GOLD 



Provincial Industries 



WASHING AURIFEROUS SANDS 



Assam. 



River-beds. 



Point of 

 Deposition. 



Sadiya. 

 Dihong. 



Subansiri. 



U. Prov. 



C. Prov. 



Panjab. 



Kashmir. 



Bombay. 



undoubtedly almost universal in the country examined, gold-prospecting could 

 not (with one or two exceptions) be honestly recommended as a reasonable 

 venture (General Report, 1902-3). The examination found the deposits in the 

 quartz reefs to be very thin and patchy and the ore bodies small. " The recovery 

 of gold from alluvial deposits," the report further adds, " offers no brighter 

 prospects than that of mining quartz veins." [Cf. Noetling, Sonapet Gold-Field, 

 in Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1890, xxiii., pt. ii, 73-8 ; 1896, xxix., pt. i., 2 ; King and 

 Pope, Gold, Copper, Lead in Ghota Nagpur, 1891 ; Hatch, Rept. Parhardiah 

 Quartzites, in Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1901, xxxiii., 68-71; Holland, Gen. Rept. Geol. 

 Surv. Ind., 1901-2 ; 1902-3, 10-4 ; Maclaren, Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1904, 

 xxxi., pt. ii., 59-91 (with map).] 



Assam. For an account of the gold of this province the reader should consult 

 Maclaren's exhaustive paper on the Auriferous Occurrences of Assam (I.e. 1904, 

 pt. iv., 205-32, with numerous plates and maps). In a brief notice on that paper, 

 Holland (Rev. Mm. Prod., 1905, xxxii., 140) remarks that the most striking 

 feature of the gold deposits of the Assam valley is the universal distribution of 

 the metal in extremely small percentages throughout the gravel of the river-beds. 

 This Maclaren holds to be due to two main causes, the wandering of the Brah- 

 maputra over the plain and the wide distribution of the Tipam or Sub-Himalayan 

 sandstones, which are certainly auriferous in places. The next characteristic 

 feature is the general aggregation of gold at a point the distance of which from 

 the hills is dependent on the strength of the current and the form of the gold dust. 

 This point of general deposition is marked on the Assam rivers by the occurrence of 

 gravels containing pebbles up to 6 inches in diameter. Above the point indicated 

 the only deposition is that due to local diminutions in the velocity of the current, 

 as on the beaches at the end of a long pool or on beaches lying parallel with the 

 stream, and to which the gold is carried by the back eddies, where it is -retained in 

 the interstices between the large boulders. 



The only gold deposits considered by Maclaren to be worthy of further pros- 

 pecting are the Guri Mara, above the Sadiya and opposite the Chunpara Stockade ; 

 the Sibia Mukh on the Dihong river, and the Derpai pool on the Subansiri river. 

 The most promising deposit is that on the Subansiri. The gold in general is of 

 good quality, but the individual gold grains, except in a few places on the Subansiri, 

 are extremely small and much flattened. 



United Provinces. The production of gold in these provinces is comparatively 

 unimportant. The only districts where it occurs in any quantity are Bijnor, 

 Naini Tal and Garhwal, but the estimated production is only about 50 to 80 oz. 

 per annum. The general method of working is the washing of auriferous sands 

 found in the beds of certain rivers, most notably Ramganga, Sukhar Sot, Phika 

 and Khoh in the Nagina Tahsil of the Bijnor district. 



Central Provinces. Gold-bearing sands occur in most parts of these provinces, 

 but the output is comparatively insignificant. The chief localities are Nagpur 

 Division, especially Bhandara, Balaghat, Chanda, etc. [Cf. H. Nunn, Monog. 

 Gold and Silver-Ware, 5-10.] In Central India gold appears to be confined to 

 the Ajmere-Merwara district. 



Panjab. The districts where gold is found are Bannu, Peshawar, Hazara, 

 Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Kangra, Ambala, Gurgaon, and Hoshiarpur. The most 

 important are the Jhelum district, where gold to the value of 770 was produced 

 in 1901, and a fair amount in the Hazara district. It is said that recently an 

 application has been made to the Panjab Government on behalf of a Syndicate 

 in British Columbia for the grant of a dredging lease for gold in the bed of the 

 Indus. [Cf. Maclagan, Monog. Gold and Silver Works, Pb., 1888-9; Robertson, 

 Settl. Rept. Rawalpindi, 1893, 15 ; Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1897, xxvi., 287 ; 

 Madras Weekly Mail, June 7, 1900, 502 ; Capital, Feb. 4, 1904.] 



Kashmir. Gold-washing is carried on in some villages, chiefly in the Skardu 

 Tahsil and Kargil Tahsil, Baltistan. In the former, the chief locality is the 

 sands of the Bashahr river, and in the latter along the left bank of the Dras-Sooroo 

 river from Hardas to Maimus, at Sher Alithang near Kharbu, and at Chuskor, 

 some eight miles from Kargil. The market value of a tola is Rs. 20 and the State 

 rate Rs. 18. [Cf. Drew, Jummoo and Kashmir, 1875, 409 ; Clarke, Skardu Tahsil 

 and Kargil Tahsil, 1901, 10 ; Kaye, Note on Assess. Rept. of Kargil Tahsil, 1901, 

 45 ; Lawrence, Valley of Kashmir, 62.] 



Bombay. Auriferous rocks occur in the districts of Dharwar, Belgaum, Kaladgi, 

 in the South Maratha country, and in the province of Kathiawar, but the output 

 of gold in late years has been very small. Recently, however, promising work 



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