NEW GUINEA GOLD

Hokitika Guardian, 2 November 1927, Page 2

NEW GUINEA GOLD

REPORT BY WARDEN

(Australian & N.Z. Cable Association.

(Received this day at 10.15 a.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. 1

The Mining Warden of New Guinea Goldfields ,as The result of adventurous visits to many Parts of the gok area, he expresses the opinion That tremendous mineral wealth will be ootainod from the fields. He says the alluvial miners have hardly touched their claims yet. No underground work has been attempted, but the line of leef D thirty feet wide and has been uncovered and traced by outcrops for live miles. The prospectors expressed the belief, although lie did not identify himself with the opinion, that it contained twelve million sterling worth of gold. He had made what he considered a very conservative estimate of the value of the reef and reached the conclusion that it would pay twenty ounces to the ton at a value of £2 4s Gd per ounce. The stone was easily worked. In Edie Creek specimens had been found giving seventy per cent, of gold, but they were of an earlier ago than the newly discovered reef. Some prospectors believed the field was richer than Kalgoorlifc. New Guinea was a country of enormous wealth. Almost evorv mineral had been discovered. Prospectors were obtaining platinum in addition to gold, and other valuable minerals, and there were also many in- ) dications that the country was oil hearing. He had been astonished to discover at an altitude of three thousand feet, millions of acres of wonderful country that were grassed similarly to northern and western Queensland,

admirably suitable for sheep raising. Tt was land where there was no drought, flies, wild dogs or pests of any kind, well drained, with a dry climate.

Discussing the difficulties of prospectors. the warden said the absence of machinery made anything but the most primitive methods impossible. Six aeroplanes were at present carrying passengers, mails and gold lietween tho fields and the sea, hut they were unsuitable except for comparatively light loading. One company was obtaining a larger type of plane from England, capable of carrying, a heavier load. It would probably be possible to then carry to the fields parts of a battery. The future of the fields to a great extent will depend upon transportation by aeroplane.