GOLD-MINING IN PROSE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 646, 25 October 1909, Page 8

GOLD-MINING IN PROSE.

' NOT A GILTKeDGED-LIFE. "' 'HOW- THE-OBJ3 IS' OBTAINED-AND ' ; ..' ". "'! '. ■'..'■' , -. ■ '-,■:■■ ~ (Br "Doj.") When I got to Waihi it was, raining,' whiW I stayed thero itdriziled,'arid when I left at '~.,'. ' the'end of twerity-fpur 'hours' it showed .no "• sign of;clearing. My frie'nd!,.wh'o met me:at I the.station assured me that I was unfortunate—- ' .- "This-is not the usual.Waihi weather, you know—etc." I did not, believe-him, thinking - that a visitor' never' strikes a city on its proper weather form, oven, a. .visitor-,to, Wellington, the Empire City, is met by a most unimperial and annoying wind,; and the natives look puzzled andsay "How extraordinary, why ' there was not-a breath' of wind," . Later , I came to .think that'he. told the .truth unlfittingly, .for. by consultirij .weather- reports ; and other, persons. orHhings witha nasty prejudice against Waihi,'l'have found that 1 it: i» , indeed unusual for' the -mining-, city ■'■■ to ~;'be ■ ; afflicted only with raiii.. However, .as aU'.is n0t....!. gold that glitters, so the'reversei and there was-'' very little of sparkle about-': .the,, gold town.. : " But this is. not a it is.' just a layman's story.of.'Vow;the .itfile retiring ;-,;■ particle' of precious irietai is thrashed, coaxea, ', and decoyed from its place of seclusion.'When tho Sound of -Grinding i« High. . To begin at the wrong end,' as I did, and '•':■'■■ to pass.over such, details as the.pumping plant -" at tho Martha .mine; said to be .the largest in Now Zealand, there is j-the- crushing plant,, the.. -: battery. The. ono : that- my companion- and I ;.. ■' visited, ,was .not tM.battery-for the Waihi-,-.', mine, a ."90-head".plant situated at Waikino,'..-.'.'. but.the.Grand'Junction 49-head.battery. We-,: found our way to itlby.night, guided by lights ' ' and a' roar; liko a'distant. breaker coast, up a-, hill- whore little.drops of water and: .little,■ grains of; sand—the tailings'—had: joined forces ;-,-■,■ to make o-mighty-ocean of. mad. When wo . ' came ito. the battoryv the,' noise was. truly'-:-'., deafening—liko ten thousand 'Wellington.trams, ' grinding over ten-thousand hollow block streets. .-•;'".- Inside the; bnilding we had to make ourselves :, understood by signs,, and, my companion had -■ : to explain tho working of the stampers'to'me :i by waving his arms and dancing, like an ex- '.>. citable Frenchman franticaUv endeavouring to ■■ emulate a-windmill.' That was what-I heard. What. I saw was a-number of-steel, rods re- ,"' sembling so many steam hammers descending 'v. . with great force on the ore; which is mecharii- V .cally. fed, down, hoppers. - ■;■■ After the pre has-been' ground to fine powder-:' '. it goes through the process of washing.- To - see this I Went, downstairs, everything, being "' rim on the "flat" principle, the; ore being gravitated from, floor to floor in the various ; ','. stages of -.its. .treatment:; .- Below *I.: 6aw not the old-timo-- forrii -where' the hand that rocked the "cradle", got the dust, but a .matured-form, the": cradlo idea grown to the. manhood, ■of lar§o flat ipans. where gently-r moving water;- sifts the ■ golden l sands.-' ■'• The.Search for the Philosopher's Storie, ', Prom,the : washing pans wo moved down another tier to,where-the metal of precious composition,- after-the ordeal by' water, passes .'..-' through what may bo styled another \ degree ■"■■'. of purgatory. This is the alchomist's'6earchiig. V after, the■ Philosopher's stone, '.the' metal■ of ; magical power. .But the .modern mining 'eh- .' v . ■gineer!s,method-is riot the way of the ancient "■ alchemist.-, He troubles not with -phials, and ' ■fine; measures, but- works on, a scale cominen- ..', surato with the brewer's manufacture of his . < modarn■;"Elixir of Life." We/saw. huge-;vats,:,; , filled witha mixture of gold ore which-had been washed in alkaline solution arid. a.diluted ~ solution - of..- potassium.' cyanide.. The : mixture •'•■ was automatically stirred so that'the "cyanids" act- on .all. the.-ere, land then the'bo-•-.'■'•■■-■ lutiori which had absorbed all the gold! ! wa«> ' drawn off. Zino '6havingß',-we-next- saw being. ; .-■ .resorted to, to induce the cyanide miser to giv»' up its 'gold. . ~_; ■ The Ordeal by, Fire.' ~ .-;.■'.' '»-.,•-•'.' ■ But price the zinc has hold of the" precious ') metal-it .holds to it as tightly as any.ancien* usurious Jew. In olden times the,stern baron . -wasted, no'pershasfo'ri' on the iwilv money-. .'■'' lender, but when he wanted a loan 'simply piit the Jew,,"on; toast"; in other words,'roasted 111 ? 1 . , '..4 s oxti-acting gold,,the -'■ ' to> the "ordeal"by :.