WASHING FOR GOLD

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 32

WASHING FOR GOLD

MATERIAL FROM LAWRENCE A HIGH YIELD SECURED. (Photograph in This Issue.) The unusual spectacle of a miner washing for gold with a pan in the Hutt River was witnessed by an interested gathering at the works of the Wellington Cement Pipe Company, Melling, on May 23 (says the Dominion)-. The material containing the precious metal had been brought from Otago for testing purposes, and although further tests are to be made at the Dominion Laboratory, the preliminary results were considered very satisfactory. Brought to Wellington at the suggestion of the Mines Department, a ton of cement conglomerate from the workings of the Golden Crescent Goldmining Company, near Lawrence, was put through the crusher and samples secured for further investigations. The process was watched by Mr A. H. Kimbell, Under-secretary of Mines, Dr P. Marshall, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Mr W. Donovan, Dominion Analyst, and Mr J. R. Smythe, manager of the Golden Crescent Company. Vast deposits of the cement conglomerate are to be found near the Golden. Crescent Company’s workings, and it is estimated that the company itself has 413,000,000 cubic yards of gold-bearing material on which to work. So impressed has the Mines Department been with the discoveries that it has given financial assistance in the carrying out of investigations since 1928, and it believes that if the cost of crushing can be made to work out at a level which will allow of the profitable recovery of gold, one of the biggest recoveries in the gold mining industry for many years will be brought about. One pan full of conglomerate, admittedly taken from a rich gold-bearing part of the deposit, produced an amount of gold which surprised the Government experts on Saturday, about one pennyweight and a-half being secured at a rough estimate. The objects of the experiment were to find out the cost of crushing, the time required to put through a ton, and the gold content. Samples were taken by the Dominion analyst, and tests will be made upon them. Only about two minutes was required to crush tha conglomerate, and Mr Smythe, who has been a miner all his life, washed a pan full in the river nearby. A tunnel 600 feet long has been driven into the conglomerate by the company; Teh sample washed on Saturday was taken from the open face of the tunnel, but the richest material is believed to be contained in the lower strata. Quantities taken from there to a height of one foot and crushed at the Thames School of Mines, showed a gold content of six ounces to the ton. It is estimated that the deposits contain many millions of pounds’ worth of gold. The Minister of Mines (Mr A. J. Murdoch), has interested himself in the proposition, and it is anticipated that its results will be highly satisfactory.