PRECIOUS METALS IN THE WEST OF EXGLAXD. 1 1 1 



Mr. Artliur Dean, writing to Mr. Eobert Hunt in the year 

 1865, said that he had found free gokl in paying quantities in 

 the lode at the Great Dowgas mine, "an immense lode from 30 

 to 60 feet wide, composed of cpiartz, carhonate and oxide of iron, 

 hornblende, iron pyrites, and blende, with some copper ore and 

 tin ore disseminated tlnoughout the mass. Two samples of 9 

 cwt. each gave by amalgamation at the rate of 7J dwt. gold to 

 the ton although no gold was visible in the stone." He goes on 

 to say, " from a large lode near Tavistock (Devon United ?) which 

 carries tin on the back in small quantities but makes copper in 

 depth, and in which the mineral near the surface is quartz 

 mingled wath hard iron gozzaii, I obtained by trial of half a ton 

 at the rate of 10 dwts, per ton," and again "at a few miles from 

 Falmouth there is a very large lode from which a very competent 

 assayer and smelter assures me that he has tried many samples 

 of the mineral as broken and has frequently obtained assays at 

 the rate of H and 2 ozs. gold per ton and has found gold in 

 paying quantities through the mass of the mineral." Mr. Dean 

 adds : I have devoted but a small amount of time to the question 

 of gold in Cornwall but intend shortly to make a practical trial 

 in the county. Twenty-one years ago I was much laughed at 

 when I announced the discovery of a true gold formation in N. 

 Wales, but the facts have turned out in my favour, may my 

 impressions as to Cornish gold be equally correct.-'-^ 



I believe that these investigations were not carried out by 

 Mr. Dean, but the subject has never been quite lost sight of. 

 Mr. F. J. Stephens has tested the great quartz vein at Beacon 

 Hill, near Falmouth, and found it to contain small quantities of 

 gold, though not sufficient to warrant the erection of plant for 

 its treatment. In a paper read at Penzance a few years since*- 

 Mr. Stephens gives references to many gold discoveries, including, 

 besides those already mentioned, the following : — 



Mr. S. E. Pattison, in a quartz vein on Eough Tor. 



Mr. N. Whitley, in the raised beach at Newquay. 



Capl. Hambly, in the gozzan of Wheal Gorland. 



29. Trans. Miners' Assoc, of C. & D. 1865, pp. 19-20. 



30. Recent discoveries of gold in West Cornwall. 7'ians. R.G.S.C., XII, p. 240. 



