Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources

by Unknown

Australia.

—Gold was discovered in Australia in 1839 and perhaps even as early as 1823. Fearing the unsettling effect of gold-seeking on the progress of the colony, the government authorities kept these early discoveries a secret for a number of years. In 1851, however, a miner recently returned from California, discovered gold near Bathurst, in New South Wales, and a rush similar to the Californian rush began. Discoveries in other parts of the country followed. The vein deposits of Australia occur in two distinct areas, well separated both geographically and geologically. The first includes the gold fields of the west and northwest and the other lies along the great Eastern Cordillera of Australia and stretches northward from Tasmania through Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland.

For many years Victoria, the smallest of the states, was the largest producer of gold, and up to 1908 had produced about half of the total output of the commonwealth. Among the earlier returns were some of the largest nuggets known. With the discovery in 1892 of the sensational field of Coolgardie, in Western Australia, a state previously believed to be without mineral wealth, Victoria dropped to second place. Kalgoorlie is the chief town and center of the gold-mining area in Western Australia.

Queensland ranks next to Victoria. A disastrous rush occurred in 1858, and 15,000 to 20,000 men were left starving on the banks of the Fitzroy River. The men were rescued by steamers sent by the governments of New South Wales and Victoria. A few years later alluvial gold was found near Peak Down, Clermont, to the present day the principal placer region of Queensland. Charters Towers, the present leading field of the state, was discovered in 1872. The Mount Morgan mine is an isolated mine lying not far from the scene of the ill-fated rush of 1858. It is by far the most productive mine of Queensland, both in gold and copper. New South Wales, although the first Australian state to yield gold in any important quantity, now ranks fourth. Tasmania and South Australia produce only a small amount of gold.

New Zealand.

—In 1852, the year following the rich discoveries in Australia, gold dust and gold enclosed in quartz were found in New Zealand, about 40 miles from Auckland, but this discovery proved to be of little importance. Ten years later the rich placers of Gabriel’s Gully were discovered, a discovery which attracted a rush from the Australian fields. The gold fields of New Zealand may be divided into three well-defined and well-separated areas: the Huaraki gold field, which contains valuable vein deposits but no placers; the West Coast area, in which the vein and alluvial occurrences are of equal importance; and the Otago area, in which the auriferous alluvial gravels are important and the few known quartz veins have little economic value.

Some gold is produced in other parts of Australasia, notably in the British and Dutch East Indies, and in British New Guinea. Deposits of little importance are reported in New Caledonia, the Fiji Islands, and in the former German New Guinea.

PROBABLE CHANGES IN KNOWN GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Specific predictions regarding changes in the geographical distribution of the sources of the world’s gold seem valueless. During the last few years the gold production of the principal fields has decreased. Aside from any decline due to the war and the attending scarcity of labor and high mining costs, it seems probable that the gold output of the world has reached its zenith and that further decline is to be expected unless new ore bodies are added to known reserves or unless some revolutionary method of extracting gold from the low-grade ores is discovered.

Although the leading fields, South Africa, the United States, and Australia, seem to have reached or passed their period of greatest output, there are a number of fields in unsettled and unexplored regions of the world which may be expected to show increased production. The possibilities of Siberia have already been mentioned, and it is the opinion of many engineers that this region will eventually rival South Africa. South America has produced an enormous quantity of gold, chiefly alluvial, and is expected to yield an increased output in the future. The future of South Africa is problematical.