WESTLAND COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1931, Page 3

WESTLAND COUNTY COUNCIL.

AID TO PROSPECTING. At the last meeting of the Council a discussion took place at the table with reference t 0 prospecting aid to S. Hyndman and party testing tlie deeper levels at Rimu goldfield. The Mines Department had retusd the application (after considerable delay) and Councillors familiar with the locality expressed surprise at the nature of the reply. As an upshot o 4 the discussion, f the Council set up a Committee to visit and report. The following report on the proposition was depatched to' the Minister of Mines on Tuesday last, and it will be seen that the proposi-J tion is very highly thought of as likely to be an imp irtant mining development on the Rimu field : Sir and Gentlemen —In accordance with the resolution passed at last meeting of the Council, Councillors Houston, Wells, Cliesterman, Keenan, and the writer visited the prospecting tunnel now being driven by Ur Samuel Hyndman of Rimu, with a view to reporting to the Council on the advisableness of making a small grant to that prospector to aid him in the promeeting operations’ now being carried on by him in the Back Greek-Rimu goldfield. The locality being prosper'd is situated between the old Rimu goldfield on the one side and the Seddon’s Terrace sluicing district-oTi the other, andl consists of a series of terraces rising from the Hokitika River the high country behind the old rimu township.

It is within the knowledge of Councillors that the old Rimu goldfield was originally worked in a very primitive manner bv the sinking of shafts and

•bsequent driving out. This method of working entailed a tremendous amount of labour and, its a result, only the richest leads could be worked. Tno payable leads invariably existed at a depth below the surface from 40 to 60 feet, and we are safe in saying that no ground was worked which varied less than 2dwts to the load or yard, rt is also within the knowledge of the Councillors , that the Rimu Dredging Company has during the last ten year* owing to efficient modern dredging appliances. been able profitably to a oik ground carrying as low values at 6d or 7d to the yard or load, and at the recent launching of the No. 2 dredge information from reliable sources disclosed that this company had already won gold of a value of approixmately half a million pounds sterling. The returns of gold from ground on the upper side of Hyndman’s prospecting tunnel have, so far as we know, not been kept as a record, but sufficient is known to justify us in saying that large yields have from time to time been obtained by a number df miners sluicing at the Soddon’s Terrace Rush and the. adjacent ground. It has long been thought that the intervening ground which Hyndman pioposes to prospect should be thoroughly tested either by shafts or tunnels in order to prove same thoroughly. In the year 1906 this partie mr locality was favourably reported uijo:i Ly Dr Bell (Director of .the New ZeaUncl Department of. Mines) in his New Zealand Geological Survey completed by him in that year. To quote u-om fils report, lie says :

“A very great deal ol the cli ift or the Hokitika area has not been thoroughly prospected, though the tends most apparent on the surface have for the most part already been worked. There is, however, undoubtedly. much of the precious metaT yet hidden away in the gravels which is not so evident .superficially. i' rom surface examinations it is Quite* impossible to say where these leads are, and the only, way to ascertain their existence is by systematic prospecting in favourable localities where rcassoitinent by river or wave action df gravels which were originally auriferous has been known to have taken place. As every digger on the West Coant knows the leaclk occur in connection wmi the coarser and heavier gravels and frequently associated with black sand. Of favourable localities most prominent are the following.”

' Here Dr Bell includes tli prominent terraces around Kimu and 'Woodstock. No doubt th report prepared by Dr Bell involved the expenditure of public moneys, and now "•<' find a piactkal miner (as Hyndman’s tunnel proves him to be) prespecting the very ground included in Dr Bell’s recommendations yet notwithtanding the recommendation oif this Council to the Mines Department, the latter lias turned down an application for a small subsidy after an irritating delay of several months.

The action of the Department is inexplicable and calls for the scrMws attention of all interested directly or indirectly in the gold-mining indus-

Tlie surprising fact in connection with this matter is that Mr Hyndman was encouraged to proceed with his tunnel and the expenditure ot capital and labour connoted therewith as far back as the month of November 1930. In good faith he proceeded with his work and not until the expiry ol four months does he learn the 'late of his application. Mr Hyndman is entitled to every ■ redit for his perseverance in driving though very difficult ground. In places his tunnel had to be double timbered. and every experienced goldminer knows the difficulties arising when driving through pug formation such its exists in about 50 feet of the line

of his. tunnel. He has already driven 600 feet at liri own expense.

I lie writer is aware of the fact that no deep lead prospecting lias hitherto been done in this locality and from early recollections of the Runu goldfields the nearest prospecting shaft to Hyndman’s propose:! tunnel was known as "Darky Dan's” situated at tiie back of the old National Rank, and this shaft was only sunk to a depth of 00 feet, whereas when Hyndman’s tunnel reaches the line approximately opposite the old shaft, Ids depth will be at least 250 feet below the surface of the second terrace. You Committee feels that no more genuine prospecting lias ever been started in the Westland goldfields, sjj.ul the workmanlike manner in which Hyndman is setting about tlie driving of his tunnel deserves the commendation of all of us, and we have no hesitation in recommending the Council to make a small grant to Hyndman in order to encourage him in Ids laudable enterprise. . 'The Council lias ample statutory power to apply portion of its Goldfields Revenue for the purpose. See section 440 et esquor of "The Mining Act, 1926.” •I. A. MURDOCH, Convenor of Committee.