NEW GOLD DISCOVERIES,

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10179, 13 October 1894, Page 4

NEW GOLD DISCOVERIES,

Press Association-By Telegraph-Copyright. Sydney, October 12.

A reef has been discovered near Newbridge, in the Bathurst district, the prospect from which gar_2pz to the.dish. A quantity of the stone has been sent to Sydney for treatment, and it is expected that it will yield lOOoz to the ton*

The question is ofteu asked whether if prospecting were -systematically carried out in Otago some rich discoveries might not follow. Tarnagulla iv Victoria was at one time a busy mining centre, but other rußheß broke out and Tarnagulla became comparatively deserted, it beiug . thought that the bottom had been knocked out of the place. However,_as a writer in tbe Age puts it, it was the "false bottom which had dropped out. Tarnagulla discloses a mass of: reefing country, the quartz pebbles donoting the existence of reef matrices being present to the eye whichever way one turns, aad there is, he . thinks, "very good reason to believe that a little patient, prospecting wonld restore much of its original prosperity to the old township." Four miles from the township a deep little valley lies among the bushcovered hills, and to this spot c&uie some weeks ago a party of Bendigo miners. They prospected for some time, but without enough success to induce them to stay there and a few days after they had left a man named Biggs, his son, and son-in-law, commenced searching for gold in the valley. They at once found good prospects, and after working about for some time, started operations on the line of a reef, laying the stone bare in less than half an hour.

The first bit broken off revealed to the astonished eyes of the prospectors a magnificent piece of pure gold! In less than an hour a flour-bag was half filled with specimens of astonishing richness, One stone about half the size of a brick is estimated to contain £130 worth of gold. Pieces of stone carrying slugs of gold varying from -J-oz to 3oz were qaite common. Darkuess coming on, the reef was carefully covered over, and the bag, with at least £1000 worth of gold, obtained by an hour's work, was taken home. Next day the remainder of the specimens were got out and the work of washing the surface around the small hole was commenced, the prospectors being delighted to find ' flour gold' in such quantities that in the space of about 9ft they obtained enough to fill a pickle bottle and a half-pound tin. It is so fine that it almost looks like liquid—resembling a brilliant sample of Judson's gold paint."