GOLD IN NEW GUINEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21098, 4 February 1932, Page 12

GOLD IN NEW GUINEA.

VAST FORTUNES EXPECTED. £20,000,000 AS ESTIMATE. DREDGES CONVEYED BY AIR. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, Jan. 28. Gold worth £20,000,000 from the heart of New Guinea —that, it is predicted, will bo tho monument to Mr. Cecil J. Levi en, whose death occurred in Melbourne the other day. It was Mr. Levien who first realised the almost boundless wealth of Edie Creek and the Bulolo River. It was ho who saw that wealth could only be won by dredges, ' and that those dredges could only be carried over the impenetrable jungles and precipitous mountains by aeroplanes—an apparently impossible task, but ono that has now been accomplished. And it was due to his faith, and his proof of that faith, that £6,000,000 has been invested in companies to work this new El Dorado. When deputy-district officer in the employ of the Commonwealth Administration shortly after the war, Mr. Levien heard of two white men striking a rich patch on the Koranga Creek, at the foot of Edie Mountain. He investigated tho report, and found two hardened prospectors, Parks and Nctllfcton, with the nmst primitive goldmining equipment, taking out a small fortune. Between them they had netted about £40,000. Eor three months after his arrival on the field Mr. Levien never saw tho sun, so dense was tho forest growth. It did not take him long to realise the possibilities, providing the correct plant was employed. And, knowing the country so well, he was the first to acknowledge that, it would be impossible to transplant machinery by ordinary methods from the coast to the wild interior, where it was needed. However, ho was a man of vision, anil it occurred to him that aeroplanes might well bo used in the big task he had planned. From his suggestion New Guinea Airways camo into being, and the history of this freightcarrying service is a romance itself.

While Mr. Levien was doing good work in the tropics Guinea Gold, N.L., was formed, and from this company has sprung the Placer Development, Limited, and Bulolo Gold Dredging, Limited. Both these companies will begin gold dredging operations within two months, and great things are expected by them. It was a red letter day in their history when advice was received last November that the heaviest portions of one dredge had been transported over the mountain wastes of New Guinea by the giant planes that were specially imported for the task.

Tho gross register of the dredge is 4000 tons, and three similar dredges are to follow. Apparently there is a great deal of work ahead of the aeroplanes. Experts say that there is at least 15 years' continuous dredging ahead 011 tho Bulolo Flats.