MINERAL WEALTH

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19137, 21 October 1927, Page 6

MINERAL WEALTH

MOUNT SOMERS DISTRICT. At Mount Soniers, twenty-six miles from Ashburton, coal, lime, building stone, and silica sand are found iu great abundance, and are awaiting development. There are several varieties of lignite, or brown coal, and this coal can be found in almost any direction from the south branch of the Ashburton River along the foot of the hills to Mount Hutt. The seams in what is generally known as Mount Soniers coal are the only deposits which have been worked to any great extent. Thousands upon thousands of tons have been mined and marketed during the past half-century, and for some years the price was £1 per ton, delivered in Ashburton. Than the building and the lime stone deposits there is none better in the, whole of the Dominion. There was a big building boom in Melbourne in 1884, and thousands upon thousands of tons of stone was quarried, cut, and sent to builders in Melbourne. It was, unfortunately, not all paid for, and at least" one Christchurch man suffered very severe financial loss, but many buildings in the great city of Melbourne still stand as monuments to the great value and excellent quality of Mount Soniers builcting stone,- which keeps its colour much better than most of the softer while building stones so plentiful in tho Oamaru district. Across the river, and ou the Anama Estate, there is a big deposit of pink freestone, admirably suited for building purposes. This the Hon. W. S. Peter had developed to some extent,,, and at least one handsome building in Cnristchurch, the Union Bank, was built with stone from the Anama quarries. The lime works, a couple of miles up from the Mount Somers township, put out a big amount of both building and agricultural lime, during the time the limekilns were worked, while Mr F. Wright had them, and! an immense amount during Messrs Blackburn and Smith's time, but before the expiry of the next lessee's term' the kilns were unfortunately shut down. '