The Nicholson Olympus Block, Gwanda district, showed specimens which
panned 120 ounces to the ton. The Mary Reef specimens assayed 5 ounces
3 pennyweight 10 grains to the ton. Next to these was a clock frame
made out of trachyte in the form of a Greek temple. This trachyte is
greyish white in colour and easily workable, but hardens by exposure.
As there is plenty of this material it is probable Bulawayo will make
free use of it in future. Mansions and villas of this stone would look
extremely chaste and beautiful.
The Tebekwe Mine.
Then we came to the exhibits from the Tebekwe Mine, Selukwe district,
seventy miles from Bulawayo on the Salisbury Road. The large map above
was worth studying. It illustrated a reef about 1000 yards in length,
and eight oval-form excavations made by the ancients resembling the pits
Kimberley diamond diggers formerly made in the blue clay. The base
lines of these excavations were not much over 60 feet from the surface.
On the appearance of water in each shaft the ancients were unable to
make their fire on the exposed quartz reef, and consequently had to
abandon it, and they probably made another excavation along the reef
until the appearance of water compelled them to relinquish that also 900
yards of this reef have now been proved by means of twelve winzes, the
majority of which have been sunk to the first level 154 feet below the
surface. On this first level 887 feet of driving has been done up to
the present. The second level is 234 feet below the surface, and three
winzes have been sunk to it. The total footage to now made is 3,311
feet 10 inches. The average width of the reef is 41.5 inches, and the
narrowest width is 15 inches. Throughout the mine the average width is
31 inches. I am told that the richest average value of the reef is 84
pennyweight per ton of 2000 pounds, and the poorest 5 pennyweight to the
ton. Throughout the reef averages 1773 pennyweight of fine gold per
ton; 12 pennyweight is considered a payable quantity at Bulawayo. A
block of rock from the centre shaft showed 57 pennyweight to the ton.
A twenty-stamp battery is on the rails between Port Elizabeth and
Bulawayo, beside steam hauling gear and electric pumping machinery, and
it is anticipated that the mine will be in operation about October,
1898.
"THE BEST MINES IN RHODESIA."
I next came to the Gaikwa and Chicago Reef, whose old workings had a
shaft 70 feet deep. Its present owners sunk this to 100 feet when they
came to the abandoned reef. I think the assay showed 1 ounce 11
pennyweight to the ton.
Close to it were specimens from the Adventurers Reef in the Insiza
district which assay 1 ounce to the ton. Beyond was the Willoughby's
Consolidated Company, Limited, which had exhibits from the favourite
mines, called Bonsor, Dunraven, and Queen's. Shafts in the Bonsor have
been sunk to 365 feet, the lode is 30 inches wide, and the average assay
per ton is 18 pennyweight. The Dunraven has been sunk to a depth of 320
feet, lode and assay the same as the Bonsor. The Queen's has been
penetrated 100 feet, lode 30 inches, and assay 18 pennyweight. People
who have no pecuniary interest in mines have told me that the best mines
in Rhodesia, and of which there is not the least doubt, are the Globe
and Phoenix, Bonsor, Dunraven, Tebekwe, and Geelong, all of which are in
the Selukwe district, excepting the last, which is in Gwanda.
Next were exhibits from the Matabele Sheba Gold Mining Company: dark
quartz, of which there were fourteen specimens. This reef is twenty
miles from Bulawayo, and assays 2 ounces 10 pennyweight per ton. The
Marlborough Reef, four miles from Bulawayo; the Ullswater Reef, sixteen
miles from town; Piper's Reef, three miles from town, averaging
respectively 1 ounce to 5 ounces, 15 pennyweight to 5 ounces, and 25
pennyweight. Very little gold is visible in these specimens; but the
owners have panned repeatedly, and are satisfied that they contain the
precious metal in profitable quantities.
Bulawayo the Centre of Auriferous Fields.
Just above these specimens was a large map showing the Rhodesian Gold
Fields very clearly. From this I learned that the Gwanda district was
south of Bulawayo; the Tuli district, which contains the Monarch Mine,
is south-west from here, and constitutes a little republic of its own;
the Bembezi field is north; Insiza district is east; and so is the
Filabusi and Belingwe; the Selukwe district is east-north-east,
comprising Gwelo; the Sebakwe, north-east; and the Mafungabusi district,
north-north-east; so that the Bulawayan gold field seems to be the
centre of this cluster of auriferous fields.
The Fort Victoria exhibit showed a large lump of native copper and
excellent bits of gold quartz. The Masterton Reef, forty miles from
Bulawayo, had two specimens and certificate of assay of 18 pennyweight
and 22 pennyweight respectively. The Springs Reef, Belingwe district,
exhibits consisted of galena, copper and gold, and appeared very fine.