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In 1907 the property was sold to Mr. P. N. Kingswell, who carried out some further prospecting on it, but without satisfactory result, and in turn disposed of it to Messrs. G. Pettigrew and party in 1909. In 1908 an additional 230 tons of ore were crushed from the deposit, making the total crushings 22,197 tons, and the total yield of gold 11,013 oz., valued at £43,943 19s. 8d.
Throughout the whole course of the mining operations on the property the opinion seemed to be general, both amongst those in charge of the working and such outside mining-men who visited it, that the loose quartz lying on the surface of the Lord Brassey Claim could not have come from any great distance, nor from any other locality than the western side of that claim. As far as the various holders of the claims are concerned, the existence of this belief was clearly indicated by the fact that nearly all the tunnels were driven in the direction of the western side, and a number of shafts were put down on that side. Visiting mining engineers and geologists also show in various reports that they held the same belief. For instance, Inspecting Engineer G. Wilson states[1] that “the work done clearly shows that a large slip has at one time taken place from the western side eastward,” and Alexander McKay, the well-known geologist, who examined the mine in 1897, came to the same conclusion. H. A. Gordon, previously Inspecting Engineer of Mines for the New Zealand Government, would also appear to have been in accord with it. In a special report[2] dealing with the field, McKay writes as follows:—
“The discovery on the northern slope of Kirwan’s Hill of a considerable area over which are strewed a covering of loose blocks of auriferous quartz has led during the past season to a great amount of prospecting there, in the vicinity and surrounding district. The result has been the discovery of numerous reefs of quartz within the area lying between the upper part of Larry’s Creek and the upper part of the Waitahu River, or North Branch of the Inangahua River. Of the reefs found, none of them as yet afford prospects of gold equal to what are to be obtained from the loose quartz on the slopes of Kirwan’s Hill. This loose quartz appears in blocks of sizes up to masses of 2 to 3 tons in weight, and thickly covers the surface over an area 10 or 12 chains in length, with an average breadth of 4 to 5 chains. The quartz is chiefly, if not wholly, confined to the surface, although masses of the wrecked hill-slope do here and there show portions of reefs held within walls of sandstone and slate rocks identical with the general formation of Kirwan’s Hill and the country eastward to Capleston. Towards the lower end of the quartz covered, and where the stone was richest in gold, a tunnel has been driven west into the hill, in the hope that by this means solid ground might be entered, and the lode from which the richer quartz has been derived thus discovered. At a distance of 150 ft. from where started the tunnel driven west into the hill failed to reach solid rock, and no reef was discovered; yet, more remarkable, scarcely a fragment of quartz was found more than 3 ft. below the surface in the tunnel workings. At the present time, at the opposite northern end of the field of quartz, a shaft is being sunk to prove the depth to the solid rock, and this shows the same remarkable absence of quartz from all but the debris-covered mountain-slope. This shaft, when visited, had reached a depth of 35 ft. and had not passed through the broken angular material met with in the tunnel lower down the spur. On the north-eastern part of Kirwan’s Hill, and in the ridge going thence east and north-east to con-
