' years ago. These thermal pipes are frequent in the Nelson province and when properly understood and explored will revive the nrosperity of many an old alluvial field. This province is favoured for the wealth and variety of its-minerals; recently a bright iron ore was discovered which promises to yield a stainless or rustless iron, such as was reported in tho Herald a few weeks ago. J. Reardon, Ellerslie,