The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1929 LOST LODES OF COROMANDEL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 654, 4 May 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1929 LOST LODES OF COROMANDEL

BACK in some profound aeon of time a stupendous geological convulsion caused a straining and fracturing of what we know to-day as the Coromandel Mountains, and from that vast cataclysm developed the celebrated Moanataiari fault-line. The downthrow of rocks on one side of it broke for ever the continuity of the auriferous reefs in the range. Miners exploiting these lodes came suddenly to the end of the productive belt. The Moanataiari fault thus exerted an enormous influence upon the prosperity of the goldfields. Mines which had been richly productive declined rapidly in importance. Excluding the operations at Waihi, the bonanza period on the Hauraki field was almost ephemeral in its duration. Such experiences are not rare to mining countries. The life of most rich fields is short. But hope dies hard in the miner’s breast. There is a widespread belief that immense gold reefs lie untouched in the Coromandel hills, that there is more gold remaining than has ever been taken out. Colour is given to this belief by the pronounced features of the geological faulting, and as a result men have devoted years of their lives to probing for the lost ends of those broken strands. People with faith in the field—and they are many—have sunk very large sums in this quest for the hidden lodes that will revive the prosperity, of the Coromandel and Hauraki fields. Sometimes their abiding enthusiasm is gently derided. But if the day dawns when their dream comes true, the prosperity and wealth of this country must take a sudden bound. There is no wealth like mineral wealth, no endowments like those folded away in the earth’s crust, and the influence of the Thames and district gold yield upon Auckland’s progress cannot be overlooked. In the meantime the Thames people and their outside backers have been compelled repeatedly to seek assistance from the Government, Fairly liberal subsidies on prospecting have been paid, and substantial assistance lias been granted in other directions; but nothing has so far been done in the way of providing the public crushing plants for which both Thames and Paeroa have been agitating so long. By the provision of a public crushing plant at each of these places, the small struggling companies would not be under the necessity of straining their resources for such costly equipment. Few of them at present can afford such an investment, nor would the amounts of their individual ore returns justify separate sets of batteries for each one of them. But with a public plant the crushers could be kept going by massed output, and the winnings would be richer through the use of the more efficient equipment, The demand for plant of this type was urged upon the new Minister of Mines, the Hon. W. A. Veiteh, at Thames and Paeroa this week. Mining deputations at these places have a flavour of their own. The local investor is represented, and often there is a spruce mining engineer from the city. But the faith of the true believer is best expressed by the old grev-bearded men, survivors from another mining generation, who have dedicated their lives to the field, and cannot resist its magic spell. From their lips come the familiar expressions of hope eternal. The promise of the latest crushing, the fervent belief that another shaft or crosscut will uncover the lost lode—all this is eagerly recounted. Yet, in spite of fair replies the deputations at Thames and Paeroa probably got little more from Mr. Veiteh than they got from his predecessors. Of course, successive Governments have devoted a lot of money to gold research and investigation. Muir’s Reef at Te Puke is a good example of the good capital that may be sunk down a mine-shaft for years of inadequate return. Yet, the provision of the crushing plant wanted on the Hauraki field would confer such a great service for such a comparatively small outlay that to withhold it seems short-sighted and paltry. Meanwhile, there is always the chance that a new era of prosperity can be engendered on the field by the initiation of low-grade treatment on a reasonably large scale. Here Mr. Veiteh showed his sympathy by meeting with enthusiasm a proposal that an officer should he sent abroad to investigate the latest processes. Whispers that overseas capital would interest itself in a lowgrade enterprise at Thames have been current from time to time. This and the highly-seientifie methods of prospecting by the geophysical survey have been stated to hold out the warmest promise of a revival. Unfortunately, the many setbacks suffered by overseas investors tend to make them wary of further speculation, but it is a fact that trial shipments of ore have been taken to Germany to be tested under modern methods there. Treatment at such a distance would be burdened with the heavy transportation costs of the native ore, but treatment on the spot at Thames would be in a different category, and on the results shown in California, Alaska and other places where low-grade treatment has been instituted, would have an almost certain prospect of siiccess. This and further systematic prospecting, with a view to the recapture of those lost lodes behind the Moanataiari slide, still offer hope of a genuine gold revival.