The Hikutaia Find

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 220, 17 September 1887, Page 4

The Hikutaia Find

Beyond the facb of Government having agieed to give a. subsidy up to £100 towards making a load to the prospectois claim nothing fi(3,h has transpired. The unfriendly c i ltieHin appearing in the "Press" Wellington published by us last night has elicited some impoitant information on the subject of the poimanonecy of gold deposits in its vidnity, and on th© lino of reef on which the Hikutaia mine is situated. The Waitekav.ri mine is within five miles of the Hikutaia find. A return made by the Bank of New Zealand shows tint this bank alone has bought gold horn the Waitekauri mine to the value of C 70,000. in connection with' the substantial outporO from a ten feet reef, another \LTy impcitanfc consideration has to be boi no in mind — that the Hikutaia and Waitekauri quartz is highly argentifuou* and as upwarda of 100,000 tonB of quart/ was pub through the 40 Main per battery belonging to the Waitekauri Company, and no effort made to save sihei the presumption is that an enormous amount of bullion was lost. While the W.'iilekauri mine was worked no one thought that the black patches in the leef 'represented silver, and no process was therefore introduced to save it. decent developments prove unmit takeably that the Company, and it may be said that the colony, have suffered a gieat loss tlnough the want of proper appliances with which to ticat Waitekauri quartz, assuming that the oie was at a low estimate only with an cveiage of soz. of silver to the ton, wo have a total of 500,0000 ounces of silver tin own away iii the tailings. In this one reference, is shown the unjustness of the reflections made by the "Press" on the Hikutaia find, and on the value of reefs in the vicinity. As regards the patchy nature of gold deposit such is the case in one sense the woild o\er, even in our richest) mines the Caledonian pays half a million in dividends in twelve months but several years subsequently scarce enough gold is obtainable to pay expenses. The same may be said of goldmines everywhere, and it is not until the roar of furnaces is heard day and night at Hikutaia, or some other process similar to that adopted by other silvermining communities is introduced, that the output of bullion will bo commensurate with the known value of the ore, the present battery process is decidedly inadequate ; but by the time the track is cub to the Hikutaia prospectors' claim, the latter will have opened out sufficiently on their reef to ■sitifsfy firms like Messrs Fraser and Sons as to the permanency of the rich run. If itr cuts completely out on being driven on, then the- erection of a plant will not take place, but the £70,000 worth of gold purchased by one bank from the Waitekauri mino prove* that the district has great and permanent gold lodes.