Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-05-05
WORLDS SUPPLY OF GOLD.
Yellow Metal Falls from the Sky and
Splashes Up from the Sea.


SPiashes Up from the Sea.
The worlds gold supply is aDso.
lutely incXhaustible. no matter what
demands are made upon It, Hitherto
the attention OF miners has been en-
tircly directed to comparatively rich.
easily worked deposits. But 1t has
TO be remembered that gold in small
quantities occurs I'm enormous masses
of rock throughout the world
Almost all volcanic rocks and the
formations derived from them, such
as granite, serpentine and rhyolite,
contain appreciable quantities OF gold,
and vast deposits of sedimentary
rocks derived from such volcanic for.
nations contain gold I'm concentrated
form, and are today in some localI-
ties profitably worked
Profit is and always has been the
incentive to gold production Should
there ever lie need for working the
volcanic and sedimentary rocks that
are aurifcrous the means of profitu-
bly, working thin will be found.
Experiments have shown that gold
Is regularly falling to the earth, i'm
association with cosmic dust, and day
ana night it settles all over the land
and sea. Some of this gold. when
concentrated by wind or water, or
dissolved by acid surface waters and
redeposited In more concentrated
form, is recoverable.
The waters Of the sea. also. are
auriferons, and there can he little
doubt that. IL ever in the remote fu-
ture theer should he an extraordinary
demand for gold, means could be
found for proftably reducing the gold
in the sea water.
The area of the sea bed is much
larger than that of the land. It's com
position is similar IN every respect
with that of the land 1t is composed
OF mountains. plains, and plateaus.
OF igneous, metamorphic and sedi-
mentary rocks which contain great
areas of collaborating and other min
eral veins.
Only in few instances, however,
where the submarine gold fields are
close TO the land, will 1t he possible
TO work them as the submarine Goa!
fields fields are subject to constant
attrition ly various names. hut the
Term auriferous beach sand suffi.
GENTLY describes them. They occur
In the Pacific beaches. from Alaska
TO Terra del Fuego, and throughout
the coasts of Australia and New Yea.
land, where they have long been
worked with profitable results.
The soul output from the gold.
bearing beaches at Nome. Alaska this
year is expected to reach $4,000. 600.
The coast between Cape Nome. and
Point Rodney for distance of more
than twenty miles is being worked
for gold by hundreds Of men,
The beach is In places auriferous
for width Of 1000 feet inland from
the tide level, and sometimes to
depth of fifty feet. From the western
base of Cape Nome there is series
OF gravelly sea beaches extending
inland several miles. which contain
gold, and are in places being worked
today. These marine deposits yield
ed gold to the value of $4,000 900 in
1908, S2,1S5,000 in 1904, and $3.50.
600 IN 1900
The earth has also immense de.
posits of auriferous sands and CLAWS.
These are chiefly in the arid regions.
In many countries they are profitahly
worked by dry blowing processes.
But the experiments in Australia
have shown that much of the gold
can lie extracted in these cases by
special adaptation of gold dredging
known as the pad-docking process.
These deDosits are formed by the
| erosion of auriferous rock formation
and the concentration of the gold by
the action of wind and rain.
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