# Quartz Reefs of the West Coast Mining District, New Zealand/Westland Province

WESTLAND PROVINCE.
The Westland Province, although it has produced a wealth of gold from its alluvial deposits, has, like Marlborough Province, not as yet had the good fortune to find any quartz-mining field of importance. The only locality within the province from which gold has been won from quartz is the neighbourhood of Ross, where, at Cedar Creek and Donnelly's Creek, reefs were opened up and worked for a time. There are other localities, however, such as the Taipo River, the Wilberforce, Mount Rangitoto, and Cook's River, where auriferous reefs have been noted and more or less prospected.
CEDAR CREEK REEFS.
Auriferous quartz seems to have been first found in the early “eighties” in this locality, which is well up the slopes of Mount Greenland, about 2,000 ft. above sea-level, and nine miles from Ross by a steep mountain-track. A number of claims, known as the William Tell, Swiss Republic, All Nations, and Larnach, were taken up, but after very little prospecting had been done all the ground was abandoned. In 1887 the William Tell Claim had some further work done on it, when quartz showing free gold was met with in an adit level driven 57 ft. below the outcrop of a reef exposed in the creek. This adit was driven for 225 ft. on the course of the reef, about 200 ft. of the distance being on solid stone said to have been 4 ft. wide, with gold fairly distributed through it. A winze was then sunk on the reef at 76 ft. from the western end of the adit, but the stone became broken and finally disappeared a few feet down. Another adit was driven, 85 ft. lower than No. 1, for a distance of 567 ft., where a rise was put up to connect with the bottom of the winze. Although the prospects were not very promising, the company that held the claim erected a battery at considerable expense, and started to work out the quartz above the upper adit. No records are available as to the quantity of quartz mined from here, nor as to the yield of gold, but evidently the recoveries were much below what had been anticipated, for in the same year (1890) the company collapsed, and abandoned the ground after selling the battery to Mr. G. Perotti, of Greymouth, who removed it to the Minerva Mine at Blackball.
The Swiss Republic Mine adjoined the William Tell on the west. In 1888 a reef 3 ft. wide at the outcrop was prospected, which showed a little gold. An adit level was driven on it for about 400 ft., and at 60 ft. from the portal a crosscut was put out in a southerly direction for 240 ft. In this crosscut two small leaders and a reef 4 ft. in width were intersected, all of which were said to carry gold. A winze was then started in the lode, near the portal of the adit, at a place where the reef was about 2 ft. 6 in. wide, but it was apparently not sunk to any depth, and very little more work was ever done on the claim.
Simultaneously with the carrying-on of the foregoing work in the William Tell and Swiss Republic Claims, the All Nations and Larnach Companies, which held ground to the east of the William Tell, were engaged in putting out long crosscuts in their respective areas. The All Nations extended its crosscut for about 610 ft. in a north-easterly direction, in the course of which it cut a 9 in. reef at 34ft., an 11 in. reef at 73 ft., and what is described as a reef formation 14 ft. wide at 346 ft., as well as a number of smaller leaders. As far as can be learned, none of these formations carried gold in payable quantities. At about 270 ft. farther to the east, and nearly parallel to the All Nations crosscut, the Larnach Company ran one out for 1,000 ft., cutting on the way all the reefs or leaders met in the All Nations workings. No payable values were found in any of them.
With the collapse of the William Tell Company in 1890, and the removal of the battery, the efforts of the other companies were paralysed, and no more work appears to have been done in the locality till 1896, when a company known as the Alpha Special Claim Syndicate took up all the ​old claims, and did a little prospecting on them. Some quartz carrying gold-values was said to have been found on the surface, and a drive was put in on it. One ton of the stone is reported to have been crushed for a yield of 4 oz. 2 dwt. gold. The adit was carried in for 223 ft., but as the reef was driven on it became very poor, and after doing some little further prospecting on the same formation at a few feet greater depth the syndicate became discouraged, and once more the claims were abandoned.
