Gold in Wales. A DISCOVERY WHICH PROMISES TO BE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 237, 14 January 1888, Page 8

Gold in Wales. A DISCOVERY WHICH PROMISES TO BE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE.

The "St. James Gazette " has created a great sensation by a story from Wales giving particulars of great gold discoveries in that principality. It says of the discoveries that if anticipations at- present entertained are realised, they will prove of the greatest importance, not only to Wales, but to the whole country. The discovery has been made in Mawdach valley about five miles from Dolfelly, Marionetshire. The workmen riving into one. of the hills, of whjeh Coder Idep is the most conspicuous, have pierced a lode of quartz extraordinarily rich" in gold, '■'and jiliere is erery indication of the * -presence of goldbearing strata to an , almost indefinite extent, The fprtvinato, owner of the property is William £ritchard Morgan.. Morgan hae - long , had > connection .w.ibh gold-raining in Australia* and about, four years ago formed the impressions that gold probably existed /in the.-pjace wh«re it has now been -found. . Haying mad© eonW experiments,' he decided four or fivs ■ months since to begin systematic oper •

tions. He engaged ICO averi, and set them\ to work to drive a tunnel into the side of the hill; about half-way above the" level of the river which flows through the valley, and, aftor penetrating I%' feet, they came upon a vein of quartz, in specimens of which gold could be plainly seen. The tunnel liad struck the lode diagonally, and has now been carried acroas it for a distance of eighty feet. The lode was found to be twenty-five feet thick, and there is 100 feet of it above the levol of tho Gitch. To what depth it may deepen into tho hoavt of the hill is not known, but, as it starts to go deeper, the ore is richer. Besides this lode, another of sixty-six feet in thickness has been found, and there are good indications of a third. The first lode has beon so thoroughly stripped that about 15,000 tons of ore arc actually in sight on the grass. ' Morgan has already stacked about 25,000 tons ready for troatmont, and of this tho great part is estimated by William Crook, F.H.S., to yield six ounces to the ton. From tho stone already tested, the lowest calculations point to an average all around of two ounces to the ton, which would quite justify the opinion oxpressed us to the magnitude of the discovery. The region over which tho gold-bearing quarts is believed to extend has an area of two or three miles, but as gold lias for generations been found in the bed of Welsh rivers, and in pocket form over large areas of the principality, it is probable that deeper and systematic working, as in the Mawdach Valley, would yield equally surprising results. As to the future of this undertaking, it may be stated that upon Morgan's property two lodes are distinctly indicated, and that upon his operations down to the present he has spent between £3,000 and £4,000. Tho reason why he has been so reticent hitherto hasbeen to guard against the disastrous consequences that might have ensued if the gold resources of "Wales, as soon a&.thejr character had become known, ,had fallen into the hands of speculators. I Morgan has now united in one comprehensive alliance all the various interests concerned . in the aurifar jus region. It will be the ultimate task of this association to explore each promising locality in turn and open it out. If it is found to be of a profitable character, a special company will be formed to work it, and the association or syndicate will then go on with .the next site. If, on the other nand, the surface promises to turn out delusive, the syndicate will mark the site off as one to which the public need not be attracted. Soire of the greater of the financial houses in this city are in the syndicate, the capital of which is already more than provided. Finch Hatton, who has visited the mines, says that he was struck with the appearance of the country as a gold-bearing one.In Queensland, the discovery of such a field would, he says, have been made long ago, and had it taken place in the colony, by this time 5,000 men would have been on their way to it. Gold is found here as in Queensland, and at the junction of the Cambrianand Silurian period, that is of igneous and aqueous rock. No opportunity will be offered to the public of investigation into the tiQw enterprise.