THE MINER AS A PIONEER EXPLORER.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XVII, Issue 2239, 14 August 1907, Page 3

THE MINER AS A PIONEER EXPLORER.

[By Professor James T. Kemp.]

Ti'.e rush of the gold seekers to California in 1849, and the quickly following one to Australia in 1851, were cotable migrations in search of the yellow metal, but they were not the first in lho history of our race. There is, iudefd, no reason to suppose that, in the past, mining excitements were limited even to the historical period ; on the contrary, the legends of the Golden Fleece, .and of the golden apples of " the Hesperides, probably describe in poetic garb two of the early expeditious; and long before either we can well imagine primitive man hurrying to tho new diggings in order to enlarge his scanty stock of metals. Among the influences which" have led to the exploration and settlement of new lands, the desire to find and acquire gold and silver has been one of the moat important; and as a means of introducing, thousands of vigorous settlers, of their own volition, into uninhabited or uncivilised regions there is no agent which compares with it. In this connection it may be also remarked that there is no more interesting chapter in the histc ry of civilisation than that which concerns itself with the uso of the metals and with the development of methods for their extraction from their ores. Primitive man was naturally limited to those which he found in tho native state. They are but few—viz, gold in wide but sparse distribution in gravels j copper in occasional masses along the outcrops of veins, in which far the greater part of the metal is combined with oxygen or sulphur; copper again in porous rocks, as in the altogether exceptional case of the Lake Superior niines ; iron in an occasional meteorite, which, if its fall had been { observed, was considered to bo the image of a god descended from the skies; silver in occasional nuggets, with the moro common ones of gold j and-possibly a rare bit of platinum. Besides these no other metal can have been known, because all the rest and all of those mentioned, when locked up in their ores, give in tho physical properties of the latter but the slightest suggestion of their presence. Chance- discoveries must have first rovealod the possibilities of producing iron from its ore —really a very simple process when small quantities are-in-volved ; of making bronze from the ores of copper and tin; of making brass with tho ores of copper and zinc; of reducing copper and lead from their natural compounds; and ] of freeing silver from its chief associate, lead. All of these processes were extensively practised under the Chinese, Phoenicians, Gieeks, Romans, and other ancient peoples.

As the need of weapons in war, the advantages of metallic currency, and the want of household utensils became felt, and as the minerals which yield the metals became recognised as such, the art of mining grew to be something more than the digging and washing of gravels, and in the long course of time developed into its present stage as one of tho most difficult branches of engineering. Chemistry raised metallurgical processes from the art of obtaining some of a metal from its ore to the art of obtaining almost all of it, and of accounting for what escaped. It is, in fact, in this scientific accounting for everything that modern processes chiefly differ from those of the ancients.

Of all the metals the most important which minister to the needs of daily life are the following, ranged as nearly as possible in the order of their usefulness:-—lron, copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold, tin, aluminium, platinum, manganese, chromium, quicksilver, antimony, arsenio, and cobalt. The others are of very minor importance, although often indispensable for certain restricted uses. The manner of occurrence of these metals m the earth, and their amounts in ores which admit of practicable working, are fundamental facts in all our industrial development, and some accurate knowledge of them ought to be a part of the intellectual equipment of every well-educated man. The matter may well appeal to Americans, since the United States have developed within a few years into the foremost producers of: iron, copper, lead, coal, and, until recent years, of gold and silver; but, with regard to gold, they have of late alternated in the leadership with the Transvaal and Australia, and in silver are now second to Mexico.

Despite the enormous products of foodstuffs, Anierioan mining developments are of the same order of magnitude 5 and the mineral resources of the country have proved to be one of the richest possessions of its people.