PRESERVATION INLET GALENA SEAM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 28

PRESERVATION INLET GALENA SEAM.

Our Bluff correspondent writes: — The galena seam referred to in your is«ue of tlie 18th is identical with what i 8 also named Ta-rawera. It transpires Mr Charles E. Sborie, M.F.I, (of Auckland), has completed a flying survey of the mine. An interesting' report thereof appears 'in the Southland News of the 20th. Sis conclusions are summed up in these words : " The ore is c£ a refa-actcry character — that is to say, it contains sufficient values in gold to pay, but xnese values are locked up in base sulphides (such as galena, ii-senie, zinc, copper and iron pyrites), and when the ores are of such a character, the gold values cannot be extracted by running over copper plates, by cyaniding or by chlorination. Hitherto there has been no process, locally established, by whidh "these ores would yield their valuable .contents, 6o they have lain dormari't. This class of ore will certainly receive .much attention when a smelter is erected in a suitable position. The Tarawera mine is a mine of this class, and I have recently ma<le an exhaustive examination of tlie place and mine, and I have recommended that a smelter should be erected in the vicinity of the mine. This smelter will stimulate prospecting for the detractory ores in the district, and, in addition, will treat ores so obtained at a price that' will leave a margin of profit to both the prospector and the smelter." I am in a position to add a few particulars which, in hi 3 hurried survey, Mr Storie probably overlooked. The back country abruptly mes up in a succession of foothills to the base of the Trible Knobs. The distance from the seaboard shaft cannot be less than a mile and a-half. Cross-cuts (now probably moss-grown and obliterated) were taken out in that direction, and the eeam traced a long way towards the Knobs. The argument to be "derived therefrom is that the face value of tlie rang© opened out will prove to be that of a quarry of^ineralised stone. "Stone got in that way can be mined to the very best advantage Taking at their lowest estimate, these cross-cuts prove there i 3 an enormous quantity of stone to operate on, and. presuming other conditions right, this should be a strong incentive to the enterprise recommended. Incidentally, Mr Storie conv«ye the impression fchat'the inlet abounds in refract ory ores. That is not 60. So far as known, the opposite ie the case. A rich Silurian formation overlaps the granite, -extending Lorn the Green Isles by way of Cuttle Cove basin, through to. the Canaries, and on to Dusky. Cuttle Cove basin is no distance from" the Tarawera ground. A ton and a -quarter of Cuttk Cove stone was treated a.t the Thames School of Mines not ?o many years ago. and it was certified to be " free 'milling stone," yielding over 90 per cent, of gold. Eiglit through from Cuttle Cove mine to the Canaries there is a troa«h of country- the distance bein£ rougLly estimated at 10 miles. The formation of the Canaries outcrop is found to he identical with that ol Cuttle Cove. In that ca«e -we are justified in as&umkig the " free milling " staff continues all through j tlie trough. The refractory ores would j appear to set in with the granite formation.

In that <Sase "the pSbsfc *that can be said x9~ that while there is still a laTge extent o|~ silurian to work out, a smelter process! plant is essential before we .can, with anj prospect of success, attack the granites. All thr-otigh tibe report has a ring ofi genuineness that should recommend it tQ-" favourable consideration. . . -