THE THAMES GOLDFIELD.

Tuapeka Times, Volume I, Issue 45, 19 December 1868, Page 5

THE THAMES GOLDFIELD.

A dispassionate and unbiassed opinion upon the value of. the Thames district as a gold-field, coming from any' intelligent observer, must be of general interest and importance, but i when to these qualifications is added | the possession of some fifteen years' scientific and practical experience on the Australian and New Zealand goldfields, the opinion becomes even of still greater value. We publish to T day a letter from the member of Assembly for the Southern Groldfields, J. B. Bradshaw, Esq., which we are sure will be read with interest and attention, not merely in Auckland, but in the Southern provinces, and in Victoria also. Mr. Bradshaw — who, we may ! remind our readers by the way, is a metallurgist of well known repute — has been until the close of the session a stranger to Auckland. Since he has arrived here he has spent somo little time in visiting the several creeks upon the Thames and inspecting the claims. The result of that visit is now before the public in the letter which we pubI lish below. The testimony of Mr. Bradshaw goes far to set two moot questions at rest, the one as to the permanent value, and the other as to the present prospects of the field. Of the richness of many of the claims, the writer gives willing evidence, and his experience goes to show that there is not, as many have snpposed, a difference in formai- tion and other characteristics between the Thames goldfield and those of Victoria, and other countries, which should lead to the supposition that it will be less enduring in its yield of the precious metal. One thing we learn, that in our ignorance of mining tercns in Auckland, the designation of the lodes by a wrong name has done no little harm to the diggings in the eyes of practical men at a distance. Our talk has been of "leaders," when it should have been of "veins" or " lodes." The application of either of the latter terms to those bodies of stone which have been found and worked, and they are entitled to such ! designations, would have placed the goldfield in a far more favorable point of view to practical men in Victoria. Mr. Bradshaw's letter will, however, speak for itself : — 1 To4he']Jditor cf the " New Zealand Herald." Sir, — As a disinterested and almost unknown person to the Auckland community, yet one who has visited and personally inspected almost every gold region, will you permit me, therefore, to record in your valuable paper a few observations which have come under my notice during a recent visit to the Thames Groldfield. I wish particularly to make these observations public by reason of the rumofl, and, in some instances, absurd statem^ntt I have heard spoken, and have sejfoi^ recorded in other parts of the colopy, in respect to the structure of the rocks, and the occurrence of gold in your province. I came here, therefore, much prejudiced against your field. My prejudice arose from these causes : — All reports of " Our Own " and other writers which came under my notice, spoke only of " leaders " of quartz, and " alluvial leaders," a term which — I mean the latter — I do not understand in connection with quartz mining" After carefully reading these reports, I came to the conclusion — and &6 also had others — that there was no p'er/nanence in your field ; that the o/£urrence of the gold differed wideJf with other parts of the world, a*d that nature had made New Zeahvid an exception to general laws, a^d, in lact, that there was not a true, vein or lode yet discovered. A belief of this kind no doubt has done already much harm ■to the Province and' the , •colony, m keeping back capital whiisn otherwise would have found its w#y here for the fpuropse of investment. I had the km«sfcrtuneJEftfoe' personally acquainBB3^Mk -^eman of thQ Province interests in the his introto examine in which a is done and I to say my brightened, Thames and veins ' or ; of the "^ ,'^V Beef, tV" 1 have owners 'pounds. writing cd eclcc ti or tin then value.

fined to another branch of mining ; but as fax as I travelled, and' a*, far as I could see and judge superficially; ' it appeared to me that there are innumerable veins or lodes traversing the whole district, with leaders intersecting them in every direction; in fact, the whole district may be said to be one vast quarry of auriferous ~ quartz. The claim I referred to in the first part of this memorandum, and which I was to return to presently,- is the Golden Crown. I was kindly taken through the whole claim by Mr. Farmer, guided by the manager ; and the information which 'was so" cheerfully given to me I could not have procured elsewhere without causing considerable trouble and annoyance to the workmen. I was taken through adits, down shafts, and into cross drives, well timbered and secured, with candle in hand. I had pointed out to me the spot where gold was first struck ; and, also, at the depth of sixty feet from' the main level, was taken into a cross drive, Avhere the auriferous rock was now being obtained. Heaps of quartz were shown to me, burnt and unburnt, now being crushed, and boxes of specimens to be crushed next week, the like of which I have seldom or never seen before. In some of the mined rock their were rveins of gold — or equal gold and pyrites — of from one to four inches in thickness. The rock in situ also contained veins of gold, mingled with pyrites, running through the parallel veins which make the main lode. When using the word "vein," it must be understood to mean a true lode. I prefer the word because it is plain good Saxon, and easily understood. When using the words "leader" and " feeder," I mean those branches which run in every direction, and are the supposed feeders to a vein. " When metallic veins pass through various strata, the sedimentary included, they have most probably originated in cracks consequent on disturbing movements from below, and have been filled partly by segregation, modified as to its results by electric currents, partly by sublimations, partly by decomposition of volatile perchlorides, fluorides, and borides, which have permeated the earth's crust through, such channels, and partly through infiltration. The Golden claim contains eight men's" ground, or -100 feet square. The vein, which is true and well defined, with walls on either 1 side, averages from one to five feet in tliickness. The whole body is removed, and the specimens hurriedly selected therefrom, l^he main body, composed of quartz, slate, and sandstone, intimately mixed with white and yellow sulphuret of iron, which contains at least fifty per cent, of sulphur, yields, on an average, by the present mode of extraction, 20 ounces of melted gold to the ton of stuff. The specimens which I saw ought to yield at least 2,000 ounces of melted gold to the ton. The vein which underlies it at an angle of 45 degrees to the westward, and aims its course nearly north and south, dipping to the north, is of the best character, very little altered, of a blue color, in consequence of thc_quantity of sulphides contained in it. The main vein is built up from a number of small parallel veins varying in size, now being made, and then reduced sometimes downwards with the underlay, and at other timeß in the direction or course of the vein. The indications are favorable; instead of sandstone the; vein is parted from the £ock by a soft soapy slate, but if ever sandstone shall come in conJact wittf 'the/outside portions of the vein, or.in/£he subdivisions which make up the Vein\the result will likely be a diminution^^fijtjb^,precious metal. i^i&^i^^r^ alt p a jf found in dttier dSpuffGries, and and will be found to occuw^ere, that whsnevar sandstone takes the^ksS.of slate the metallic constituents will become less It is also an established fact that quartz veins become rich in metallic constituents aa they approach to junction one another, and also when feeder* or leaders junction with veins or lodes. This matter should not be lost sight ot at the Thames, where the whole district seems to be a network of veins and leaders. The great gold desideratum, however, is a practical and economocal ' system, which shall loosen the metal r from the rock, and save it after it shall r have been separated. Upon this subject I intended to have \ something, but I have already tres[passed too much on your time and r space, and the reader's patience. ; I I have the honour, &c> c . ' J. !B. Bbadshaw: c Auckland, October 7, 1868 /, " New Zealand Advertiser." HoUomy s 7*r*w-SNily extending, Ulcars J lief. —Sores which aW dgw MLj,,,, i, n JZaikelin . which are hourly r their torturing progress a nd incUj Wg.JStoj;. J a healthy notion hy *PP£ m *Xn^pls It „ £ fistulas, and other similarly painful mala11 Flies 'J .few Applications of this cooling OmtHKt^in give comfort, and » persUtenown ita a cave. * v