THE PAPAROA REEFS,

West Coast Times, Issue 10437, 16 December 1896, Page 4

THE PAPAROA REEFS,

(Grey Rivbr Aruus.)

A friend . who has had a good deal of experience in gold mining, alike in quartz aud alluvial, on the Victorian goldfields, spent a few days last week on the Paparoa Range. He was quite delighted with >vhat he saw, and predicts a great f utur< for the locality. He says that nevei since he left Old Bendigo has he seen such a continuity in reefs. The country in which the reefs are found is a wide dyke of blue slate that has apparently been intruded and erupted the coal rocks, which abut on each side of the slate formation. The reefs run in a uniform direction and parallel to each other, and can be easily traced by the outcrops for long distances. There are numerous reefs, some of the leases embracing four or five great quartz seams, like so many ribs. The proprietors of one lease claim that there are no fewer than six reefs in their area. But it is not yet determined whether all contain gold, but in at

least one or more gold is found in the majority of the leases, though the work so far is scarcely perceptible, with the exception of the Croesus, in which the proprietors are sinking a winze on the underlay of the reef, chiefly because the slate there is soft and easily worked. The .vinze is down about 50ft, and although no quartz is being taken out it is known that the reef is 3§ft thick, and solid, continuous, and gold-bearing wherever any stone has been knocked out. The rich leader that is supposed to be running into the reef is the show object of the property, as the stone is really very rich. It requires a long and rough climb to get to the top the hill, as there is no fomed track as yet, and it takes about three hours for unseasoned hands to work their way up. Aiter leaving the line of bush the heights are exceedingly bare, while on the top, which is an elevation of some 3600f c, not a stick of timber is to be found. Even the pegs for marking out the claims have to be picked there on men's backs. So have all the necessaries of life. The gullies and gorges, however, are rendered impassable by a thick growth of wivy impenetrable {rowth, generally referred to as "monkey sorub." But some of the present drawbacks will shortly be removed. Mr Higgins, the County Engineer, is at present engaged in laying off a zig^is? road to the top of the '■inge, so that, after that tr.ick is "onitructed, the heights will be accessible to every one. The view is so clear on the summit that the pegs of rainy of the leases can be plainly seen, although the leases are 100 acres each, which is d j cidsdlv ;i very large area — too extensive a good mtny think. Our informant is thoroughly convinced that no satisfactory progress jan be expected without the aid of a 'ar<je amount of capital. Good as the prospect is the work of development is beyond thy united means of the ordinary digger. Owing to the want of titnber anc 1 the bleakness to be expected at such an ele vation during the winter mouths, it will be well-nigh impossible to carry on any surface work there for more than six months in the year. His opinion is thii the most effectual, and most economical way iv the long run, by which to prospect the ground and eventually work it, is to put in a tunnel or tunnels at the timber line and intersect the reefs. Th; weather would then have no effect on mining operations and water would be available, which would not be the case on the summit. At present the greatest necessity is a travelling roai by which provisions and material can be comfortably packed on the ground. Fofesso. Black has been inspecting the locality, and will probably be back in Grey mouth to-day; and he is said to pronounce the slate measures of the range the most pro mising auriferous quartz field lie has eve? inspected ; and doubtless he will eulightt-n the Government on the point, though Mr M'Kay has, probably, done so already. The mystery is that so many experienced miners should have crossed the range from the eastern and western sides without having their attention attracted by the numerous outcrops of reefs ou tach .side of the Barrytown track over the range. We may be certain that very little of the country will now be left unprospected.