GOLD

Historical notes on gold

Gold washing and mining have a relatively long history in the United States. In New Mexico, Arizona and probably California, the Spaniards operated mines from which they obtained silver and possibly some gold at least as far back as 1620. There are also old records mentioning early discoveries of gold nuggets in California in the period 1775-1780. Spaniards and early settlers in the southern Appalachian region where mining gold since about 1792. These deposits though rich were relatively small and soon depleted. The scene then turned to California, to Coloma on the American River, where in the tailrace of Sutter's Mill on the morning of January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall's daughter plucked the first gold nugget from the sand that led to the great California gold rush of 1849-1850. There followed then in succession the discoveries of the Mother Lode and Grass Valley in California and the famous Comstock Lode in Nevada during the 1850's. The gold telluride deposits of Cripple Creek in Colorado were discovered in 1892, and by 1905 the Tonopah and Goldfield deposits in Nevada and the Alaskan placer deposits had been discovered.

Among the miners of the great California rush of 1849 was one Edward Hammond Hargraves, an Australian. After sojourning in California for some time and noting similarities in geology with areas where he had travelled in New South Wales he returned to the latter where, near Bathurst, on February 12, 1851 he discovered payable gold at the junction of Summer Hill Creek and Lewes Ponds (Lewis Pounds) Creek a tributary of the Macquarie River. This discovery led to the great gold rushes of Australia that have made that country famous as a gold producer. Previously (1823) gold was noticed by surveyor James McBrien in the Fish River between O'Connels Plain and Diamond Swamp north of the old Bathurst Road, near where the town of Oberon, New South Wales now stands. Many of the Australian miners stayed on to discover lead, zinc, copper, silver and tin deposits; others found a different 'Golden Fleece' on the grassy plains and hills of that fair continent.

Maoris knew gold long before the coming of the pakehas to New Zealand. However, there is little mention of the precious metal in the journals of the early explorers of New Zealand, and it was left mainly to the prospectors who had followed the great gold rushes to California and later to Australia to establish the presence of gold in commercial amounts. Alluvial gold was first discovered in 1852 at Coromandel (Hauraki Goldfield) North Island in Driving Creek by Charles Ring; later at Collingwood in Nelson, South Island in 1857; at Gabriels Gully in Otago by Gabriel Read in 1861; and in a number of sites along the western coastline of the South Island in 1864. Lode gold in the Hauraki Goldfield, the main centres being Waihi, Thames, Karangahake and Coromandel, was first exploited in the 1860's; the quartz deposits in Otago, South Island, were first worked in the 1870's; and the productive quartz lodes at Reefton produced their first gold in the early 1870's.

Gold and gold tellurides are widely distributed in the Fijian Islands, and early Fijians evidently knew the presence of these minerals. Baron A.B. de Este is said to have discovered gold in the Tavua area in 1872, but some 60 years were to pass before any serious prospecting was carried out. In 1932, Bill Borthwick and Jack Sinclair discovered payable gold on Vunisina Creek a small tributary of the Nasivi River. Further investigation of this prospect, which is associated with the Tertiary Vatukoula volcanic caldera, led to the development of a number of mines, of which the famous Emperor Mine has been in continuous production since about 1935.

Gold from West Africa found its way into Europe as early as the 10th century and probably before. Most of this gold came by Sahara caravan to Barbary and thence to Europe, the original sources being the Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai. It is said that much of this gold came from a region known as Wangara (probably the basin of the Faleme, a tributary of the Senegal River and noted for its placers), but it seems more than probable that the gold had a much more widespread source considering the aurificity of West Africa. In any event one of the motives of the Portuguese voyages inspired by Henry the Navigator was to ascertain and exploit the west African gold. The Portuguese were soon followed by a host of English, French, Dutch and Spanish entrepreneurs. It is thought that annually more than a quarter of a million ounces of gold reached Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries from African sources.

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