ZWARTKOPS BORE AM) THERMAL SPRING. I -.i 



position they occupied. A copy of this report will be found in 

 Appendix " A." 



At the depth of 3,400 feet the boring bit struck the first of 

 the hot spring, the volume being about 3,500 gallons per day and 

 the temperature 105 . As the bore went deeper the volume 

 gradually increased, l-ill 3,560 feet was reached, when the volume 

 increased to 250,000 gallons per day and the temperature to 130 . 

 A further depth of 60 feet was drilled, but there was no increase 

 of water or heat, and as the water pressure had become a real 

 difficulty and little progress was being made, it was decided to 

 stop work — particularly as the water was found to possess some 

 value, and as it was possible a deeper cold spring might be struck 

 that would destroy its properties, and thus the work of drilling 

 had most reluctantly to be brought to an end at 400 feet short 

 of the distance intended. 



An attempt was made to ascertain the temperature of the 

 water at the bottom of the bore, but with such appliances as were 

 at hand no perceptible increase could be found on the self- 

 registering thermometer sent down after the surrounding strata 

 were thoroughly warmed up. 



The drilling plant, with the engine and boiler and electric 

 installation, cost £3,400, and the casing about £1,400 more. The 

 working cost of drilling averaged about 20s. per foot down to 

 about 3,400 . When the spring was struck, the cost mounted up 

 considerably, and when the work was stopped it had reached 

 about £8 per foot, as the tools had seemingly lost their power 

 of drilling and only scraped the bottom. The resulting coarse, 

 gritty sand, as already stated, was much stained by iron. 



As soon as it was decided to stop work, the depth of the 

 bore was carefully measured, the tools collected, cleaned, oiled 

 and packed away carefully under cover for future use when 

 required, and the men sent back to their homes in Galicia. 



There were, fortunately, no accidents of any sort and the 

 men were thoroughly competent and resourceful. 



Although there were no absolute evidences of oil found in 

 the bore, a little gas \vas given off at about 2,800 feet and some 

 rings of natural wax came up in the water about the same time. 

 The brine spring was considered a good sign by the drillers, 

 who entertained the hope that the hard rock on which the bore 

 was stopped might be the " cap " frequently found over oil 

 strata. The chief driller encountered a similar hot spring in 

 drilling in Persia, which yielded a flowing oil well 200 feet 

 further down, and recently a newspaper notice mentioned a 

 similar case in drilling in the Argentine Republic, so that it was 

 a matter of regret that the rest of the distance could not be 

 accomplished. 



The Thermal Chalybeate Spring. 



The disappointment occasioned by the stoppage of the dril- 

 ling before completing the work that the company had set out to 

 do was somewhat modified by the discovery that the spring 

 possessed the valuable qualities attributed to it. and by way of 



