INOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF GOLD IN THE PRINCE 

 ALBERT DIVISION, CAPE PROVINCE. 



By W. Versfeld, B.A., B.Sc. 



A few years ag;o the writer was employed by a local syndicate 

 to examine a locality where a considerable amount of gold had 

 been discovered lying about in the surface soil, and where pro- 

 specting had been carried on for about two years. The conducting 



-of this prospecting work had most unfortunately not been based 



■ on a correct understanding of the manner in which the gold 

 occurred and what its origin was. Consequently much valuable time 

 and still more valuable money had been wasted. This is mentioned 

 to show why, since that time, very little has been done, the original 

 shareholders being unwilling to put more money into the venture 

 and new ones being difficult to find. 



It is very many years since the first discovery of gold was made 

 on the farm " Spreeuwfontein," in the Prince Albert Division — 



-about 25 miles north-east of the village of Prince Albert. An ant- 



-bear is credited with having unearthed the first nugget in an endea- 

 vour to unearth what was to him of far greater importance than 

 all the gold in the world. 



For many years the search for further nuggets has gone on 

 with varying success, but no real effort has apparentlv been made 

 to locate the position of the reef from which the gold has been 

 derived. Instead of that numerous theories have been advanced 

 to account for the presence of the gold. 



All the gold so far found at Spreeuwfontein is alluvial, con- 

 sisting of more or less water-worn particles, from dust to fairly 



: sized nuggets. Subsequent discoveries were made on a farm 

 called " Ganze Kraal," about ten miles to the east of Spreeuwfon- 

 tein, at Hartebeest Fontein, about thirty miles to the east of Ganze 

 Kraal, and at other localities between these places. At these spots 

 a considerable amount of gold has been found in a thin layer of 



■soil lying on the bed rock. Many nuggets were picked up on the 

 very surface of the ground, some being many ounces in weight. 



In addition to ordinary nuggets, specimens were found which 

 threw a great deal of light on the origin of the gold. Two speci- 

 mens are evidently portions of a hona-fide quartz reef, as each 

 shows two sides of the reef. One is two inches thick and the 

 other an inch and a half, but both are so abnormally rich that the 

 discovery of the reef or reefs from which they were broken would 

 be of tremendous importance to the Cape Province. These speci- 

 mens are estimated to contain more than half their weight of gold 



— say from twelve to fifteen thousand ounces per ton. 



The other specimens are exactly what one would expect to find 

 produced by the wearing down of the first-mentioned nieces by the 

 mechanical action of water. There are pieces similar to the above, 

 but with a good deal of the quartz removed. The gold has in most 

 cases actually filled a space in the centre of the reef, and when 



■subsequently portions of the reef are broken off and some of the 



