OTAGO EXPANSION LEAGUE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3244, 17 May 1916, Page 3

OTAGO EXPANSION LEAGUE.

UNDEVELOPED MINERAL RESOURCES. A luncheon on unpretcntions lines was held by members of the Otago Expansion League on tho 12th inst. in the Young Men's Christian Association Rooms. Mr A. Bathgate presided. At the conclusion of the report Dr Marshall made some . interesting remarks on the undeveloped mineral resources of Otago. Ho said that Otago in the past had developed minerals in no ordinary degree, and £30,000,000 worth of gold had been raised. That was more than had been raised in other parts of New Zealand, and ho thought we should continue to raise gold. A largo amount of gold remained in Otago, if we couid raise it at less cost than at tho present time. Coming to cement,ho said tho deposits at Bluespur were tremendous, and it was auriferous, though not particularly rich. There were also cement deposits at Wetherstones and elsewhere. Tho deposit would probably last at the present rate for 200 years. It was only a question of a cheaper means of treating cement to obtain it in larger quantities. Reverting again to gold, Dr Marshall said we knew that the dredges were undeveloped machines, but the time would come when some engineer, or something, would cause us to take much more out of the Clutha River. He did not believe there was any particular source for the gold, but that it oamo from a wide source. There were a number of other minerals in Otago, and one of these was scheelite, which was of the very greatest importance to the Empire at present. It was used for making high speed tools. It was satisfactory to know that a certain amount of tungsten had been produced from scheelite in New Zealand, but it was only of recent years that it had been worked to any extent. He believed there were undeveloped scheelite resources in Otago that would come into production in the future. Scheelite was a mineral rather hard to locate, and it was quite possible that in some places there were large deposits. There was also a certain amount of copper ore at Waipori, which had been worked to some extent, but nothing had been done recently. As time went on these deposits would become more valuable. He could not hold out any further prospect with regard to copper than that. Then there was tin, which had been obtained near Port Pegasus in Stewart Island. It was quite probable that there was a larger amount than had been discovered, but it was a difficult country to prospect. So far as silver was concerned, we produced practically none. There was a metal of_ considerable value to-day, and that was nickel, and it was found in a very peculiar ore named iron of nickel. This had been found on tho West Coast, and there seemed to be a considerable amount of it. That wa6 the majority of metals we could look forward to in Otago. Antimony was dangerous to touch from a commercial standpoint. Another metal present in Otago was mercury, which had been found on the Waitahuna heights. Mercury was obtained from cinnabar ore. It was quite likely that there was a considerable quantity of cinnabar there, but it was a difficult district to work. Ur Marshall went on to refer to good specimens of hematite having been found, and also to limestone —valuable for agricultural purposes—and to building stone. There had been obtained on the West Coast handsome stone in any quantity, and it was only a question of sufficient demand when a quarry would bo opened. Of precious gems there were none in Otago, though the deposits at Kakanui were just such as wore diamond bearing. He also mentioned phosphate rock before closing, stating that we did not know of any dcp~os.it that compared with tho deposit at Milburn.