The discovery of a battered old letter written by her
great-grandfather 150 years ago started Englishwoman Hilary
Rowlands on a journey which ended with her retracing his
footsteps at Welshtown this week. ODT Alexandra bureau
chief Lynda van Kempen reports.
"There's 10 lifetimes' worth of gold in there," gold miner
Danny Walker said yesterday on his way to check the progress
of a dredge his company was launching into the Clutha River
just below the Roxburgh Dam.
Gold's early discoverers are a celebrated band. But one
group of Central Otago pioneers has been overlooked, Grahame
Sydney writes. Here he sets the record straight.
Newmont Waihi Gold in the North Island - the country's
second-largest gold producer after Otago-based Oceana Gold -
has announced an underground exploration programme that could
push its mine life out a further six years, beyond 2020.
Spot global gold prices touched on a record $US1364 ($NZ1820)
in New York as jittery investors reacted to the weakening US
dollar and more money-printing by the US Government to boost
the economy after weak economic data.
Listed Glass Earth Gold - which has spent more than $24
million in gold exploration during the past three years - is
seeking a private placement of up to $4.2 million to finance
exploration, including four gold targets in Central Otago.
Test drilling by Oceana Gold, next to its underground
operation at Macraes in East Otago, has delivered "promising
results" of "significant" gold grades from its latest
drilling programme.
Alexandra's goldmining history was admired by members of the
Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust during the organisation's
first field excursions for 2010 last weekend.
L and M Mining Ltd is on target as it moves through the first
stage of its planned seven-year project to extract more than
110,000 ounces of gold, worth $170 million on today's spot
price, from the Earnscleugh flats.
