GOLD DISCOVERED

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19363, 17 September 1934, Page 6

GOLD DISCOVERED

■ CLAIM AT WHATAWHATA, 11 i . j PROSPECTORS IN THE HILLS. 1 1 l i ! j ‘i ; REEF ON BRYANT BLOCK. TRACES OF SILVER FOUND. * Under circumstances which parallel the strangest and most romantic incidents of fiction, three amateur prospectors have discovered a reef containing gold and silver on the banks of a swiftflowing mountain stream In a remote corner of the Waikato Land Settlement Society’s property at Whatawhata. Although not gen- ' erally regarded as a gold-bearing. area, this claim In the hills has yielded quartz dlsoloslng small quantities of the two preolous metals, and tho results of assays by the Thames School of Mines have prompted further Investigations, whloh it Is hoped will give a clue to richer discoveries. About two years ago three settlers in the Whatawhata district, Messrs A. J. Gallichan, T. B, Walmsley, and J. Walmsley, decided to follow the advice of an old miner, and spend their ; leisure hours fossicking in the foothills of the ranges beyond Whatawhata. For some lime they carried on their search for . a possible El Dorado without success, , penetrating far into the bush and fern clad gullies, and combing the steep' ridges, until a strange trick of fate intervened to furnish a clue to the whereabouts ol what has since been found to be gold bearing quartz. In a dream one of 1 the trio saw his dead father, who led 1 him to the banks o! a mountain stream, and pointed out an outcrop of rock, which he indicated as the object oj the searchers’ quest. A Remarkable Sequel. Little: attention was paid to this premonition ,of the ■ impending discovery, and the fossiokers continued their prospecting in the hills, until one day, shortly after this incident, the recipient of the instructions came upon a spot in a deep valley which possessed characteristics corresponding with the vivid description of the reef disclosed in the dream. Samples of the dark slate grey rock were taken, and the dull sparkle of a yellow mineral running through several fragments aroused the hopes of the trio. Most of this gold-like content of the quartz turned out to be iron pyrites, but a subsequent assay of several pieces of the rock indicated the presence of small quantities of gold and silver. Although the existence of the reef of rock has been known for about two years, no real attempt has been made to work the claim on account of several difficulties, but since the land running ’into the foothills has been taken over by tli' Waikato Land Settlement Society, the three prospectors have approaohed the directors of the society and described the whereabouts of the reef, and if further assays are promising it is probable that the Investigations will be carried to a more forward stage. The Reef Inspected. A visit to the scene of the discovery was paid on Saturday by a party including Mr D. V. Bryant, founder of the Society, Mr W. 11. Baker, B.Sc., of Thames) a mining expert, and formerly director of the Thames School of mines, Messrs T. B. Walmsley and Gallichan, and Mr G. Gaylor, a wellknown diviner of water and minerals. Although the lay of the country makes the formation of a. road to the claim possible 'without any great difficulties, in its present state access is restricted to narrow cattle tracks up steep ridges and through deep gullies, and the party found the going very hard over most of the distance from the Society’s settlement. More than a mile from their objective Mr Gaylor, who was using his divining rod of fencing wire In-an endeavour to locate the gold by this method, found'a very strong pull exerted from the direction of the hills. He followed the course Indicated by the rod, and although he had not been in these hills previously he continued ahead of the party, and ultimately reached a spot high up on a ridge, and directly above the site of the reef. The rod showed the reef at this spot to be about two feet wide and about forty feet below the ground. On tho banks of the stream Mr Gaylor took further soundings and expressed the opinion that the reef proper was between nine and ten feet below tha surface. Assay Samples Taken, Several holes were drilled and gelignite was used to blast holes in the rock. No actual gold was revealed, but pieces of rock streaked with iron pryrites and other minerals were disclosed, and samples were taken by Mr Baker for assay purposes. If the results of the tests prove that there Is sufficient gold in the banks of the stream to warrant working it, it is possible that a waterfall a short distance upstreani will be harnessed to provide power to operate the necessary equipment. In the moantime those concerned are optimistic regarding the possibilities of the reef and the results of the assays are being awaited with interest. During their inspection of tho stream, an interesting discovery was made by the party in the form of a large outcrop.of rook showing numerous petrified and fossilised shells of a type similar to tho comnion pipe shell. The presence of these shells, deep In tho hills and bearing evidence of great age, aroused speculation as to their origin.