- a room.secured by look arid'bar w< ' j saw this, the. ; zinb':.and-gold' precipitatei being --" heated'in'crucibles'so thatthczinc w'as'driven -,', off and, when cold;-solicKfied-at the'tofof ths"- K ' - Crucible, the gold, settling at, the bottom. The . last stage"was v 'the ; 'm'o'uldiiig of the"gold into''"ingots to be shipped'away'to the.mint!' A Voyage Towards the Centre of,the'fearth. . v But all this work would be like making bricks without, straw, if .theiinan below.the- surface 1 '-' did not bring; the ," paying dirt" to the'top. How the ore is obtainep, from which v and.s" thick-'uns" are ultimately made, was the part of mining- that I saw last.. At-tho l time there,were various pictures in my,mind •of a man who had,found,a gold mine,',chipping - his little bits of, stone, off'tho wall, or walk- ■ ing beside a stream, and filling,his pockets with 'nuggets,, but ,the: real,, thing.—. , To start , with, my cimpanicn and 1.-interviewed the • i underground menager and: got -permission io , 'go below," Then,, rigged out in dungarees, because it was "a trine muddy'' below, we waited at. the top- fPr the cage;'- "When it:oame. v .-;■ it was not like,a modern life, and the inan 1 in the cage.explained with a grin:."The seats are getting done up in pink silk arid cushions'," so we ■ leaned against the,'sides.- and waited for the sigrial' to descend.'''..lt'-'might havebeerianuinber of latterday Dantcs taking a short cut,to the Inferno.,.^Thb-Yirgil: who' - conducted us,was n'ot exactly Grecian, and, hardly poetic. He seemed to forin a natural Sart of the mine, t a sort of semi-petrified man. v ' [o was surrounded^with a metallio. atmosphere and encased 'in overalls, where quartz ■ dust seemed.'to form a part of the -fabric.- ' s was' wiry,, his, face had the.:appearance' of . bronze.':u'st. polished with, chalk,. and -his -' eyes were'of; the colour steel grey. But .while v I was surveying,our. guide, "Virgil"'was die-,' cussing politics.-,with mv. companion,, and the'-.' • lift was gliding do\sri hundreds of feet, into , . the darkness,--. Every ..second'or. so there came'.' a gleam.of Jight, at our side.and ,a. vague , : murmur of voices, telling, that .we were,passing •.'. a le.vel- 'About eight levels were passed, and ';',' then,the lift, slowed down,, andLwe-gbt out '. ';- , at No. 9, ,920ft.;below 'the surface. Underground, 920 ft. -'.'"' P •''.-.'•.'.:■■;.,.;..; ':- • '■• We found ourselves ina v cavern'(tcchnically:''-.: known as tue "chamber"),oome 9ft.- high,' but ' narrowing''off'into' a-'tunnel." Lighting, our', candles,-we proceeded to explore. '■• Water ■;■ drippPd around:us, dembnstratirig'the necessity for the'huge-pump above,' and'all arotrndit •: -was pitch dark; save for-the fitful rhys of Pur-) -.; flickering caudles, rays that would have'uiade •'" the silvery quartz walls fairylike had it not been ■;.-,.. for the narrowness of the passage arid ddsillusioning trucks; pushed along ia' disillusioning -tramline.,by .very-earthly • and, ■ unfaitylike': - miners, It- would, have needed a; very vivid•imagination'to have conjured up. "Bill" as\a -.. fairy, singing a magic lay, as: he demanded' "Why the blazes don't ycr shift yer bally truck.";"'.-While this ; -thought-.; was '..passing.i .","' through my head, "Virgil" reminded me that 'we.had something .to look for-by shouting, •..'. "Look out your;feet don't, elip through .that:',,., pass."',My coiiipauion retorted that my feet\.' couldn't .-slip through any pass,not made to 'order, but, they did,' in<v following .them, [ I;, ~.: descended an"' iron ladder- to .'another . level. ;'. There .'I. w.as shown -how. drives arc'made, and ~,. how sloping: is done;'. We. saw.,-the' miners'; ,' crouched on the dirt, hacking at the. quartz r. ■'■ wall before their faces. Tho quartz was shot.:' down„what wo should .call a, shoot,,but -in— mining, phrase a pass; 'down- into" the truckswaiting . to' convoy, it \t'o'..the" cage; which took,'it'up .to the;.surface. There must .' have been miles'Of,the'narrow tunnel, for the-'. reef .was narrow arid'branched, off in, all direc-., - '. tions. Whpn. all',the ore. has,.beeri taken ,out' the tunnel is filled ,up. with useless dirt, so that the of the ground may bo main-,, . tained. I .was completely lost in-tho maze,', but "Virgil" knew ; eA'ery ifopl of the way, and '~ described' everything. --Ajfter about an nour'e tramping through.-theynud, wo';returncd to "■ ■■ ,-.: the mouth.of tlio levepand ''aaited .for tho [car." "Virgil" sat down, lit his pipe, and' settled himself to'discuss. Dreadnoughts .and-.,. other things of -the -surface,, while my icom. -.-■:' panion explained how Waihi differed frcio tho mines, of tho West Coast—tho "wet. coast,"■■■-.- .j whero, ho said, the mines wore, dry and the'-.•',-.'. miners thirsty, \yhere. there, was no. need .for ;., '. pumping appliances,'for. no water 'oyer trickled.',,';,.' , down, and whero .25.''pubs" ministered to tho ,:: '■/ •spirituous needs of 'a population of 2000. In, . the middle of our .conversation tho Cage cama ', down, and a, few 'seconds, of •very';rapid travel-. V,:. ling saw us ; orioc inovo : on the surface, 1 whore,'' i; after my -underground trip; tho ; dull.light ', seemed, bright,, and even -.Waihi's, Scotch. mtot ,:. as refreshing'as 6unlifelit.„;.,,,. ; ' ,•" : : " ■ , ' ; ,