THE GOLDEN AGE. (Fro0m the "Britannia," May 20.)

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 676, 6 October 1852, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE GOLDEN AGE. (Froom the " Britannia," May 20.)

Gold in England, gold within two hundred miles of London, is a reality notwithstanding the witticisms nnd satires of our facetious cotemporary Punch, Exeter

is in a ferment, and the state of the weather, and evei an inquiry after the health of " the better half," ii superseded by "Have you heard any news of th gold mine?— is it true they have found quartz?' Politics are put aside for gold digging, and the prospect of Mr. A or Mr. ±5 for the borough of Bubble give wa; to calculations of how many " oitavas" go to an our.cc and scientific discussions on washers, rockers, stamps and assays. The simple tale is this, that on the estnt< of Lord Poltimore, close to North Molton, where th£ crystalline structure of the rocks is theoretically favournblo to the production of metallic veins, a veir of gozzan has been traced and tested, which has provec not only rich in copper, but sufficiently aurifero' " tf give every fair expectation of its being worke Jm profit. Nearly half a century back the mine was <X worked for copper, and though the working hu jjj went beyond the surface, ore of the value of from sevj to eight pounds a ton was raised. The copper world..^ however, fell into troublejjgnd gradually the mine ». 1 into the hands of two perlanp, '■w'h.o have, since the] lucky discoveiy, transferreorthe remainder of their lease to the " Britannia Mining Company," with the addition of a further concession from Lord Poltimore, extending (he grant to twenty-one years. That there is gold in t^e ore of this mine no one now doubts, the whole question' turns on the quantity contained, as it is easy enough to find gold in the Silurian strata of Devon, the mountain ranges of Fifeshire, and tbe Wicklow Hills, but not so easy to find it in such quantities as to render its working a source of gain to any but the paid officials. The best "way of judging- of this chance is to see with how little return existing mines <!an bi» worked Co a considerable iclvantage to their shareholders. The St. John Del Rey mine is among the best known of the South American gold mines, its capital is large, its staff numerous and enormously expensive, its management costly in the extreme, and yet on a cnpital of £165,000 it obtain- , return of nearly £5,000 per month profit at the m"ijl and that from ore which averages four oitavas, or i ■ than half an ounce, of gold in a ton. From such aj -'■ rently trifling resources an enormous income is deriv large salaries are paid, large dividends divided, and 'I shaies naturally stand in the market a little shor ,fl cent, per cent. The metallic wealth of Russia i>^| historic fact, and the Ural mines of Siberia were^H garded as a second Peru, until California and tralia threw them into the shade. The return i these mines has averagpd rather more than per annum, and this return flows from ore which (!*■■ not contain more than one quai ter of an ounce of gol' 'Bi the ton. With these facts to judge from, let us what is the wor->t return made from tbe ore of^| North Molton vein. From rubble in which gold is visible to the naked pye — we speak from personal spection — as much as eight ounces per ton has been < H ti acted by M. Longmaid's process. From some lfl ounces bought three ye.irs back by Mr. JVJasse^ eighteen and a-half per cent, of gold has been obtuint v Even in the copper ore itself one quarter of an ounce 'lm gold per ton has been detected. There is hope, s,^ more than hope, in such a comparison as is offered *9 these facts, between the authenticated wealth of t^B Siberian veins, the monthly stream of gold fron. tl '■ Peruvian stone, and the piospect of returns from t'^ gozznn and quartz of the Poltimore vein. fl The comparison which we have thus instituted, w 1 _^J carried out with respect to the productiveness of "t^B California!] quartz and the Australian diluvial diggin^jH presents very startling results. Up to the present tin^ the steady supply from the comparatively unproducth m ores of Siberia and Peru, has been trebled, solely, uM the results of the alluvial diggings of California a^fl Australia. In the former El Dorado, from the absen^H of capital and machinery, the quartz has not as yet bp ( .^B worked beyond digging- up a few tons for specimet'^H In Australia it haa only just been discovered, and r>^| an ounce crushed. And yet how great already ha^| been the results on the securities and prices ot Enj^B land. To this steady supply of gold, which increase rather than decreases, is now about to be added tL'^j results of quartz crushing. Three first-class English i machines of great power are already in the mining »l country, in all probability now working day and night. J Quaitz abounds, and the squatter is only too glad t'M make any terms to have the masses of ore orushe M which he cannot master with his poor tools. And thi^H worst quaitz that has. yet been tested, such as tRj poorest mass belonging to the Aqua Fria Company- \B the refuse specimen — that not only showed no gold <<|fl its surfiice, but pven when reduced to powder, gave i^| sign of the ptecious metal ; this specimen when washei^H produced at the rate of more than two ounces of pu^H gold tq the hundred weight of ore. Let us bear mind that our machinery is hastening to both Dorados, that it is cupable of crushing 100 tons rock in a day, and then lnt us take one-half of the yif^H of the worst specimen of quartz as representing t average return to be expected from the mass, ( fIH bearing in mind the results that have flowed, and still flow from the apparently paltry ores of Peru, and Sibei^H let us at onpe admit that the result defies human call lation. ■.