476 T r(nisacfion». 



An amount equal to (J-0()2 grain in 2,000 grains of powder works out 

 at nearly 16 grains per ton. Taking the price of pure gold at £4 per ounce, 

 this means that the rock is worth 3s. per ton, so that it is decidedly auri- 

 ferous, and might even pay to crush. When we consider, then, that the 

 debris of the claim has been the accumulation of perhaps hundreds of years, 

 when we consider that the sandstone of the claim is auriferous, that the 

 washdirt of the miners consists of a mixture of decomposed rock material 

 and sand with pieces of lignite, and so on, and when we consider that more 

 gold is found where the rock is most decomposed, it would appear that 

 much of the gold of the company comes from this gabbro rock. This is 

 further suggested by the fact that the value of the gold fluctuates between 

 £4 2s. 6d. and £3 16s. 6d. per ounce, for it is well known that gold from 

 igneous rocks is usually very pure. The impurities, or the gold of lesser 

 value mixed with it, may have come along the beach, for it is also well known 

 that the gold which does occur on the beach at Orepuki and at the mouth of 

 the Waiau is inferior in value, amounting rarely to more than £3 10s. per 

 ounce. The appearance of the gold in the claim also strongly suggests 

 a different origin from ordinary reef gold. The grains are very small, and 

 there is no record of a nugget of any size ever having been found near the 

 claim. An examination in reflected light shows that many of the grains 

 are irregular, rounded sometimes but at others almost rectangular, and 

 with ragged edges. It would thus seem that they had to some extent been 

 washed along by a running stream, while others had been freed just where 

 they are. It was appearances like these which led McKay, in his " Gold- 

 deposits of New Zealand," to say, " On the Orepuki and Longwood Range 

 field no payable quartz lodes have been found, and the alluvial gold had a 

 source distant from where it is now found. In this case the alluvial gold 

 does not indicate the existence of reefs in the neighbourhood." As it is 

 to be hoped we have shown, it is quite possible for the gold of the claim 

 to have come from the rocks (gabbro) in the neighbourhood, washed down and 

 concentrated from the hills near at hand when a larger stream was flowing. 



In connection with the gold which we consider to have been, to some 

 extent, washed along the beach, it is just as well here to consider the opinion 

 expressed by W. 8. Hamilton in the paper previously referred to on the 

 renewal of gold on the beaches of the south of Otago. He says, " Just as 

 wood is often silicified into stone in large quantities, or carbonized into coal, 

 so it would appear that it may be metallized into the ironsand of our gold- 

 fields, auriferous, cupriferous, or platiniferous, from either some obscure 

 conditions of process or inherent quality of the original substance. The 

 ironsand of our goldfields appears to be derived from the breaking-down 

 of pyritized wood by mechanical or chemical means. This pyritized wood 

 occurs along the sands, and, by the replacement of the sulphur by oxygen, 

 magnetite may easily be formed from timber." He then goes on to say. 

 " The renewal of gold in our beaches seems to be an example of this slow 

 change of the ironsand. Miners observe the same renewal in the washings 

 of the Orepuki Goldfield." This theory of renewal is, of course, mere non- 

 sense, for it is a well-known fact that in all beach-workings the world 

 over more precious metal occurs after heavy storms than was present before. 

 The reason is that the gold, being very heavy, requires a great force to move 

 it away, and this foi'ce is provided by the fury of the waters, while the 

 lighter material on top is easily carried off, leaving the gold uncovered. 



Several distinct assays were then rim of the rock-powder ; the beads 

 were put together, so that a total weight of 0-02 grain was obtained ; the 



