OUR UNDEVELOPED MINERAL RESOURCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 12

OUR UNDEVELOPED MINERAL RESOURCES.

Mr Ashcroft's able lecture on the auriferous resources of Otago and Southland has scarcely received the attention it merits. It was a brave effort to enlist public attention to, and induce a more systematic search for, golden deposits, which, so far as experience has gone, are at present and for all practical purposes only partially and insufficiently developed. Everyone who possesses an intimate knowledge of the subject regards all that has hitherto been done in the way of gold mining in Otago (as for the sake of brevity we will designate the provincial districts of Otago and Southland) as a mere scratching of the surface in a few isolated localities. The rushes to Marlborough, Westland, and the Thames, following in quick succession, lured away vast numbers of the pick of our miners, just as they had commenced to develop the richness of the country. Since then mining has languished. Of the old experienced miners of the early fifties, who came hither from Australia, some are gone for ever, and the majority of those remain- : ing are scattered over New Zealand, j The young men do not, as a rule, take kindly to mining, and the result of these various circumstances is that the mining population has dwindled from 20,000 in 1864 to 11,000 in 1887. The intention of Mr Ashcroft's lecture was avowedly to give a fillip to what must be regarded as a stagnant industry—one of great value and importance to the community, which has already added 148,000,000 to the wealth of the province, and is even now contributing an average exceeding a quarter of a million per annum to the common stock. The lecturer told his hearers— "We have of late " passed through a period which has " somewhat daunted us, and one of my " objects is to inspire you with a fresh 11 hope." To this laudable end he addressed himself throughout, recapitulating the disclosures of the past in regard to our auriferous resources, pointing out what science has to say on the subject, indicating what the future may fairly be expected to disclose, and noting the principal obstacles in the way of development. "To " say nothing of our unexplored " western ranges, the area embraced v (within the known and recognised " gold-producing districts) is 150 miles " by 100 miles— equal to 15,000 square " miles, two-thirds of which may be " said in one sense or another to be 11 auriferous ; or 10,000 square miles, " including mountains with quartz " reefs, mountain tops with alluvial " deposits, terrace formations, the " margins of old lakes and rivers at *' various elevations, modern river beds, " deep leads yet to be disclosed, and " auriferous beaches extending for " miles along our sea coast." Surely here ia " ample scope and verge *' enough " to stimulate adventure and excite the enthusiasm of the prospector ! It is quite true that no new Gabriel's Gullies have come to light, though it may be questioned whether Tinkers and Drybread are much behind that famous discovery; and as there was absolutely nothing in the external appearance of Gabriels indicative of its buried treasures, so there is nothing visionary in assuming that there are other equally rich deposits in the undisturbed gullies that seam our hills and mountain's. It is certain that if Gabriel Bead had gone a quarter of a mile up the gully or down it, he would have missed his fortunate " find," and then it might have been that at this present day nothing would have been known of Otago as a gold country.

There appears to be a "literal" error in that part of the lecture which relates to alluvial mining. Mr Ashcroft is represented as saying that out of 3900 alluvial « mines " in the province H6O are Chinese, As there are only about 3300 Chinese in the entire provincial district we conjecture that miners i$ s intended, and this would be nearly the correct estimate. "The Celestial has <* taught u« many a useful lesson," said the leotaurer, and all impartial observers will adeepfc the remark. Aad one lesson worth noting just now, when

there is a rustle and a stir amongst the dry bones of gold mining enterprise; is that the Chinese do not care to meddle with quartz lodes ; they always stick to the alluvial. They are wise in their generation. It is computed that gold obtained from the rock in Victoria has cost on an average upwards of £5 per ounce. But a few magnificent yields dazzle and bewilder and ensnare the public. Alluvial mining is more unpretentious. Exceptional cases of great yields, such as those at Oriffel and that of the wonderful Shotover terrace of long ago, do sometimes occur. But as a rule the product of an alluvial claim can be calculated with almost mathematical precision. So many cubic yards — so many pennyweights, with the chances of occasional rich patches. One caus6 of the frequent disappointments resulting from the working of quartz veins and lodes is that many supposed " reefs " merely consist of " slides " brought down from the mountain tops in the far away time, when the forces and energies of Nature were greater and vaster in their operations than they are now.

This consideration induces a brief retrospect of the scientific side of Mr Ashcroft's lecture. Of course he did not attempt to burden a popular lecture with abstruse scientific conundrums. What he did was to explain the conditions under which gold has been deposited, and this part of his discourse was very cleverly managed. He said just enough to interest, and not ■ enough to tire his audiences. It is evident that unless the searcher pursues his work with some due to the past operations of Nature, he is not at all likely to be successful. Mr Ashcroft's great point was his insistance upon, and elucidation of, the glacial theory. No observant person, possessed of even a rudimentary knowledge of geology, who has travelled through Otago, can possibly entertain \ a doubt of the tremendous part played by glaciers in the derangement of the country. The terraces, in some places 3000 ft overhead, broken and faintly limned on the mountain side, but quite distinguishable to the practised eye ; the gorges cut by the grinding of gigantic ice-knives ; the plains where, beneath a scanty layer of turf, water-worn gravels lie in beds of eighty and a hundred feet in thickness; the drift rocks superimposed on elevated plateaux j the smooth rock-walls bearing the markings of the ice-king's pencil — strice — the terminal and lateral moraines — all speak, plainly as print, of the glacial age through which New Zealand has passed. It is necessary for prospectors to thoroughly learn this lesson, and i accustom themselves to search for gold j by the light of the knowledge thus acquired. t( Wrong notions," says Mr i Asncrof fc, M have been entertained as to " where gold is to be looked for." Does not this account for the failure of many a prospecting party? Mr Vincent Pyke, as quoted by the lecturer, told the people long ago that "our deep leads are over our heads ; " and if by the phrase "deep leads" original deposits are meant, he was quite correct in his vaticination, as witness Oriffel and Mount Buster and Oameron's golden ledge high up in the Knobbies. We entirely endorse Mr Ashcroft's views when he says, " Hill " tops and terraces, old and new, river " beds, old and new, lake beds, old and " new, will yet yield up immense quanti- " ties of the precious metal to the Intel- " ligent miner, , , . The gold we " have already got, is, so to speak, a " certificate of the great richness of " the parent rock — there is plenty j " more where that came from. We " have only got samples as yet here " and there from the . surface ; and if " we JbhinJ? of the vast quantities of " gold whiGh have been washed out to " sea through thousands of years, what f must have been the wealth of the " rocks which have been squandering " gold for ages and still leave us plenty « to spend ? "