THE QUEST FOR GOLD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5206, 21 November 1927, Page 3

THE QUEST FOR GOLD.

OPERATIONS BY PROSPECTORS.

TREATMENT OF SAMPLES. There seems to be quite a wave of mining prospecting going on just now, both in the North and South Islands. This increased activity is partially due, no doubt, to the assistance the Government is prepared to give to genuine prospecting parties, and particularly the Mines Department’s offer to contribute £1 19s per man per weeik to approved prospectors. TESTING OF ORES. Attention was drawn to the revival of activities last week, when a representative of the Waihi Telegraph paid a visit to the Waihi School of Mines and had the opportunity of seeing samples, received from prospecting propositions, being put through the process of treatment by the institution’s up-to-date crushing plant, equipped with machines for coarse and fine crushing, and also miniature ball mills for pulverising the material down to the finest slime, resembling the texture of flour. The fine pulverising is used in connection with the treatment of ores for the, purpose of determining the extraction obtainable by agitation with cyanide solution. The slimes are conducted into miniatures of the tall tanks in which the pulp is agitated by compressed air, the process being in all respects similar to that practised by big mining concerns, such as the Waihi company, the tanks being known in these parts as the “B and M” tanks, and in Mexico as thei Pachuca tanks. It will be recalled by mining men in the district that this type of tank was the invention of Mr F. C. Brown, in conjunction with the late Mr McMicken, Wjheji he was superintendent of the Nomata Reefs Gold Mining Company, soinej 25 years ago. The tanks, it is interesting to note, have since been introduced with success all over the world, and the type has never been improved upon. When small samples, say, of a few pounds of ore, are treated in the miniature tanks, the results obtained are in all respects comparable with those to be expected from treatment on a large scale, so that thei models operated at the local School of Mines are a valuable adjunct in determining the best method of treatment for any kind of ore, complex or otherwise, and deciding on the flow sheet and lay-out of a new battery.

SAMPLES OF CINNABAR. To revert again to the prospecting parties, it may be mentioned that ther are several engaged in the Thames and Ohinemuri districts, and all of them are being given assistance by the Mines Department. The prospectors receive the stipulated weekly payment per man, together with free assays of all samples forwarded to the schools of mines at Waihi and Thames. During the past few months a considerable number of samples, not only from the lOhinemuri and Hauraki districts, have beep received at the local institution, but also from further afield, including new mining areas, notably wept Taupo, the Ruahine Ranges, near Woodville and Westport. From Woodville there are at the; present moment no less than eighteen different samples in process of treatment. There is also now renewed activity ri the pegging out of claims in aras showing indications of cinnabar, from which mercury is obtained. These areas are in the Ohinemuri district in the nighbourhood of Mackaytown, and North Auckland, in the vicinity of Puhipuhi. Samples of this ore from both districts have quite recently been received at the Waihi School for analysis. Other samples of ore from outside bhe Auckland district, besides their contents of gold and silver, show evidence of containing the more common metals, such as copper, lead, and zinc.