A WONDERFUL MINE

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11653, 18 October 1923, Page 7

A WONDERFUL MINE

RICH BRAZILIAN WORKING UNTOLD WEALTH SECURED. NEARLY TWO MILES IN DEPTH. One of the little known wonders of the world is the Morro Velho gold mine in Brazil. Almost every day for nearly a hundred years this wonderful mine has yielded a fortune in gold and its allied produets, while more wonderful still is the fact that, instead of giving out, the lode shows signs of becoming, if anything, richer than ever! The mine was first exploited systematically a few years before Queen Victoria’s coronation. Prior to thi* it was worked for nearly a century by the Brazilians themselves, while there is evidence that it was known to an even older generation. It was hot until about thirty years ago, however, that up-todate machinery was installed, since which time the mine has owed much of its proeperitv and fame to the skill of an Englsih mining engineer, who in a short time made Morro Velho one of the most completely equipped mines in the world.

Thirty years ago the descent into the mine, which is now nearing the twomiles mark in depth, was made by means of ladders, aind oooupied nearly forty minutes. To-day electrio lifts take one down in a little more than two minutes.

A wonderful system of air locks is installed at the various levels, the pressure at some of which is so great that a complete change of clothing becomes necessary, ordinary garments being exchanged for thick woollen jackets and trousers.

Blasting operations take place twice a day, and to he in the mine at the time of one of these occurrences is to undergo an experience which is not easily forgotten. Imagine yourself standing in an electrically-lighted chamber a mile below the surface of the earth. Far beneath your feet, and perhaps half a mile wide of where you are standing, the miners are laying the dynamite charges, in readiness for getting out the ore.

Suddenly a sharp tap, like the sound of a hammer meeting wood, comes to tho ear, and, following it, a mighty rush of wind that, unless you are prepared for it. sweeps you off your feet. A minute later oomea a low, rumbling ncise that increases in volume until it roars like thunder, while the whole mine trembles as if shaken in the fury of a great storm. You are then at liberty to descend to where the miners are sending the ore to the surface to be crushed and subjected to the various processes of obtaining the ounce of gold which is yielded by every ton of ore. The processes include cyaniding and purification by what is known jis “roasting.” Every blasting operation means that five hundred pounds’ worth of gold has been wrested from the Mother Earth, the value of the daily output being roughly a thousand pounds. In addition there are various valuable byproducts—among them silver, palladium and arsenic.