VISIT TO GOLD DREDGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 July 1939, Page 3

VISIT TO GOLD DREDGE

WAIRARAPA YOUNG FARMERS. SOUTH ISLAND TOUR. A visit to the Kanieri gold dredge during the course of a South Island tour recently of Wairarapa Young Farmers was described by Mr C. Mackay, a member of the party, in a talk given at a meeting of the Masterton Club. Mr Mackay said the dredge, which floated in its own pond, was reached by a punt. The first thing that they noticed on boarding it was the weird noises, like high-pitched screaming, as if someone were killing pigs. This noise came from the buckets as they were turned over to empty their contents. By ascending a very steep stairway the party reached the control room, where the engineer kept an eye on the electric motors which drove the various parts of the dredge. He also controlled the buckets. The dredge was steered by means of wire ropes, one on either side of the pond, so that it could be moved to the right and then to the left. A pile of debris was left in the trail of the dredge. There were 130 buckets on the chain and they were kept revolving day and night. The buckets shifted about 7,500 yards of spoil per week and between 300 and 600 ounces of gold were secured every week, practically all in fine grains. This dredge was said to be the second largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Its weight was about a thousand tons. It was of all steel construction and floated in 25ft. of water and stood about 80ft. above water.

Mr Mackay proceeded to refer to the return to Hokitika and to the journey to Otira. A considerable area of land alongside the road had been turned over by dredges, the remains of one of these machines being passed on the way. As snow had rendered the road over the Alps impassable the buses were run on to flat trucks at Otira and conveyed by train. The country was heavily coated in snow. The journey by road was resumed at Springfield and good time was made to Christchurch.