A little later a syndicate of Wanganui mining enthusiasts became interested in these old properties, and set a few men at further prospecting them. The William Tell old No. 2 adit was advanced for some distance to the north-east without meeting anything of value, but in extending the western drive beyond the old rise put up in 1888 by the original company a body of quartz about 8 ft. wide was met in a short distance and found to carry very fair gold, particularly on the hanging-wall side. Encouraged by this discovery, the syndicate, now known as the Mount Greenland Gold-quartz-mining Company, erected a five-stamp battery, taking the necessary parts with much labour and expense up the nine-mile track from Ross. Crushing was commenced in 1917, and was continued in a very small way for about five years, during which time 1,939 tons of quartz were treated for a yield of 2,030 oz. 14 dwt. 5 gr. gold, valued at £8,107 19s. 4d., equal to £4 3s. 7d. per ton, and £500 was paid in dividends. This return, as far as it went, was satisfactory, but it unfortunately happened that the supply of stone was strictly limited. The shoot of quartz only extended about 60 ft. in a north-westerly direction when it was cut clean off by a fault, beyond which it could not be found, and, in stoping upward, the reef was also found to disappear in a short distance. The pay-stone was still going underfoot in the adit, but to enable it to be mined the company was faced with the great expense of either sinking a shaft or putting in a very long tunnel at a lower level. The amount of stone to be won between levels did not promise to be nearly sufficient to warrant shaft-sinking, especially as winding plant, timber, &c., could only be got to the mine with tremendous difficulty, so any thought of doing this was set aside. For some considerable time, however, the company seriously considered the idea of putting in a low-level tunnel at a depth of 400 ft. to 500 ft. below the old workings. There is a strip of reef-bearing country traceable in the vicinity for well over a mile, and the idea of driving an adit for upwards of 2,000 ft. along this at depth in the hope of proving further pay-shoots appealed to the directors. The work would certainly have been a very plucky prospecting effort, but, in view of the fact that the reef-line had been cut by numerous crosscuts for a distance of about 1,500 ft. along the route of the proposed tunnel, and surface-trenched for the whole distance, without finding any pay-stone other than the short 60 ft. shoot in the far north-west end of the old workings, it could not be said that there was any evidence from past operations to justify the large expenditure the carrying-out of the project would entail. The Mines Department was invited to contribute towards the cost, but could not entertain the application; and, as the company was not sufficiently strong financially to undertake the whole enterprise, the proposal was dropped. The plan and section shown in Fig. 2 will serve to give a good idea of the work done in the locality.
DONNELLY'S CREEK REEFS.
The only other quartz reefs worked to any extent in the Ross district were in the neighbourhood of Donnelly's Creek, at a much lower elevation than the Cedar Creek reefs, and within a mile or so of Ross Township. From the creek itself, and from the terraces on its southern bank, a very large quantity of alluvial gold was won years ago, much of it being specimen; and as the gold was heavy—the Roddy nugget of 99 oz. found there was the largest located in the Dominion—the general opinion was that it had not travelled far, and much searching was done in the hope of finding the reef or reefs from which it came. A few small reefs or leaders were found, from which crushings were taken that yielded up to an ounce of gold per ton, but in all cases the leaders failed to live to any distance in any direction. One of these was worked in what was known as Donnelly's Creek Mine by a man named Yarworth, who in 1895–96 took out 299 tons, which yielded 160 oz. gold. Another was worked by H. Osmers, who took out, between 1908 and 1910, small crushings totalling 432 tons, from which 616 oz. gold was recovered. The reef was only a little over 1 ft. wide, and was found, when followed, to come out to surface again only 40 ft. below the outcrop, showing that it was contained in an earth-block shifted by faulting from its original position.
FARMER CREEK REEFS.
That well-known old prospector Antonio Zala did a lot of work on small reefs in this locality, about four to five miles west of Ross, in the “nineties.” Two reefs, known as the Captain Russell and the Helvetia, were opened up, but they were found to be in very wet and broken country, and the quartz only occurred in blebs or boulders. Zala erected a small battery close to the reefs in 1896, and took out a crushing from the Helvetia which is said to have yielded 8 oz. gold. A parcel of 900 lb. from the Captain Russell is said to have yielded at the rate of 15 dwt. gold per ton. The results of the work being unsatisfactory, the locality was abandoned and no further prospecting has since been done there.
MOUNT RANGITOTO REEFS.
In the early “seventies” attention was drawn to a small reef outcrop in an isolated belt of greywacke surrounded by granite, and probably underlain by it, immediately south of Mount Rangitoto, in Totara Survey District, about eight miles south of Ross. The reef or lode was a mixture of quartz and pyrites, with a minor amount of galena, and the Mount Rangitoto Silvermining Company was formed to work it for silver. A considerable sum of money was spent in development and the erection of treatment plant. Samples of the ore sent away were reported to have shown high silver values. Mr. W. Skey, Colonial Analyst, mentions that two samples sent to Germany yielded silver at the rate of 17 oz. 19 dwt. and 16 oz. 6 dwt. respectively, and that Professor Bickerton and Mr. Isaac Lewis had made assays which showed 69 oz. and 46 oz. silver per ton, while Professor Kirkland, of the Melbourne University, is said to have obtained results from the ore equal to 735 oz. silver per ton.
