Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1895-05-24
SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD
MINES.

Nevada, $500 feet. The Wit
watersrandt reef and the coal de
posits adjacent thereto make tn
place famous. Probably in D.
other mining camp in the worl,
will SO many mills, hosting works
chlorinstion works and cyanid
works be seen in such rapid sue
cession and for so long a dlstanc
as upon the "Randt.' Water 70
the works is obtained from springs
the mines and every availabl,
scource, and is pumped into reser
voIrs and used over and over agair
until it is white with slime.
The Witwatersrandt gold bear
ing reef seems to have besn a baslr
formed by aqueous deposit ant
running in an ensterly and westerly
direction, cemented together and
forming a conglomerate mass
locally termed blanket" BY some
disturbance Of nature it was up
lifted at an angle of 50 deg, thus
forming the present continuous
lode or reef, broken by intrusive
dykes of diorlte or greensboro.
Then there seems to have been a
solfatric action from below which
formed vent in the porpus con-
glomerate, therein depositing sui
phurets Or sulphides of iron con-
tanning gold. In time, atmospheric
action esulphurlzed and oxidized
the iron, leaving some gold free,
while some, no doubt, owes Its free
state to the precipitating action of
iron. The country rocks of the
Randi, are chiefly sandstone cberts,
shales, quartzite and granite, the
conglomerate reef spoken of lying
between these formations and
avereglpg,several feet in thickness.
The Randi is a great low grade
proposition and is handled as such,
and in the opinion of many is not
worked so much for the actual
profit in it as for the stock jobblng
operations it affords.
But few OF The mines arc paying
handsomely; others are paying 30,
more thaa 6 or per cent upon
their very large capital, while Others
are not paying at all. and, as an
old miner remarks: These com
panies have q way Of making divi
dends appear all right on paper,
but at the same time they are In
debt to the bank and borrowing
more money to GO on with"
It is thought that the cyanide
process, which extracts the gold
from the tailings, is the salvation
of the Randi, and that what divl-
dends were paid come from this
source. The Johannesburgers
seem to think that the mines will
last forever, but, in the opinion of
well-informed people, fifteen years
will be long life for these prop
critics, worked as they are with the
enormous force in actual operation,
and then johannesburg the city
of whirlwinds aud dust storms -
will meet the fate of many another
mining camp, and houses, lots and
machinery will be for sale cheap
as dirt, unless some unforeseen
discovery should take place, which
is hardly probable, as the country
has been we'll prospected and taken
up.
The mining Laws OF the country
are stringent and peculiar, only
150 feet along the croppings by
400 feet in width being allowed
and as tue reef dips at an angle oI
35 deg, the holder of a clam
would soon work out his mine, he
not being permitted to follow the
dip of the reef outside OF his
boundary lines. ibis state OF
affairs gave rise to what is known
as the deep level claims. Shafts
are being sunk at some of these
that will tap the reef at a depth
but il remains to be proven wheth
er these deep level mines, as they
are called viii be paying ventures
III