GOLD HARVESTS

Hokitika Guardian, 10 November 1932, Page 3

GOLD HARVESTS

DISCOVERIES IN 'jSAST AFRICA

NUGGET THAT WEIGHED 920 z / '

CAPETOWN, November 1

There are probably few goldfields ivithfn the Empire so little known as he area now being 'worked in the South-West of Tanganyika Territory known a-s the Lupa Goldfie'-d, wnic-h still remote from civilisation, although . ffieya, the nearest township, is a night stopping-place used by Imperial Airways.

The principal interest of Erst Africa generally has been centred on the mule recent discoveries at,.lvakaiiiega, in Kenya, but, the workings in the Lupa district are. attracting kin ever-increas-ing number of diggers. The results o far achieved give'.promise of richer ‘inds when the area has been further Prospected. The main gold belt is something like ifty miles in extent and lies in ,of die most remarkable geological forma•ions in the whole of Africa. The whole district bears evidence—even more s o than Ka-kamega—of volcanic tisturbances.

■ To the north and west lies a vast plain dotted with i land-like hills or mountains—sometimes.. rising to a height of fife- thousand feet- —among Which .th-e Lupa -Aver gently ,ivir.ds its av to that 'belt of broken country vhbr.B the principal ... gold discoveries have be:n, made. .•>

To the sputlr-westwardl lieg, ,11.10 Mbeya range, .rising to over 9000 feet lbove sea-levcT 'overlooking the town-. <h:,p and aerodrome on' it.s southern lopes, it is her? that the bulk of the old dixsjtr is traded for stores, whi'-e every week the mail aeroplane carries ‘p England registered packets - perhaps amounting to s of ounces. ,

SCARCITY OF WATER.. - , The d®»b>pment in-.'.the Lupa Goldfieild -lire • difficulties . If-..-,transport and the scarcity of watch iti-ccrthkinsU'.r-ons of ; the year., hlhc

renter: parti-of. th'e areas ;v three hu-n----1 red-jih’Jks from the railhead,> -and all uds,..#wa":to- Mbeya>-only : seventy niles-tfdifitant, “are : impassable (luring ie rains.

Although ; an ■ -enterprisingis transporting machinery and setting up stamp batteries, iho-difficulties and expense of commencing reef ' work of

ny magnitude are -apparent. Lven during the dry sew on tlie cost of peto] is 3s 9d per gallon. The -great majority of the.' gold diggers, among whom Dutch, German, and tritirh predominate, are still alluvial workers. Many are farmers who leave heir farms during and work he small streams and tributaries of the main rivers-; which hr-e dry. at': >ther times of .the -yehr. •

Any important development,? in the

■upa, as at Kakamegh; - will be among ■!h e quartz reefs spread over -a large u-ea, and in many' cases ' running from ’•en to twenty pennyweights to the -ton. The merit promising/feature" i-s that "he' quartz reefs extend to a • consider- • ble depth, a s the" present 'surface of the goldfield -is but an accident ot time ■-nd erosion, and similar 'reefs are found in hilVs and valleys differing in level by 1500 f.tfet'or more. Th e probability that the'present' level happen.’ v 0 be the richest iri ghld-bearing properties is therefore remote. ■

JEWELLERS SHOP

The record piece- -of reef -so far. dh-'-overed hsis- y'elded 8 per • c°nt.-gold., and ‘was appropriately named : the “Jew-e.l ler's Shop:.”. There are indeed indications that the future may reveal a gold-find comparable with that at Kilo in the Belgian C^vo—surely for : V, rb.e- th'° richest gold-bearing area in the world.

Statistics sh°’v tb«t during 1931 no lev than -190,000 ounces of gold were produced' at the Kilo workings. If any urea akin to that is opened up in Kenya or Tanvanvika, E n «t Africa may -expect a doubled or trebled- white population. : Go,ld-diggers are casual fel’owis,'.and jgoldfind-ei's most casual of all. .-Tl?'? Ingest nugget Vo far"discovered.Srt-not-hs Luna weighed 920 z. . Th e awnev/.p#j*iw»d a- swift course ’n + ° • tbn.-rf'" , r°st town, with a- vague idea of realisation, and a verv real -idea of a bacchanalian evening at the local hottl. N-pedle-'is to say the nugget spent on evening amid a largecrcle -of admit f| ' , n d tlie next day was nowhere to b° found, it was discovered -some t’nie Inter in a neictihnurin'? ben-run. much sc p.-,.„d_ it- s •a>’e.i , 'ht--vp<-' , c«l, to- 60m. Tl<c owner .took particular. cure id it, ntf.'bv mail, but it -rev'er readied its dest;n'*-tidn; >q-tb:'t..he ;1m the s-aht .m-isolat/ou of t -Ming,'. tiV s + orv of his lingget.-',' which at. le-mt Jan 1.-d-cn ii!|.- record.' 1 - for'?. f.ipid"'at.tennation, '* >