​The lode was, however, very narrow, and evidently only carried low average values. As seen by P. G. Morgan in 1906, the outcrop was but about 6 in. wide, and in the Mining Handbook of 1887, p. 170, it is described as being from 3 in. to 6 in. in width, but widened out at one place to 3 ft. Cox, who visited the locality in 1875 or 1876, states that its character was uniform throughout, consisting of pyrites, with about 20 per cent. of galena, and remarked that it was not of sufficient value to work on its own account. A sample taken by him yielded on assay only 1 oz. 17 dwt. silver per ton. About 1876 Skey made a number of analyses of samples of the ore, taken with a view to arriving at reliable data as to the true character of the lode. Nine of these assays gave results ranging from 7 oz. 19 dwt. to 45 oz. silver per ton.
It is evident that the company had no thought but to work the lode for its silver content, but even had the values in this metal been payable it is questionable if the very primitive plant that was erected would have saved them. This plant was described as consisting of a three-stamp battery, an amalgamating-barrel, and a few buddles; while an open roasting-pan made of wrought iron, about 16 ft. long and 8 ft. wide, was later added to calcine the ore before crushing. H. A. Gordon states that on visiting the mine on one occasion he examined the tailings, and was surprised to see them full of quicksilver. On washing some in an old frying-pan he collected in a short time about 20 lb. of quicksilver, and from 6 dwt. to 8 dwt. of gold and silver, and he judged from this that the company could never have taken a great deal of gold or silver from the ore, and whatever there was remained in the tailings.
Even had a more suitable treatment plant been provided it is almost certain that such silver values as there were in the ore would not have proved payable, but there is a possibility that if the company had given attention to the recovery of the gold rather then the silver contents of the ore it might have met with a greater measure of success. In spite of the fact that 90 tons of the ore treated at Swansea are said to have returned 2 oz. gold per ton, and that assays made by Skey showed that some of the samples carried values up to 10 oz. 2 dwt. gold per ton, no special effort seems to have been made to save this metal. P.G. Morgan states that he took a general sample from the outcrop, and one from the broken ore lying at the mouth of the drive, which yielded on assay 1 oz. 5 dwt. 6 gr. and 1 oz. 3 dwt. 22 gr. respectively. It so happens that the lode is in freehold land, and consequently cannot be investigated by the ordinary prospector, but in view of the gold values referred to some further testing of the formation seems worth while.
GOLD IN GRANITE AT MOUNT. RANGITOTO.
In his annual report for 1893 Inspecting Engineer of Mines H. A. Gordon mentions that a considerable amount of prospecting had been done on Messrs. Pollock and Bevan's property at Rangitoto, and that it had been represented they had obtained both gold and silver of a payable character in working a granitic conglomerate which crumbles away on exposure to the atmosphere. He quotes the following extract from a letter addressed by these prospectors to the Minister of Mines:—
“You may perhaps be aware that for a long time past we have been prospecting a huge belt of conglomerate, or a sort of bastard granite, which ​crumbles away on exposure, and that we have found to be auriferous. We have had many trials from the outcrop, taken indiscriminately from an extensive surface. One trial of a ton by chlorination in Melbourne gave us 6 dwt. 12 gr. gold; another by the Cassel process yielded 6 dwt. 14 gr. Our own fire assays from the face of the formation have yielded a variety of results—some poor, some exceedingly good, but encouraging from a prospector’s point of view, owing to the fact that we seldom or never failed to get gold, although nothing is visible to the naked eye. On another occasion we sent five small lumps to Reefton, and Mr. Fenton found gold in all of them, and recommended us to further prospect the discovery. In February last a tunnel was driven right into the formation. The tunnel was 4 ft. 6in. by 6ft. 6in. At every 3ft. of driving 12 lb. of stone was taken out and tried. The tunnel was driven for a distance of 40 ft., and nine if these trials of 12 1b. each were made, and in every case gold was obtained. In order to get a good all-round average the results of the nine trials were cupelled and run into one button of gold, with the gratifying result that it yielded 4 dwt. 4 gr. gold, equal to 6 dwt. 16 gr. per ton. The process adopted was by quicksilver amalgamation of the ordinary character, with but very primitive appliances at command. This mode of dealing with the stone proves that the gold is free and does not require either the Cassel process or chlorination to extract it; hence the probability of making such a huge mass pay well, for it must be borne in mind that there are simply millions of tons of stuff to operate on, which could be broken down for a mere nominal cost, probably less than 1s. per ton. The gold is very fine, and will require careful treatment; but recent amalgamation-pans and intelligent battery management ought to be sufficiently understood to make the undertaking a success.”
