Big Lodes
pp. 35-37 · Read in the full issue
[?] Intriguing Island [?]E. Papua
New Plan To Develop Misima's
Pacific Island Mines Limited is about to be incorporated in Port [oresby, with a nominal capital of £500,000. Its chief purpose is to tamine, develop and exploit the well known gold and silver-lead eposits of Misima Island, Eastern Papua.
Misima, containing just on 100 square miles, is one of several irge islands which lie among the numerous archipelagoes eastwards of le south-eastern tip of New Guinea.
[IS move to inspect and —it is hoped develop the mineral wealth of Misima has been go on for some time. It now appears , there will be an important ition within a few weeks. The Co. probably will offer 800,000 :es of 2/6 each to the public, re will be both a Port Moresby income tax) and a Sydney (in e tax) share register, tie Directors probably will be: GEORGE NOE. He holds a Degree in Civil gineering, and is the head of a construc n company which has carried out about ,000,000-worth of work in Papua and w Guinea.
N. A. K. WALLIS. He is a forestry scutive, who has substantial timber in ests in British Solomons, and in Australia.
A. G. PALMER. He is a practising mining isultant (an Honours graduate of Sydney iversity), and has had much experience exploration of mineral deposits. Incident y, he is a nephew of the late W. A. jeman, one of the leaders of the group lich made a phenomenal success of Bulolo Id Dredging, in New Guinea.
R. H. PEACOCK, of Sydney, nowing the history of the Papuan New Guinea goldfields, and tng the character of the men i are launching this new com y, this journal is of opinion (a) ; the company has a good chance success and (b) that, if it suc -Is, it will represent a very wel te addition to the industries and ;nues of the Territory of P-NG.
IE gold production of New Guinea now is greatly reduced, while that of Papua has practic disappeared. i 1940-41, before World War II died the South Pacific, New nea produced 440,877 oz, worth 97,226, from which the Admin ation got royalties totalling about ),000; while Papua then was pro ing about one-tenth of that ntity—most of which came from late Freddie Cuthbert’s “bon a” on Misima Island. .fter the war, New Guinea, with i up to £l5 per ounce, got back a, production of £2 million worth, I this now has shrunk to £1 lion worth; and Papua did not over at all.
The Administration of Papua and New Guinea now is anxious to re gain gold revenues. Last year, it reduced the gold royalty to II per cent., and offered other encourage ment to gold production. It surely will assist any genuine attempt to bring the Misima field back to pro duction.
TO realise how interesting is this new development, one should look at the map of Papua and New Guinea.
The backbone of P-NG, running northwest to southeast, is the great Owen Stanley Range. In the valley systems, on both sides of that range, there are many more or less valu able metals, and especially gold.
The Lakekamu and Astrolabe goldfields (proclaimed in Papua 50 years ago, and long since worked out) are on the southern side of the mountain chain. The Gira, Milne Bay and Yodda fields, also proclaimed in Papua about the turn
of the century, and now abandoned, are on the northern side.
The various rich Morobe gold fields, developed in New Guinea be tween the wars, are on the northern side of the central ranges, but further to the northwest. Gold has been found at Kainantu and in the Sepik Country, still further northwest.
The whole region is auriferous, and never has been completely ex amined. Men with a nose for gold look at the mad jumble of mountains that constitute Central New Guinea, and say that more Edie Creeks are somewhere, awaiting discovery. (Over)
NOW, that central range runs out to the southeast tip of New Guinea mainland, and dis appears under the sea. But it shows up again, farther eastward, in the high and broken chains of islands, of which Fergusson, Normanby Woodlark and Misima are outstand ing.
Out of the Murua field (Woodlark Island), the miners with primitive equipment, took more than 200,000 ounces, worth nearly £750,000, before World War 11.
Early explorers among those archi pelagoes east of New Guinea’s tip, long before the end of the 19th century, found small quantities of gold in practically all the mountain ous islands.
They also “smelt” gold on the mainland, and in 1878 there were reports of gold in the area north and east of Port Moresby. A party of miners which left Australia in the Colonist about 1879 prospected the watersheds of the Laloki and Goldie Rivers, but “not a grain of gold was discovered”.
Ten years later, in 1888, the first really payable gold was found and worked on Misima; but Misima, for another 40 years, was not a famous field. However, it was in Misima that P-NG goldmining really started, in 1888.
A bigger and richer field then was developed on nearby Woodlark Island, in 1895, and eventually worked out; and other mainland goldfields in Papua were then dis covered and worked.
Up to 1912, Woodlark had produced 150.000 ounces, but Misima only 72.000 ounces. After World War I, when all the other Papuan gold fields were pretty well exhausted, Misima came into its own, as a notable producer. It was during this period that the goldfields in the other Territory (New Guinea) were developed—l 927-1940.
