GOLD DREDGING IN OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 28

GOLD DREDGING IN OTAGO.

REVIVED BY UP-TO-DATE MACHINERY. An order for a new and up-to-date dredge ha* been placed in the hands of Messrs Stevenson and Cook, fort Chalmers, by a, gentleman representing a, pmall syndicate engaged in dredging over in Victoria. These gentlemen are nearly all New Zealandere, who Jiave made a close fctudy of gold dredging on the latest principles, and being familiar with some of the auriferous areas in Central Otago have arrived at tho conclusion that a. certain area will j-ield very payable returns per medium of

the dredge which they have just commissioned the Maori Ironworks to build for them. The pontoon will be 80ft long by 30ft wide, the buckets having a capacity of five cubic feet, and the boxes will be supplied by water from two lOin centrifugal pumps. The spoil will be deposited into a large box, and two smaller boxes will receive the silt 10ft from the drop shoot, and another pair of similar boxes will receive the remainder of the spoil about 3ft from the end of the main box. By this means it is expected to intercept all the fine material, which will be discharged on the surface of the tailings. In other essentials this dredge will differ but little from the ordinary type, but a radical departure from the old order is noticeable in the machinery. Instead of boiler and steam engine, the motive power is to be supplied by a 90 B.H.P. Mersey suction gas-producer engine, by the use of which it is calculated that fully twothirds will be saved in the cost of fuel alone. . The whole of the capital for the new ■ venture is being provided by the syndicate referred to, their faith in the project being based on intimate knowledge of the ground to be worked, but for private reasons the names of the enterprising miners, and also the locality selected for operations, are withheld from the public for the present; but as they are reported to have done well over in Victoria, and are all men of wide experience plus local knowledge, it is fair to assume that their sanguine expectations of success bid fair to materialise. The sum total of their calculations is estimated to result vn a return of about 40oz per week when the new dredge gets fairly down to business and as this is the first occasion in which suction gas engines have been utilised for gold dredging purposes the result of the new enterprise will be awaited with keen interest, and if expectations are realised many auriferous areas now regarded as being unpayable will doubtless come in for a larger share of public attention.