A NEW DREDGING FIELD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2499, 5 February 1902, Page 22

A NEW DREDGING FIELD.

Though the vast expanse of country in Souch America has long been known to be rich in metalliferous deposits, the country, particularly on the eastern side oi the Andes Mountains,

lias remained in such a backward state that it

is not surprising that these rich treasures have up to the present remained practically unex-

plored. Within the last few years, however, rapid progress has been made in the methods of gold-winning, and with the aid of the modern dredge ground that had previously held

its treasure secure has been relieved of its spoxL Itfow that the system of dredging has proved highly successful beyond all measure of doubt it is only natural that capital and enterprise should be requisitioned to seek new fields wherein to labour. This has been done b*- the Transpacific (Brazil) Mining and Exploration Company, and the enormous country lying in the south-east watershed of the Andes Mountains has been decided upon as the field on which to devote attention, this trtep having been taken as the result of an exhaustive test of the ground. As dredging has a keen interest for a large number of people in Otago, a few facts regarding this new enter-

prise will probably prove of interest, and we

are indebted to Mr 3. H. Wall, general -manager of the Transpacific (Brazil) Mining and Exploration Company, for having courteously placed the facts at our disposal. Mr Wall, it may fee stated, haß had -a lengthy experience in mining affairs, haviug "been engaged for 22 years in all its branches, comprising all sorts of alluvia.l mining, reefing, ATorking large bodies of ore, besides .coal mmmg, tin mining, etc- The steps leading to the iorinatkm of the Transpacific Company may be stated briefly. As a result of information supplied to Mr Wall by one "Mr Simon, who had visited Brazil, its to the richness of the rivers in Mitt to Cross-o, a syndicate was formed, and Mr Wall was selected to proceed to Brazil as its representative. He set out as soon as possible, and after some delay at Monte Video &n<i Buenos Ayres, arrived at Cuyaba, ".s destination. On arrival at Cuyaba Mr Wall 'ound. that the property which he had been cefc-pairiied to secure for his syndicate froia the Government of Matto ■Grosso had been secured by Mr J. Markwalder, -a civil engineer, who had a concession of about 32 English miles.

The term of tenure was 20 years, which is

practically a freehold, giving the right to -extract gold and diamonds. Mr Wall then turned ru% attention to the River Rio Manso, a short distance fiom Cuyaba, where he obtained fairly encouraging prospects, but, owing to the wet season setting in, he had to abandon further prospecting. On his return to Cuyaba he spent a few days in exploring Mr Markwalder's concession. The results were most gratifying. From excavations made in the bed of the river lit Wail got samples of solid wash which, when put through the sluice box, yielded as follows . — One yard oi wash from the surface to a depth of 2ft 6in, produced 13gr gold; from the centre of* the wash lyd gave ldwt sgr gold ; or. the bottom, from the centre to the bedrock, the yield -was 2i2gr (lOdwt 2grJ per cubic yard. From the bedrock five dishes of wash gave slightly over 4gr to the dish, equalling loz 2dwt per yard, and two dishes oT wash taken from the crevices in the schist bedrock gave 6£dwt. The average wash from top to bottom, that is from €he surface to the bsdroek, yielded 12dwt 12gr, equalling 6dwt 2gr to the yard, which at 3d per grain gives £1 5s fid per yard. Mr Wall, however, does not build his castles on this average right through the concession, but will be satisfied if it runs from sgr to 27er per yard. Considering the very high percentage of gold which is lecoverable with the modern dredge, the above results

foreshadow an enormous return for the small

amount of working capital requbed for the : retaliation of such a machine, and Mr Wall sta.te3 that this is not an exceptional case. Tlie prospects taken from the entire length of the concession, from the surface of the water to a depth of 3ft, averaged from sgr to 27gr per cubic yard. The only instance in which he saw the bottom v.-aa m the excavation referred to abow, when a dani was btu.it and pumping machinery installed. The earlier

