PROSPECTORS ALL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19943, 30 October 1934, Page 3

PROSPECTORS ALL

IN SOUTHERN RHODESIA WORKING FOR EMPLOYERS In Canada and in Australia gold exists only in certain districts. There the prospector is in a community of his own. distinct from the rest of the world. In Southern Rhodesia gold may be found anywhere, and everybody prospects, says a writer in the “Manchester Guardian.” But as the gold is seldom found in alluvial form, there is no living for the wandering '“panhandler.” The man who earns a living from gold in Rhodesia is the mineowner, with his homestead, his halfton truck, and invested capital in a five-stamp mill that can be heard throbbing unceasingly day and might, somewhere in the veldt. Or, indirectly, the mine employee, who may draw his regular cheque from one of those big mining companies whose dividends can create such excitement in Throgmorton Street. The only man who can be compared with the hobo prospector is the very rare “grub-staker.” The grub-stajker is sometimes hired to prospect on another person’s account, and he does this usually because he cannot find other employment. The employer provides him with food and pocket-money; supplies accommodation, and meets all other expenses, and transports liim to the district to be covered. Any gold found is staked in the name of the employer, though by agreement the grub-staker usually receives a percentage of the output from any mine thus established. Testing an Outcrop Gold in Southern Rhodesia is found as veins running through reefs of quartz or other gold-bearing rock. Hence prospecting consists in locating these reefs. Excepting a highly expensive boring process used only by the mining companies, this can only be done by taking samples of the rock where a reef outcrops through the surface soil. Such outcrops are to be found everywhere, but they are by no means all of gold-bearing rock. A piece of the out-crop is chipped off by means of a hammer, and the sample carefully examined for traces of gold. “Visible gold ’ (magic words in Africa) denotes a rich reef, but there are many workable places in which the gold is insufficient in any sample to be seen. But prospectors soon learn to recognise likely kinds of rock, and these will be

i examined further. A suitable piece will be ground with a heavy iron pestle j and mortar, and the powdered rock ; panned by the method familiar to all i Klondikers: the sample is washed by | successive applications of water, which | are carefully poured away, taking | some of the dirt away each time, j Eventually the heavier particles of gold (if there are any), having sunk to the j bottom of the pan first after each j wash, are left in sufficient proportions to be visible to the naked eye. Then the fun bgins. Banks’ Part. For a small fee the commercial banks in Rhodesia will accept samples of rock, and even sand from mine dumps, and send them to their special assay departments for analysis on behalf of their customers. This is an invaluable service to the small mineowner or private prospector, who by this means is able to tell the value of his reef and what return he can expect if he starts crushing. In Rhodesia everybody prospects. A prospecting license costs only one pound a year Claims can be pegged on almost any property except land under cultivation or within the native reesrves. “Trespassers will be prose- « cuted” is a notice never seen in Rho- ! desia. Farms are of an area unknown i in this country, and the pegging of I claims causes no inconvenience. When a prospector strikes a goldbearing outcrop he completes a notice printed on cloth, which he nails to a tree near his claim, or which he flies from an improvised stake. Within twenty-one days he must register his claim with the Government or it will ! become void. No other party may ! prospect within a certain radius from I 1 his notice while it remains valid. Then | the claim must be “developed.” Natives will be employed to follow the reef j by digging, and further samples will be assayed to see if the original values are maintained. After that the prospector will decide whether to erect machinery and start crushing the rock, when the real business of goldmining will have begun. Rich Strikes ! Occasionally rich strikes have been | made, but where there is no alluvial ! gold such things as nuggets are hardly ! ever picked up, and few people are ; ever made rich in a day. Nevertheless ! i prospecting is most fascinating, and j ! people of every class or profession, I | lake out licenses each year. They can I be seen to stop their cars In order to j sample outcrops of rock visible from | • the road. A hammer is always in- i eluded on their shooting expeditions. : Valuable reefs have even uncovered in | the process of ploughing, and every farmer hopes to find gold on his lands. 1 j It is no unusual thing to find a per- j son carrying on business as a store- ' i keeper, or as a farmer, or as a native ! trader, or even as a doctor, and running a small goldmine somewhere else at the same time. Frequently only i a native is left in charge ol the mine. Most successful mine-owners were originally in other businesses. It is a great adventure, this search for gold. It has been estimated that every ounce of gold (now worth nearly £7 with the premium) costs the world £lO to produce. And it is the unsuccessful prospector who pays the difference. But many of the unsuccessful ! prospectors prospect only for a hobby, and are quite prepared to pay for their entertainment.