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Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2922, 7 April 1891, Page 2

Tur.xiKG again to our goldGeici, as showing hov little Ims yet been done to prospect for, much loss work ouc tho precious metals, wo reprint an extract from an admirable paper upon the geologicsil structure of the Thames Uoldllold, by Prof. James Parke, F.G.S., Director Thamns School of Mines. '• Up to the present timo tho min-

iri'j; of'crsitiui.s on this iidd luivo liion almost exclusively euuliuw! to :i hiiuill .u-c;>. on the t'orcshoie, cnibriiciug altogether a li'.tiu mart: than n square mile of country. L have :ilro;idv pointed out that the :iuriforous KurirH, with its goldbearing vein*, [jubscas u jjenurnl N.N.I'., or N.K. strike, niid ;i rotor eiicc to the iicco.npaiiiiijj uiiip will show dial it passes us a narrow belt, about ;i inili: mid a quarter wide, nortli-e.ibtwiird to tho upper purl.; of Turaru ;iud Olonui streams, and tl»i!iicu onward in the direction of Muroury Bay. I am fully convinced tliafc the prospects of [hiding payable gold in the forest country just indicated arc sufficiently encouraging to warrant the thorough exploration of that portion of the field. The country is broken and heavily timbered, but these obstacles could easily be overcome by a judicious expenditure in making paok or oven blaze-tracks in tho more inaccessible parts.

Coming back to the limits of tho present goldfield, it is obvious ou all bides that the mining of the past lus been confined to tho winning of gold from tho veins near, or only a few hundred feet below tho surface. Yet veins carrying payable gold have in many instances been proved to live into the " low lovels," the term generally applied to the country below 400 feet. A large and wealthy area of deep ground exists between the Saxon Mine and the Big Pump, and even a larger and riclier between the old Queen of Beauty mine and Hape Creek, extending right across Block No. XXVII. The neglect of this rich ground is no doubt due to the fact that hitherto the gold has always been found accessible to the surface, and, in consequence, mining companies have not considered it necessary to incur expenditure in seeking gold at lower levels; but as the accessible gold must soon become exhausted, the working of the deep ground must attract the attention of the mining community at an early date, and it would, I think, be a matter for regret if its development is left to foreign skill and capital rather than to local enterprise. As the lower levels are opened out, tho Thames will become one of the richest and most productive gold fields in Australasia."

We look forward with confidence to a new era in raining matter-*, one that will by the establishment of large mining populations have a beneficial effect upon other industries, including that moat ituportauD one, agriculture.