workers only reached an average depth of

about 6ft 6in. Mr Wall found the ground to be groin 10ft to 18ft 'n depfh, ar.d, in his opinion, no deeper ground will te Found on the concession. In the escavauon one diamond was secured, winch, together vith .1 sample of the gold, he has jti h'3 possession. 'j>e gold 11 T\ortb £i ih lOd j.-er oucct, being 980.6 -fine. TLe n^tu-s o". *J«? courury iliroTigh vrhich the Rio d° Oio take? its descent is eorcpoeed of schist arid cuErtz, the latter Wing rather scarce; an-i t-hf river is, so far as could be seen by Mi Wall, very free from timber and boulders, ami the nature of the v. ash is ordinary shingle ana sane, met

jii many rivers in Atisirsictia '.frr.s fi;id is by co means a new discovei" 1 ". It dates buck

to the year 1717, from wlr'rii d-ate it was vorked, principally by Portu^uesi; slaves, till the revolution in 1533, when the slaves were given their freedom, and since th*ti .little or no systematic ininuig has been earned an in the country. From 1722 to 1736 the auantity of gold that passed the customs at Jlat+o Grosso was 27,183 Irilos, equiii to 87J,fO4cz, pot

by Porluguos-e slaves by tho rr.c?t r rlniitiYP methods, with the excer/tion of the K-o de Oro field, -where waler Tares wsre brought in -with scientific engineering and skill equal to anything of that kind employed in Australia. It is practically impossible to ebto-.n anything like a correct estimate of the gold •won, how-

ever, owing to i'-ie heavy royalties and export dut'e" levv_ri o-t nT go'i? exported. Mr ■\Va'l WAi so satiiSe'l v,.fh the Rio de Oro for

dd T cugin~ purposes l-hat be entered into negotiations with Mr Markwaldsr, and secured the rights of the Rio de Oro concpssion. paying him a certain sum, and also £5000 from the gross gold winnings. After Mr Wall's return lo Australia the Transpacific Company was fioated in the remarkably short time of two hours, and i* was afterwards decided' to float a subEiflii) ry company — thfl Hio «le Oro Gold and Diamond Dredging Company of Brazil, wiih a capitcJ cf £40,000 in 10s shares, but the latter was subsequently dropped, and the original shareholders in the Transpacific Company bore the cost of building the first dredge.

Mr Marlrvvalrler, whom Mr Wall had appointed as agent in Brazil, secured two more concessions on the Rio Mauso, each amounting to 72,000 heetr.ies, or about 170.000 acres. Mr MarkwaV.er showed his faith in the property by asking Jor 5000 shares in the company instead of the £5000 agreed upon before. Since Mr Wall's return to Australia several syndicates

have been formed in various States, and five have despatched their representatives to Mat*o Grosso. Three of these representatives have,

Mi Wall 18 informed on good authority, returned to their companies, and one in particular has -made a request for funds to enable him to secure from the Government of Matt?

Giosso concessions that he has applic-d for,

?nd he has further advised theni to p fl y particular attention to that country. This gentleman does not intend to return to Australia for a considerable time, as he considers his pros-

pects are better in South America. On the

foimation of the Transpacific Company Mr Wall was entrusted wrth the duty of securing the most suitable sort of dredge, with the result that he came to Dunedin to have his want

supplied. The dredge will be conveyed over 1

shipments and a carriage of 14 miles -overland. I Mr "Wall considers that the -dredge wiH oe put on the claim at a less cost than it takes to put a machine on a New Zealand claim. The whole of the future operations in this new field ! wili depend in a great measure on the success of this pioneer dredge, which Mr "Wall considers will achieve a good measure of success, and that it will n<?t be the only one that will leave £be shores of New Zealand for that part of the world. The areas taken up so far only amount . to about 8 per cent, of the total dxedgeahle ground available. Mr Wall considers that it is not advisable for individuals to go to this new country, which should be taken up only, by well-organised parties, syndicates, or firms.' The industry will not, we are -told, be hampered by labour conditions such as are in force in this colony. Mr Wall .considers that it is a crying shame that the laws of this colony are so regulated that the time for placing such valuable machinery on such small areas as the New Zealand Government allows should be limited as it is. This is, he is sure, responsible in a great measure for the failures that have taken place in this colony, and this alone 1 must tell directly or indirectly against the j industry. 1