GOLD MINING

Hokitika Guardian, 4 March 1931, Page 5

GOLD MINING

THE AYEST COAST SOUNDS

Air Adam Thomson, of Auckland, writes to the Auckland “Star” as follows

In regard to the geologists’ report on the Sounds district, I would like to say I spent nearly a year in Preservation Inlet. There is no shadow of doubt that rich reefs exist. Every stream on the mainland and the small watercourses on the adjacent islands contain gold, generally loose, but pieces of quartz are also found containing rough gold. On Crayfish island, iij the inlet, a lump of quartz three feet lung, t"'<> f ,,( H wide, and two feet deop found lying cm the beach was broken up and sent to Dunedin for treatment, returning gold to the value of £SO. The ore body from which this stone came was never discovered. One t’ne mainland l**nr miles above Puysegur lighthouse iv e opened up a reef three feet wide, and the first ton of stone returned oix ounces of gold. 'l’his claim, the “Alorning Star.” erected a stamp battery and became a regular gold producer. Another claim, the “Golden Site,” situated on V ilson's river, five miles from the township of Cromarty, found rich stone, and after the Government had built a tramway from the waterT.ont to the mine to convey a crushing plant it became a gold producer. I have seen pieces of gold as thick as old English pennies taken from the boxes at cleaning up time. The country rock is slate, easy to work. One level on the •‘Alorning Star” was driven 150 feet without a shot being fired. The country is very heavily bur-bed with timber suitable for all mining purposes. and there is no scarcity of water. It is one of the places ’in New Zealand that deserves attention, for there are thousands of acres of gold-bearing land to prospect.