Getting Gold

ospecting as carried on in alluvial fields. I shall

ble lodes, whether of gold, silver, copper, or even tin in some forms of occurrence, the indications are often very similar. The first prospecting is usually done on the hilltops or ridges, because, owing to denudation by ice or water which have bared t

sked him why he had opened the ground in that particular place. Said he, "Some folks don't use their eyes. You stand here and look towards that claim on the rise where the reef was last struck. Now, don't you see there is almost a track betwi

t argues the easily disproved igneous theory of veins of ejection, meaning thereby that the quartz with its metalliferous contents was thrown out in a molten state from the interior of the earth. This has in no case occurred, and the theory is an impossible

ckly distributed on the surface and through the superincumbent soil. Follow these along, and at some point, if the l

case in Australia, but it cannot be said that either has the advantage in being more productive. Some of the richest mines in Australasia have been in lodes running easterly and westerly, while gold

t productive gold mine in Australas

f gold, valued at 528,700 pounds. Di

631,981 ozs. of gold, sold at 6,712,187 pounds, from which 4,400,000 pou

, in other words, divided over

era in the history of the colony. The capital invested in it was 12,320 pounds in 5 pound shares, and no subsequent call was ever made upon the shareholders. The total amount paid in dividends was 800,000 pounds. After being worked by the original owners for some years the mine was sold to a new company, but during the last few years it has not been worked, owing in some degree to the low price of copper and also to the fact that the deposit then being worked apparently becam

of the Company to December 1895, 47,263 tons of tin ore. I

omparatively low altitude. There are no true walls nor can the ore be traced away from the hill

number of lenticular (double-pointed in section) masses of quartz of greater or less length, either continuing point to point or overlapping, "splicing," a

ng from the surrounding and enclosing strata, and continuing down to unknown depths at varying angles. Therefore, if you have a north and south lode outcropping on a hill and crossing an east and west valley, the said lode, underlying east, when you have traced its outcrop to the lowest point in the valley, between the two hil

fret saw and lean the board say at an angle of 45 degrees to the left, look along the top edge, which you are to consider as the outcrop on the high ground, the bottom of the cut being the outcrop i

ng with regard to mining and the current aphorism, "The iron hat covers the golden head." "Cousin Jack,

ous forms or by assay, blowpipe or otherwise; copper will reveal itself by its peculiar colour, green or blue carbonates, red oxides, or metallic copper. It is an e

hile to sink, unless, of course, you design to strike a shoot of metal which some one has prospected before you. The idea is exploded that auriferous lodes necessarily improve in value with depth. The fact is that the metal in any lode is not, as a rule, equa

be carefully prospected opposite to the rich spot, as often similar valuable deposits will thus be found. Having ascertained that you have, say, a gold ree

eighbourhood has come round from north-east to east and west the underlie will be to the south; if the contrary was the case, to the north. It is surprising how often this mode of occurrence will be found to obtain. But I cannot too strongly caution the prospector not to trust to theory but to prove his lode and his metal by f

rly in dry country. One may often see in hard country stupid fellows wasting time, labour, and explosives in s

aft, cut two notches in it 6 ft. apart opposite the ends of the shaft, lay across it a 5 ft. log similarly notched, so making a frame like a large Oxford picture frame. Continue this by piling one set above another till the desired height is attained, and on t

hip," a "whim," and eventually to a big powerful engine, with its huge drum and Eiffel tower-like "pop

s the novice. Truly it is a most important part of the prospector's art, whether he be s

know gold wh

k the point into the questionable specimen. If gold the steel point will readily

ralian wild bend over the pan in which the senior "mate" is slowly reducing the sample of powdered lode stuff. How eagerly they examine the last pinch of "black sand" in the cor

spect broken with the head of a pick and panned in a shovel, but for reef prospecting you should have a pestle and mortar. The handiest for travelling is a mortar made from a mercury bottle cut in half, and a not too heavy wrought iron pe

ou to weigh down to one-thousandth of a grain. It is often desirable to burn your stone before crushing, as it is thus more easily triturated and will reveal all its gold

round, and the dirty water poured off from time to time till the residue is clean quartz sand and heavy metal. Then the pan is gently tipped, and a side to side motion is given to it, thus causing the heavier contents to settle down in the corner. Next the water is carefully lapped in over the side, the pan being now tilted at a greater angle until the

y, occasionally swirling the dish as in panning off, till you feel certain that every particle of the gangue has come in contact with the mercury; then carefully pan off into another dish so as to lose no mercury. Having got your amalgam clean squeeze it through a piece of chamois leather, though a good quality of new calico previously wetted will do as well. The resulting pill of hard amalgam can then be wrapped in a piece of brown paper, placed on an old shovel, and the mercury drive

. of zinc shavings or clippings, and to your water sufficient sulphuric acid to bring it to about the strength of vinegar (weaker, if anything, not stronger), place your material preferably in an earthenware or enamel

t more often the trouble is the other way. The stuff is sent to be treated at some inefficient battery with worn-out boxes, shaky foundations, and uneven tables, sometimes with the plates not half amalgamated, or coated with impurities, the whole concern superintend

ttery is not available, excellent results in a small way may be obtained by the somewhat laborious, but simple, process of "

tending for miles, and nodules or "slugs" of that ore will generally be found on the surface from place to place. Most silver ores are easily recognisable, and readily tested by means of the blowpipe or simple fire assay. Sometimes the silver on being tested is found to contain a considerable

d, when he says of him, "Aw, he do know tin," when you look at a representative collection of tin ores. In various shapes, from sharp-edged crystals to mammillary-shaped nuggets of wood-tin; from ma

the gold if you save the tin, for the yellow metal is of much greater specific gravity. As the natural tin is

orthern Territory of South Australia; indeed, one could not readily separate the stone from these three places if it were mixed. As before stated tin will never be found far from granite, and that granite must have white mica as one of its constituents. It is seldom found in the darker coloured rocks, or in limestone country, but it someti

streak is whitey-grey, which, when once known, is not easily mistaken. The specific gravity is about 7.0. Wolfram, which is most like it, is a little heavier, from 7.0 to 7.5, b

. Fourteen years ago I told Western Australian people, when on a visit to that colony, that the neighbourhood of the Darling range would produce rich tin.

gold, as the country rock of the neighbour

ok was in the pri

ble gold has been

d discussion of met

apter ii. Of Le Nev

d Mr. S. Herbert

pect