THE BOLIVIAN GOLDFIELDS.

Thames Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 10201, 3 May 1912, Page 1

THE BOLIVIAN GOLDFIELDS.

Bolivia, {is destined to biecome one of the great gold-producing countries of the world, according to Major P. IL Fa.wcett, a. recent tiiaivellei-. The republic is not likely to attract ordinary immigrants for many decades to com©, since its conditions are unsettled and its ' forests, which tesin, with ferocious beasts and poisonous reptiles, are almost impenetrable. Perilous swamps, debilitating fevers and hostile natives are among the dangers that the explored' is required 'to face. But Bolivia has enormous mineral wealth, and bate viery extensive de^ posits of gold in rteefs and in riverl gravels. Major Fawtoett states that the geoloigist finds gold everywhere in the republic. "Immense masses of auriferous culaai-z, running per--haps one-half to one and a-half ounces to the ton," he says, "can ,ba encountered Mivoughouf the Andes, .^liile tiie gold-bea.ring slates found in the east, which a.t St. Domngo have rea-ohetl 80 ounces to the ton, persist through southern Peru a,nd Bblivia. Thtse foTTrtaitions have befen dlenuded for hundi-eds of tli/Hisandg of years either into' the old glacial moraines of tiie wlestem. heights or into the old river beds and existing torrents of the abrupt ! eastern slopes. None of these have been more than sdratched. A 1 great I gold district extends over 400 square leagues in the r.eisrhbcui"liood of Santm Ovz, and pushes out j like a wedge into south-westom |.Brazil. Remains of primitive^ w'asliings all id quartz workings of the Jesitite, aibandoned o<n theii' expulsion, fairly litter the emui-try."' Southern •Bolivia possesses also what is prbbalbly the ' richesfc tin region in the world. The republic is likely to benefit very greatly from the opening of the Panama Canal and by thei completion of the'trars-atndine railway, whicih is at present, under con vfitiruotion. In the rueai' future it may offer ai v'&vy attractive field for mining •vtenture©.