The history of Papua’s gold in dustry is shown by the following summary of Papua’s goldfields made in the mid-Thirties (over 20 years ago) : Louisiade (Misima), proclaimed 1889, yielded 160,000 oz, worth £320,000.
Muroa (Woodlark); 1895; 200,000 oz; £720,000.
Gira (mainland); 1898; 67,000 oz; £256,000.
Yodda (mainland); 1900; 77,000 oz; £290,000.
Milne Bay (mainland); 1899; 14,000 oz; £50,000.
Keveri (mainland); 1904; 4,700 oz; £lB,OOO.
Lakekamu (mainland); 1909, 38,000 oz £142,000.
Astrolabe (mainland); 1906, 4,200 oz; £17,000.
When World War II broke out (1939-40), Papua was producing about 40,000 oz per annum, worth £200,000, from all goldfields— mostly from a crushing and cyaniding plant on
Misima operated by New Misima Gold Mine Ltd. (Cuthbert). rjIHE hills or ridges which carr X the gold in Misima are geologic ally tricky—the strata lie i unexpected places.
There are 20 known lodes Oi Misima—and some are among th biggest in the New Guinea are; Hitherto, the miners have sougb only gold—but it is believed ths the deposits of lead, zinc and allie metals may be large and importan Innumerable individual minei found rich pockets there. Severs companies, encouraged by some re markable results of prospecting, trie their luck—Block 10, Oroville, Mour Sisa, Goldmines of Papua, Quart Mountain, are among names whic come to mind but only on« Cuthberts New Misima Goldfielc Ltd., really hit the jackpot. In th years between 1930 and 194' Cuthbert’s Company distribute dividends of from 50 to 150 per cen Misima was not invaded by th Japs, but it was right in the wa zone, and most Europeans departec After the war, having received healthy sum in war damage com pensation, Cuthbert’s company re turned to Misima.
But the system of tunnels fror which the rich ores had been take in the ’Thirties had mostly collapsec
id the Co. decided that, as the ie was pretty well worked out ere, it would not undertake the st of re-timbering. Instead, opera ms were resumed on another and ill accessible, section where, un rtunately, the lode proved to be a more complex type which could >t be profitably treated in the isting milling plant.
The original shareholders had Dstly made fortunes, anyway; so ithbert’s Misima G.M. Ltd. with ew from Misima. Many people ought that that was a mistake id that the lead, zinc, and gold ntent of the big lode and ructures should have been tested depth in the way that Pacific lands Mines Ltd. plans to do.
INCE then, there has been con- I siderable investigation and much talk; but nothing much has been me until now.
It is interesting to discover that e man behind the new move, Mr. , H. Waterhouse, is both a son-m -w and a relation of the late Mr. ;s Waterhouse. (He married Mr. « Waterhouse’s daughter, who is distant cousin).
Morobe Goldfields people will re ember the little Adelaide group Messrs. C. V. T. Wells, Les Water >use, Lapthorne and George Ureys) who, to their great good rtune, backed Cecil Levien when at former District Officer decided at the spill-over from fabulous lie Creek would be found in the its below the Bulolo Gorge; and founded Guinea Gold Ltd., Placer, ilolo Gold Dredging Ltd. and ainea Airways, etc. Les Water >use was a prominent director in at organisation until his untimely ;ath soon after World War 11.
Mr. K. H. Waterhouse (who is sociated with a Sydney sharebrok g house) with three associates, is been working on the Misima oject for a considerable time, ley have obtained necesary min g rights through a small company )ceanic Minerals Development ,y. Ltd.). Their plan now is to get e rights and properties thus iquired into the possession of icific Island Mines Limited at the west possible cost.
They have assembled, for incor >ration in their prospectus, a mass impressive information about the >ssibilities of recovering profitable inerals from those deep-down isima lodes, by modern methods.
Apart from the reports of lologists and engineers—and they :tend back to that famous report r the Papuan official geologist, Mr. /an Stanley, who closely inspected isima in 1915—there are conditions itural to Misima which are in vour of the enterprise—such as isy accessibility by sea, an abund ice of good timber on the island, i inexhaustible supply of mountain ater for mining purposes, and an
Administration prepared to charge a royalty of only 11 per cent.
There is also the rather exciting possibility that the world price of gold will be moved on soon, far be yond the present £l5 Aus. per ounce. t Mrs. J. H. Simpson, who has been visiting her daughter and son-in law, Mr. and Mrs. B. L. Strange, of Rabaul, NG, returned home to Sydney on the October Delos. t Mr. William J. Hunt, who has been a caterer with the Common wealth Works Dept, Rabaul, since 1949, left the Territory permanently on the October Delos.