GOLD IN THE RIVERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21279, 5 September 1932, Page 6

GOLD IN THE RIVERS

BARING OTAGO BEACHES PROPOSAL TO DAM LAKEB ' WANAKA AND HAWEA SCHEMES The movement to lay bare the bed of the Molyneux River to enable its treasure of gold to be recovered is not being .' allowed to die out. At meetings at Cromwell, Clyde, Alexandra and Roxburgh the following resolution has been adopted"That this meeting of business people, believing that the placing of dam 3 at the outlets of the Wanaka and Hawea Lakes V' would, by uncovering an untold amount of gold in the bed of the Molyneux River ■* in the Clyde-Cromwell and AlexandraCoal Creek Gorges, immediately solve the question of unemployment in Otago that it would assist materially in bringing back to normal the depleted finance of,the country, and that.the large area of valuable land at present useless lying between Cromwell and Hawea could be brought under a system of irrigation, respectfully ,'\ urges that thef- Minister of Employment through the Public Works Department ~~ should investigate thoroughly the position with a view to at once proceeding withllp this national undertaking. Further, we ask that during this investigation no furtherSfp mining privileges bo granted in the area ! concerned."

Dealing with the possibilities of gold being recovered from thp Mclyneux River, Mr. A. Ashworth, of Alexandra, in an in-' , terview last week, said that the goldmining operations which had been carried - on during the period of six weeks whila the dam at Lake Wakatipu had been f§l closed had proved most encouraging. Gold Worth £4OOO Mr. Ashcroft said he had it on authentic /M authority that in the Cromwell, Alexandra, and Roxburgh districts gold had been won over the six weeks of a value M of £4OOO, this representing some 666 ounces. This amount of gold represented |g what bad been purchased in the towns named, and, of course, a fair amount had also, no doubt, been bought in Pnnedin and Invercargill. Had the dam not been closed, Mr. Ashworth said he was satisfied this quantity of gold would not hare been secured. Th«. i f securing of this gold had given a feeling of optimism in Central Otago. Now, however, with the opening of the dam a great .... proportion of the miners had had to start work away from the river, and they were not meeting with the success which had rewarded their efforts while the dam had been closed. During the Hme the Lake Whakatipn dam had been closed the level of the lake had risen about 13£ inches, but there bad been no danger as a consequence of the closing. Even now that the gates had been opened, continued Mr. Ashworth, the Molyneux.was still low. During the tun® the dam had been closed, however, the miners had not Feally got down fo the level which had existed, under similar conditions, some 40 years ago. This had I been brought about by tailings, etc., having formed an overburden on the original level of the river. Seducing of Water Mr. Ashworth said that the history ' of river gold mining iri Central Otago had led the residents to consider ways and means of lowering the water in the river. With the existing dam at Lake" Whakatipu and the proposal to construct a dam at the Sbotover, and the proposal now being brought forward to construct dams at Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea, he was satisfied that the water in the Molyneux would drop below the level of 40 years ago. It was added by Mr. Ashworth that tbe normal flow of water from Wanaka was • 6000 cusecs, from Hawea 2300 cusecs and from Wakatipu 7000 cusecs. v With the various dams constructed and closed, the • flow in the river below the junction of the Manuherikia and the Molyneux would be reduced to between 500 and 600 cusecs. With sucb a heavy reduction in the flow they could imagine what large areas of bed would be laid bare in the'Molyneux. Three Suggested Dams

Mr. Ashworth said he could not see any insuperable difficulties in constructing dams at Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea, nor did anv of the engineers he had consulted on the matter. He said he thought a dam could be constructed at Lake WanaSa for about £IOO,OOO, at Lake Hawea for £12,000, and at the Shotover for about £IOO,OOO. That represented a total of £212,000. What was -that figure comBared with the huge amount of money lat- was being spent every day in unpro- . ductive unemployment relief ? If the dams were said Mr. Ashworth he would say that m the first year of their closing sufficient gold would be obtained to pay this large sum. Mr. Ashworth, who has had a long Mid varied knowledge of gold mining in Central Otago, has been in communication with the" Otago Expansion League and has enlisted its assistance.