FORTUNES MADE DAILY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17170, 13 October 1923, Page 8 (Supplement)

FORTUNES MADE DAILY.

WORLD'S MOST' WONDERFUL MINE. One of the little-known wonders of the world is the Arorro Velho gold mine, in Brazil (says a London paper). Almost every day for nearly a hundred years this wonderful mine has yielded a fortune in gold and its allied products, while more wonderful still is the fact that, instead of giving out, the lode shows signs of becoming, if anything, richer than ever! The mine was first exploited systematically a few years before Queen Victoria's coronation. Prior to this it was worked for nearly a century by the Brazilians themselves, while there is evidence that it was known to an even older generation. It was not until about thirty j'ears ago, however, that up-to-date machinery was installed, since which time the mine has owed much of its prosperity and fame to the skill of an English mining engineer, who in a short time made Morro Velho one of the most completely equipped mines in the world. Thirty years ago the descent into the mine, wheih is now nearing the twomiles mark in depth, was made by means of ladders and occupied nearly forty minutes. To-day electric lifts take one down in a little more than two minutes. A wonderful system of air locks is installed at the various levels, the pressure at some of which is so great that a complete change of clothing becomes necessary, ordinary garments being exchanged for thick woollen jackets and trousers. Blasting operations take place twice a day, and to be in the mine at the time of one of these occurrences is to undergo an experience which is not easily forgotten.

Imagine yourself standing in an elec-'trically-lighted chamber a mile below the surface of the earth. Far beneath vour feet, and perhaps half a mile wide of where you are standing the miner? are. laying the. dynamite charges, in readiness’ for getting out the ore. Suddenly a sharp tap, like the sound of a hammer meeting wood, comes tc

the ear, and, following it. a might rush of wind, that, unless you are pri pared for it,, sweeps you off your feet..

A minute later comes a low, rumb ling noise that increases in volume until it roars like thunder, while the whole mine trembles as if shaken in the fury of a great storm. Aou are then at liberty to descend to where the miners are sending the ore to the surface to be crushed and subjected to the various processes oi obtaining the ounce of gold which ir yielded by every ton of ore. The pro cesses include cyaniding and purifica tion by what is known as “ roasting.’’ Every blasting operation means thal

five hundred pounds’ worth of gold has been wrested from Mother Earth the value of the daily output being, roughly, a thousand pounds. In addi tion there are various valuable byproducts—among them silver, palladium, and arsenic.