If there was any reliability to be placed on the above description the matter should have been worth looking into, but the writer has not been able to find any record of any investigation, departmental or otherwise. It is evident, however, that when P. G. Morgan was engaged in carrying out the geological survey of the Mikonui Subdivision (Bulletin No. 6) in 1905 he was aware of the report quoted, for he made some search for the formation referred to in it. He says that he did not see any signs of mineralization, but that if the Rangitoto lode passed from the enclosing greywacke into the granite, as might be the case, it was not improbable that the adjoining granite might be somewhat auriferous. A sample of decomposed granite taken by him from another part of the mountain, on being carefully analysed for traces of gold, gave a negative result.
WILBERFORCE REEFS.
The auriferous reefs of the Wilberforce area, although known as the Westland reefs, are really in Canterbury, being just across the borders of Westland Province, about the headwaters of the Wilberforce River.
The first discovery of gold-bearing quartz there seems to have been made in 1882 by C. S. McGregor, who found shoad stone in the Wilberforce River and traced it to its source, thus discovering what has since been known as the Wilson’s Reward reef. Subsequent prospecting revealed the presence of many other reefs in the belt of argillites and greywacke that here forms what may be termed the cap of the alpine range, but only a ​few of them, apart from the Wilson’s Reward, showed much promise of being of economic value. Next to the reef mentioned, the best values were found in Pfablert’s and Fiddes’s reefs.
Wilson’s Reward Reef.—This reef was located on the south-eastern slopes of Mount Harman, about one mile north of Browning’s Pass, at an elevation of about 5,330 ft. above sea-level, and it occurs in an area in which a number of outcrops of considerable dimensions are revealed. Bell describes these outcrops as having no definite alignment, but suggesting a mineralized zone instead of a definite vein, the quartz occurring as large lens-shaped masses, which weaken in the direction of the strike, die out, or are replaced by similar lenses. The general strike corresponds with that of the strata (the veins being of the bedded type) which is 5° east of north, with a dip to the westward at from 40° to 60°.
On the surface, Wilson’s Reward reef is said to have shown an outcrop about 60 ft. in length and 15 ft wide, but under the surface debris it may continue for a much greater distance. Shortly after its discovery by McGregor a syndicate was formed in Christchurch to prospect it. This syndicate is said to have taken out a parcel of 3 tons of ore, evidently gathered from the outcrop, which was sent to Auckland for treatment. The actual results from this parcel are not known, but it is said the yield was at the rate of 13 oz. gold per ton. Following on this test, a claim covering the discovery was applied for and granted, and the Wilberforce Gold-mining Company was formed to work it. This company, in 1885, started a low-level tunnel from near the base of the Wilberforce Valley to cut the reef at depth. To reach the reef this adit would have had to be driven at least 1,600 ft., but after penetrating 1,000 ft. the company’s funds became exhausted, and it abandoned operations. Although the Wilson’s Reward reef was not met with, it is said, however, that at about 600 ft. in from the portal another reef was passed through, from which tests of the quartz were made, with the result that it yielded by amalgamation 12 dwt. gold per ton.
After this abandonment of the ground the field was neglected till 1902, when Mr. James Darward, of Christchurch, who had been a shareholder in the company, visited the locality with a well-known Westland prospector, Mr. R. Hyndman, and did some further prospecting in the way of surface examination, but severe weather prevented them remaining for more than a very short time. A little over a year later, in January, 1904, Mr. Hyndman and Mr. M. Grey went out and took some samples from the outcrops, which on assay are said to have shown satisfactory values. The party then took out a parcel of half a ton weight, which was sent to Reefton for treatment, and it is said to have yielded 1 oz. 9 dwt. 21 gr. gold. In November of the same year Messrs. Hyndman and Cameron started a tunnel to cut Wilson’s Reward reef 100 ft. vertically under the outcrop. This tunnel was driven due north in the country to the east of the formation, and it intersected the reef at an acute angle on the footwall side at 170 ft. in. The adit was then turned to crosscut the roof, but after cutting through the stone for between 13 ft. and 14 ft. without meeting the hanging-wall, work was stopped, apparently owing to the values in the quartz being so low as to discourage further effort, and up to the present time no further attempt has been made to test the deposit. J. M. Bell, who saw the reef shortly after this work was done, described it as being of a milky-white and somewhat semi-vitreous nature, and containing irregular-shaped fragments as well as partings of argillites. A small percentage of sulphides, chiefly pyrite and chalcopyrite, ​was present. Gold was occasionally visible in the vein material, more particularly in connection with the inclusions—slickensided partings and selvages of argillites. Four samples taken by him from different parts of the reef gave on assay the following results:—
It is evident from these results that the reef was patchy, and that the gold values on the whole in the exposed parts were not high; nevertheless it is to be regretted that more work was not done by driving along its course in the adit. Nearly all bedded veins of this nature are patchy in value, and it is possible that a drift along the reef would have revealed shoots of pay-ore.
