THE MINING INDUSTRY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4310, 29 August 1921, Page 2

THE MINING INDUSTRY.

GOLD-BEARING QUARTZ AT WAITEKAURI. ’ AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY. . The discovery in the bed of a creek at Waitekauri of loose quartz, ai which specks of gpjid are visible to the naked eye, and the subsequent • finding, by following up the trail, on the slope above the banks of the creek of a number of puartz boulders of varying dimensions, led the interested party to set tp work on a quarts bestrewn patch. . As a result of the operations a quantity of lopse goldbearing quartz was gathered up, the weight of which is estimated at from four, to five tons.' ' From this the finder selected about s,cw.t of stone, in all of which gold in the form of specks and small flakes was visible. The encouraging prospect was followed up by the starting of a crosscut into .the slope some li*tie distance beiow the surface quartz. The stone on the surface is" said to have all the characteristics associated with the quartz that came from the original claim some years ago, and which -'was responsible for. the rush to Waitekauri about 30 years back, resulting in the • creation of a flourishing mining township, and the - subsequent winning _of many thousands of pounds worth of gold. Foi' some years afterwards, and even after the .apparent exhaustion of the bulk of the precious metal in that district, prospectors have from '.time to time happened. on loose quartz, with gold showing,' in the creek beds, in the gullies, and on the slopes, but the source- from which the gold-bear-ing quartz was spread, we understand, was never discovered. It now seems possible ;that the prospecting .efforts in hand may Jbead to the discovery of the source, .the importance of which would be appreciated by mining men, and more particularly by those who have had a personal acquaintance with mining in the Waitekauri district.