MINING.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 June 1922, Page 1

MINING.

ao»-<■ THE WAIIIf GOLDFIELDS. RESULTS OF RESURVEY. Ail interim report on a resurvey of the Wailii goldfields has been received by the Minister for Minos, the Hon G. .1. Anderson, from the director of geological survey, Mr P. G. Morgan, and indications are that renewed activities in the mining industry in that district may he expected. A detailed report is in course of preparation by Mr Morgan. The information at present in the hands of the Minister (says the "Now Zealand Herald”) goes to show that some of the views advanced in a previous detailed report on these goldfields were incorrect, or at least required considerable modification. For instance, it is staled that the lodes occur in a scries of lava flows, not in an intrusive mass of rock, and consequently ox

“deration outside the areas at present worked by tile Waihi and Grand .function Companies is justified. The mode of origin of the lodes is thought to he different in details from that described by Dr .f. M. Hell and Mr Colin Fraser in their report, and from the modified view it follows that there is a hotter prospect of new ore-hodips at a depth than had hitherto been thought. -More especially evidence has been obtained showing that the process commonly known as “secondary enrichment” has operated in the western part of the Waihi mine, and that there is a fairly strong probability of “secondary” ore being found some little distance below the present workings which may ho profitably developed if working expenses are reasonable. ft is also suggested that the same kind of action may have taken place at considerable depths in the mines of the Rosemoiit-Xilverlon hills, which were abandoned many years ago on account of the failure of ore at a few hundred feet below tlio surface,. This is considered hardly a probability, hut it is a distinct possibility, which may be held to warrant deeper exploration. On the whole, says Mr Anderson, the report lately forwarded to him seems to hold out hopeful prospects for the future of the Waihi goldfield and by inference of neighbouring districts also. It is to he published shortly in the Now Zealand Journal of Science and Technology-