In 1910 a party known as the Wilson’s Reward Syndicate is said to have cleaned up Hyndman and Cameron’s adit, and taken further samples from it and from the outcrops, but no other information is available as to their operations.
Fiddes’s Reward Reef.—This reef was located about five and a half miles south-westerly from the Wilson’s Reward, and at an elevation of about 600 ft. higher, near the head of Spencer’s Creek, a small tributary of Grave Creek. It was traceable on the surface for a much greater distance than any of the other reefs in the locality (at least 30 chains), striking north and south, and dipping westerly. It was, however, very narrow, sometimes opening out to 2ft. but averaging only about 6in. The quartz in appearance much resembled that of Wilson’s Reward, having the same thin slaty partings, and containing splashes of pyrite and chalcopyrite, and seemed to be equally patchy in respect to its gold content. The results of three samples taken by Bell for assay were as follows:—
For several years following 1905 a little desultory prospecting was apparently done on this find, and on certain other reefs in the vicinity, but in 1908 a start was made to put an adit in on it at a distance below the outcrop sufficient to give about 250 ft. of backs. For 55 ft. the reef was reported by Inspector of Mines A. Whitley to avarage 15 in. in width, and show good dish prospects as well as colours of gold. In 1909 Inspector of Mines Richards visited the claim, when the drive was in 117 ft., and reported that for the ​last 47 ft. the reef was only about 6 in. wide. When the drive had been carried in to 232 ft. a company known as the King Gold-mining Company was formed to take the property over. This company is said to have extended the level to about 532 ft., but there is nothing in the available records to indicate whether or not the reef lived for this distance, or what its width or value was. However, the fact that the company gave up its efforts after driving to the distance mentioned leads to the presumption that on the whole the developments could not have been satisfactory. Since 1911 no work has been done on this reef, or, indeed, in the field.
Pfahlert’s Reef.—-This reef was found outcropping near the head of Snowy Creek, about three-fourths of a mile south of Fiddes’s reef, and is probably the southern continuation of the same. Regarding it, Bell and Fraser state that southward from the creek it had been exposed by trenching for a distance of about 250 ft., with some indication of further extension under the rock talus. Its strike was about 19° west of north, and the dip 40° to 50° to the westward. As calculated from six of the cross-sections in the trenches, its width averaged about 30 in., the maximum width being 5 ft. The stone was said to be of a favourable character, gold being seen at frequent intervals throughout the full length of the better-defined portions of the outcrop, generally associated with the rusty slaty selvages and partings, but occasionally in the solid quartz. A general sample taken by the geologists from various points along the full length of the outcrops yielded on assay only 1 dwt. 5 gr. gold per ton, but another assay made from fragments of quartz showing gold yielded at the rate of 8 oz. 9 dwt. 21 grs. gold per ton. Beyond the surface trenching referred to no further work seems to have been done on this reef.
Among the other reefs located, and on which a little prospecting, mainly of a superficial nature, was done, may be mentioned those known as Hyndman’s reef, on the south-western slope of Mount Harman; the Kanieri Syndicate’s reefs, on the eastern slope of the same mountain; the Grave Creek reef, Billett’s reef, and Fiddes’s stringer reefs; but none of them showed any special promise. In 1909 and 1910 Callieri and party drove a tunnel on what may be considered the continuation of Fiddes’s reef northward of Grave Creek. Good surface prospects were got from the outcrops, but in the tunnel very little solid stone appears to have been seen.
Bell and Fraser point out that the area within which these various reefs were found has been subjected to extensive glacial action, and that the disintegration and rapid erosion of the surface may have had the effect of removing the upper and richer portions of the reefs, and that the numerous barren reefs may really represent the downward continuation of some from which the more valuable upper parts have been entirely eroded. This explanation of the position may well be correct—nevertheless it seems to the present writer that this field deserved more vigorous and thorough testing than it received; but no doubt the fact that the country containing the reefs was all well above the snow-line and could only be worked for a small part of the year was a serious drawback to operators. The isolation of the locality and the difficulty of maintaining supplies in it were further hindrances to effective prospecting. The time will doubtless come when the region will receive further attention from the prospector, and, either there or along the belt of greywackes and argillites that seems to crown the Alpine range for a number of miles both north and south of it, there is a possibility that important reefs will yet be revealed.
