470 Transactions. 



a head office in Liverpool ; the water-races formerly held by the individual 

 miners were all bought over ; three elevators were soon put in working-order, 

 and in 1891 sluicing on a fairly large scale began, and has continued up to 

 the present time. Some idea of the extent of the field may be got when we 

 consider that up to 1898 the amount of ground worked by the company was 

 33 acres, representing 2,100,000 cubic yards of material. The yield of gold 

 for the same time has been 7,751 oz. 16 dwt., equal to a recovery of If grains 

 per yard, or in value to 3|d. per yard. The total length of all the races 

 amounts to seventy miles, and the total carrying-capacity amounts to thirty- 

 six Governnient heads of water. The elevators are capable of lifting to a 

 height of 50 ft., and they elevate about 70 tons of material per hour. 



After sluicing had been going on for some considerable time, the 

 manager, who is of a decidedly curious turn of mind, began to notice that 

 after washing up he got, in addition to the gold, a S'nall quantity of a 

 silvery-white mineral in fine thin scales. Though somewhat struck with 

 the discovery, he took no further notice of it mitil, having at length sent 

 some to the Bank of New Zealand at Riverton, he was informed that it was 

 platinum, and well worth saving. The bank agreed to give him £2 an omice 

 for it at first. After every subsequent wash-up, therefore, the platinum 

 was separated from the gold by amalgamation and was sold, but it was not 

 until about 1897 that any was saved at all. All record of the amount got 

 from the field before this date is thus hopelessly lost. 



It has been estimated that the average annual yield of gold from the 

 claim is now about 2,000 oz. The yield of platinum to date could not 

 be got accurately, but we have been informed that an average figure 

 representing the amount got from this locality alone is 150 oz. per year. 

 This would make the total quantity saved to date about 1,200 oz., an 

 amount which is probably in excess of that actually sold. 



It must not be supposed that this is the only place in the neigh- 

 bourhood where the metal is fomid. We have already mentioned the fact 

 that it was fomid as far back as 1878 at the mouth of the Waiau, and it 

 has long been known that it occurs on all the beaches from that river as 

 far as the Orepuki Beach. The quantity, of course, is small, and the scales 

 minute and thin, but it evidently pays to collect it. After every severe storm 

 it is not an unusual thing to hear of miners prospecting the beaches for gold, 

 and returning not only with gold but with a fair quantity of platinum. 



An examination of the gravel-deposits and the sand shows that the 

 minerals most commonly associated with the metal are phiefly garnets 

 and small grains of non-magnetic or but slightly magnetic iron-oxide. In 

 the claim ordinary strongly magnetic magnetite also occurs. 



It will thus be" seen that the second occurrence of platinum in Otago is in 

 the alluvial plain of the Round Hill district, and to a smaller extent along 

 the beaches from the Waiau to Orepuki. No records have been made of any 

 occurrence on any other beach to the east, though it is quite possible that 

 traces of it may be discovered, for the beaches as far as Riverton are more 

 or less covered with ripples of ironsand, and this is especially prevalent 

 with the platinum at Orepuki. 



Seeino- that the platinum from the beaches is essentially the same as 

 that from t^e claim, one description will do for both occurrences. The 

 metal almost invariably occurs in the form of round or oval thin plates 

 or leaves. Rarely we find small rounded grains, and it has been stated 

 that crystals also occur. W. S. Plamilton, in a paper on the discovery 

 of these so-called crystals read before the Southland Institute in 1886 (sec 

 Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol- 18, p. 402), says that he obtained from the Orepuki 



