Forty Dredging Claims
p. 56 · Read in the full issue
Lakekamu Goldfield In
Papua
Forty Dredging Claims Abandoned
From Our Own Correspondent
Pt. Moresby, Jan. 6.
INTEREST in the Lakekamu goldfield, in the Gulf Division of Papua, which has attracted so much attention since 1930, has somewhat abated.
Guinea Gold N.L., upon which Papua set so much hope, have abandoned all their claims on the field excepting three, and Lakekamu (Papua) Development N.L. have relinquished their option over the Tiveri Gold Dredging Co. Ltd. claims. In all, 40 dredging claims amounting to well over 20,000 acres have been abandoned, including those held by P. D. Ratcliffe, A. E. Bethune, C. F. Duchatel and V. P.
Hides. , . However, the Tiveri Gold Dredging Co.
Ltd. is apparently still holding its own, and retains its 10 original claims. Several miners are also profitably employed upon a few gold mining leases, so that the field is by no means dead.
It is stated that, although .good values were originally proved in some of the abandoned claims, the option holders and promoters decided, after careful con sideration of their engineers’ reports, that the yardage, though sufficient for a small dredge, was too small to carry the type of dredge contemplated and to justify the capital expenditure thus entailed.
In September, 1930, gold was reported on a tributary of the Tauri River, near Mt. Lawson, and the reports of the find that followed, though conflicting in character, offered enough inducement for others to follow. In October, 1930, the Papuan Government declared the field open. The new field was in the district of the old Lakekamu goldfield of 1909-10.