TAIPO RIVER REEFS.
What are known as the Taipo reefs occur in a belt of country that may be considered the northern extension of the Wilberforce area. The Taipo River has its source immediately north of Mount Harman, and flows in a general east-north-easterly direction for about fourteen miles, when it turns north-westerly till it junctions with the Teremakau River. Most of the known outcrops of quartz occur in the creeks running into it from the western side. Very little prospecting has ever been done in this region, and practically all that is known of its reef-occurrences is contained in Bell and Fraser’s “Geological Survey of the Hokitika Sheet, North Westland Quadrangle” (Bulletin No. 1, New Series), most of the outcrops having in fact been located by members of the party engaged in that survey. It cannot be said that many of the outcrops discovered showed any decided promise, but there was sufficient evidence of gold in some of them to indicate that the area containing them was worthy of further examination. The geologists referred to describe the belt of likely rocks as being about five miles in width, bounded by an artificial line drawn from the north-eastern corner of Turiwhate Survey District, in a direction of south 38° west, to the south-western boundary of Browning’s Pass Survey District. Following the Taipo River down, outcrops were found in Gold Creek, Dunn’s Creek, Freitas Creek, Scotty’s Creek, and Low’s Creek. Careful washing of the decomposed vein stuff, and crushing and panning of freshly broken quartz, served to show that a little gold occurred in most of them, but in only one was what appeared payable quantity of the metal noted. This was in an occurrence in Gold Creek, a small tributary entering the Taipo River well up towards its source. In the bed of the creek, and about seventy-five paces from its mouth, the survey party discovered a bedded reef formation consisting of narrow alternating bands of greywacke and quartz striking north 60° east and dipping at a high angle to the eastward. The formation was exposed for about 3ft. from the foot-wall, but the hanging-wall portion was covered with heavy creek debris, so that the full width-was not ascertained. Along its line the formation seemed to have no continuity to the north, while to the south talus debris covered everything up. The visible portion of the outcrop was only about 6 ft. in length. The quartz bands in the formation only formed a minor proportion of the whole, and were narrow, the widest being about 4 in. The quartz was of a favourable character, showing numerous small angular slaty inclusions and pyrite throughout. One of the quartz bands was highly auriferous, and where it was widest (4 in.) every fragment broken out showed coarse gold, and others of the small quartz bands contained gold in lesser quantity. Samples taken from portions of the formation showing no gold gave on assay 1 dwt. 14 gr. gold per ton, while two other samples from which everything showing gold was selected and discarded gave 1 dwt. 16 gr. and 1 dwt. 6 gr. respectively. An assay of a sample from the rich band yielded at the rate of 5 oz. 3 dwt. 8 gr. gold and 17 dwt. 15 gr. silver. The quartz bands in the formation showed a tendency to widen in a southerly direction below the talus debris, and further investigation of it in that direction seemed warranted.
It may be mentioned that about three years ago a party of prospectors under the direction of Mr. Sidney Fry went into the locality specially to make further investigation of this formation. Owing to the chairs that had been used for crossing some of the streams along the route having been swept away or rendered unsafe, and the old track being badly blocked by ​slips and deadfalls, the party had considerable difficulty in reaching their objective, and when they did get there they found that in the interval since the survey party had seen the formation it had been covered up deeply by creek debris brought down by floods, and no vestige of it could be seen. The task of shifting all this material was too great for the men to undertake at the time, so they restricted their efforts to blasting up some of the larger boulders, in the hope that further floods would clear the debris away and they would be able to see the reef on a subsequent visit. As far as the writer is aware, however, none of the men returned to the spot again, so it is not known what the result of their work was.
Dunn’s Creek Reefs.—These are said to offer little promise.
Low’s Creek Reef.—This was tested by crushing and panning, also by fire assay, but failed to reveal any gold content.
Freitas Creek Reef.—This reef, which occurs at from one to one and a half miles up the creek mentioned from its junction with Taipo Creek, is described as consisting of several mineralized zones in greywacke and argillite, in only one of which were traces of gold got on assay. Nevertheless the geological surveyors were of opinion that their general appearance was so favourable that they might with advantage be traced and prospected along the line of strike.
