OUR SILVER LODES.

Evening Star, Issue 4289, 24 November 1876, Page 4

OUR SILVER LODES.

Mr Skey, 'the Government analyst, has devoted more .of his annual report to a description of some of the ores recently discovered than any other of the numerous novelties- brought under his notice during his last year’s work in the laboratory. Two portions of this description* are particularly interesting, as indicating in . one case the existence of a mine of a most valuable character, and as illustrating in the other how diverse, and consequently unreliable, are the analyses made by even recognised ex-s----perts; The mine from which most speci-' mens w(jre submitted for . assay in the Government laboratory was the Richmond Hill silver mine, in the Collingwood district of Nelson,' and; judging from Mr Skey’s report, the Colony possesses in ' that district a fund of wealth.the full value of which itwould be difficult to&impute. The resultsof the several assays made were uniformly of an encouraging character, and in four instances the yield Of silver was at the rate of 1860z5., IdUozs,, 3310z5., and 696’ojss,, troy per tpii pjc ore.. These assays, Mr Skey considers, are'exclusive his to the great value of the lode, which he states has been ascertained tp extend for a considerable distance,

and to thicken as it extends. Other lodes in its immediate, .yfointtyq From these samples are now'blihg hsMy£d, and Mr ?key starves the assays'approximate even the lowest of those the results of which are already reported, the value of the property in question can scarcely be over* rated. In confirmation of the accuracy of his tests he quotes the fact that at the Thames abofet three' hundredweight of the same ore was smelted; ‘ ahd yielded silver at the rate of 140oz, per ton. Mr Skey’s second report is on the Mount Eangitoto silver mine, and it is chieffy remarkable on account of the extraordinary difference between the results of assays made by him and by Professor Kirkland, of the Melbourne University—a difference which Mr Skey endeavors to explain in a way which ban scarcely be satisfactory to l)r Kirkland, and which, among those who are acquainted with the character and quantity of -ore- submitted to each assayer, is n#t likely to bo readily accepted as a correct, explanation. Mr Skey made two assays, quantities of-ore which he does not specify, bilt which were really small and by persons who, in their ignorance, picked the specimens on account of their brilliant appearance. The result was a yield 6f Only 43ozs iand - 45ozs‘ per ton. Dr* Kirkjand, on the other hand, tested the ore in a quantity of something like five hundredweight, and he obtaindd 3020zs per ton in one case, and in the ot|ier the extraordinary result of 7350zs to the; ton. Air Skey, in confirmation of the accuracy of his own experiments, quotes the results of assays made by Professorof Bickerton, of Christchurch, who obtained 69ozs per.ton, and of a Air Lewis, in Westland, who obtained 46ozs per ton, and be somewhat hastily, as it appears to us, comes to the conclusion that the great divergence in results is due to all the lead in tlhe higher ones not being eliminated from }he plumbiferous button in which the silver of .the ore had been* concentrated in the bourse of the assay. Commenting on this he says: “Those who are conversant with the process by wfiich silver alloys arejcupelled will readily perceive the danger ah inexperienced assayer is in of being quisled in this way when working under the pressure of high expectations, and. a furnace power, 0 r one not adapted for this process -r-a comment which certainly seems strange if it is meant to.apply to Dr. Kirkland.— * Post.’