Scotty’s Creek Reefs.—Numerous lenticular quartz veins are said to have been located in the valley traversed by this creek, but values were not detected in any of them. Highly auriferous quartz fragments are reported, however, to have been found from time to time in the bed of the creek, and the geologists commented that, concealed beneath the vegetation and surface debris, the veins may exist from which they were derived.
Other reefs of the area which attracted the attention of the survey party were those known as the Taipo Gorge reef, Harley’s Creek reef, the Hura Creek reefs, and McQuilkin’s reef.
Taipo Gorge Reef.—This outcrops in the left side of the gorge, about eight chains below the junction of Rocky Creek with the Taipo River, and has a maximum width of 1 ft. Unlike the reefs just previously referred to, it occurs as a bedded reef in banded schists, a highly quartzose mica-schist forming its western wall, and a more laminated biotite-schist its eastern wall. The vein stands practically vertical, and is described as apparently lensoid both in vertical and horizontal extension. Its chief interest lies in the fact that it was found to contain platinum, an assay of a sample giving a result equal to 1 dwt. platinum and 6 dwt. 13 gr. silver per ton.
Harley’s Creek Reef.—This reef occurs in the bed of Harley’s Creek, about half a mile up from its junction with the Teremakau River, in country rock consisting of hard shaly phillite, striking north 36° east, and dipping south-eastward at an angle of about 55°, and appeared also to be lenticular in both horizontal and vertical extension. No gold was found in it, but two samples showed on analysis that they contained platinum, respectively at the rate of 3 dwt. 8 gr. and 1 dwt. 2 gr. per ton.
Hura Creek Reefs.—Hura Creek is the next one of any importance entering the Taipo above Dunn’s Creek. In one of its headwaters tributaries, at a point above 350 ft. below the Hura Saddle, a fragment of quartz about 5 lb. in weight was found by a member of the survey party, which on one face included a beaten-out ragged streak of gold, in the aggregate amounting to ½ dwt. The quartz is said to have had a striking resemblance to that of the Gold Creek reef, and its discovery was looked upon as important. As it was found so near the cap of the range the geologists considered that the ​location of the reef from which it came, by trenching and surface prospecting, should not be a difficult matter, and might be undertaken with advantage.
McQuilkin’s Reef.—McQuilkin’s Creek is a tributary of the Arahura River, but has its source near the Hura Saddle, on the opposite side from the locality just referred to. At a distance of little more than a mile up from the Arahura River, and at an elevation of about 1,300 ft., in a small headwater stream coming into McQuilkin’s Creek from the northern side, occurs what Bell and Fraser describe as one of the best-defined quartzs veins in the whole area covered by the survey. As exposed for about 100 ft., it is from 15 in. to 30 in. wide. Its strike is about north 22° east, and its dip westward at about 65°. In some parts it seemed comformable to the bedding of the enclosing greywacke, but in the others evidently cuts it at a very acute angle. The only gold seen in it occurred as a coarse bleb in the quartz in the vicinity of the slaty selvage separating the quartz from the country rock, and the result of one sample assayed was only 1.5 gr. gold per ton; but, in view of the fact that auriferous quartz is found in the debris of the creek, and also free quartz gold very little worn, the geologists were led to the opinion that the neighbourhood well deserved further investigation.
As previously stated, only a negligible amount of prospecting has ever been done in the area within which occur the formations mentioned, and it deserves closer investigation; but it must be said the country is very rugged and difficult of access, and for prospecting purposes is of no use to the small two-or-three-men party, the labour entailed on the individual members of such parties being inordinately heavy, and the loss of time necessitated in travelling to and fro for supplies too great to admit of the men doing justice either to themselves or the possibilities of the locality. To examine such an area to advantage a fairly large party seems needed, well equipped with tools and other requirements; and it would be all the better if it were in charge of a leader with good geological and mineralogical knowledge, who would be able to direct the work and map the country traversed.
JACKSON’S REEFS.
A good deal of prospecting was done some years ago in the ranges south of Jackson’s Railway-station, on the Greymouth-Christchurch line, in a reef-bearing run of the country that may be considered the northern extension of the Taipo River belt. As early as 1889 the Teremakau Gold-mining Company is reported to have been investigating an area about a mile and a half from Jackson’s, and was said (Mines Reps., 1887, C.-2, p. 52) to have found a quartz lode considered payable for working, and was making arrangements to erect a crushing-battery as soon as a road to their mine (then being constructed with the aid of a Mines Department subsidy) was completed. Apparently this battery was never erected, for there is no further mention of it in the Mines Reports, nor of any further work done on the find.
In 1896 it was reported (Mines Reps., C.-3, p. 104) that four prospecting licenses of 640 acres had been taken up in the same run of country, but evidently not covering the ground on which the old company had worked. A party of men had been prospecting on these areas during the summer of 1895-96, and were said to have got results of an encouraging nature, particularly on the Jackson fall of the range, where a reef 3 ft. in width was said to have been traced for a distance of 60 ft., with gold showing fairly through the stone. Parallel to this reef, and only 20 ft. away, another one had been partially bared and showed gold, but its thickness was not known. On the Taipo River side of the range the party was also reported to have got good results, three distinct lines of reefs having been located, one of which, called ​the East Reef, is described as being 3 ft. in width and traceable for several chains. The others were smaller, but well defined, showing fair crushing-prospects.
As in the case of the Teremakau Company’s operations, the official publications of the Mines Department are silent as to any subsequent developments on these reefs, and although the writer has sought for reliable information regarding them none has been available. The presumption is that little further work was done on them, the reefs probably turning out on investigation to be merely lenses with no extension worth speaking of in any direction, as proved to be the case with a number of outcrops prospected at Poerua, a mile or two farther north, a few years later.
SOUTH WESTLAND REEFS.
It has long been believed that in the extreme south of Westland Province—that is, in the region between the Waiho River and the southern boundary of the province—good reefing-country exists. Reefs have undoubtedly been located there, some of them auriferous, but such little information as is at hand concerning them does not seem to indicate that search there holds out much promise of success in revealing deposits of economic importance.
One of the most reliable accounts of the region that has been published appears in the Mines Reports for 1890 (pp. 96 and 97), in which a description is given of the results of twenty years’ investigation of that part of the West Coast District by Mr. Charles Douglass, an observer of good repute, who was, the writer understands, largely responsible for collecting the fine display of South Westland minerals shown at the Christchurch Exhibition of 1906. In this account Mr. Douglass states that there are within the region several belts of country that contain reefs, and that these all run almost parallel to one another, in a north-east and south-west direction. One of the belts he describes as extending from the Okarito Lagoons, crossing the Waiho River and Totara River, to the Copeland Range. This belt he looked upon as the source of the gold found in the Waiho and Cook’s Rivers. He evidently noted a number of outcrops of quartz near the head of the Waikupakupa River, at an elevation of about 4,000 ft. above sea-level, and others in the vicinity of Pike’s Peak, three miles farther south. The outcrops are said to have been well defined, but he could see no gold in them, nor even pyrites. Owing to the weather being very bad at the time he was examining this particular belt, Mr. Douglass says that he was unable to find his way along the shoulder of Mount Tasman, where the Torlesse Formation and the mica-schists join, but felt certain had he been able to do so he would have found something of value, as fine gold-quartz and specimens were to be found in the debris on the Balfour Glacier.
A second belt commenced at the Waikohai Bluff and entended in a south-west direction across the Paringa watershed. In this belt he found one small leader of gold-quartz, and several reefs containing minor quantities of galena; also dykes containing antimony with an appreciable show of gold, some large reefs containing arsenical pyrites but not gold, several iron-ore lodes, and a coal-seam 5 ft. in thickness.
A third belt commenced at Bruce Bay and extended parallel with the last mentioned. This belt contained reefs carrying a little galena, but in unpayable quantities. A magnetite lode was also found in it, and some fine quartz reefs outcropped near the granite in the Black River.
​The fourth belt is described as commencing at the ocean a little southward of the Paringa River. This belt contained the copper-ore found in the Thomas Range, and outcrops of quartz reefs in the spurs between the Paringa and Blue Rivers. Much of the country in this belt, was, however, practically inaccessible.
The fifth belt commenced a little to the northward of Arnott Point, and was believed by Mr. Douglass to be the same as the Shotover belt.
The sketch-map shown in Fig. 3 will serve to show the position of some of the reefs in the second belt described, but there are no plans available indicating the location of the other reefs or lodes mentioned. It may be said, however, that all the belts referred to are in schist country for the main part, and in New Zealand the experience has been that in this class of country reefs have been found not to carry their values to any great depth.
* ↑ Twelfth Annual Report on the Colonial Museum and Library, 1878, p. 33.
* ↑ P. G. Morgan: Geol. Bull. No. 6, p. 146.
* ↑ Report on the Westland District. G. S. Rep., 1877, p. 80.
* ↑ Mining Handbook, 1887, p. 170.
* ↑ Geol. Bull. No. 6, p. 147.
* ↑ Geol. Bull. No. 1, p. 51.
* ↑ J. M. Bell, Geol. Bull. No. 1, p. 52.
* ↑ Geol. Bull. No. 1, p. 55.