INDIAN GOLD MINING AND ITS PROSPECTS.*
QUARTZ OUTCROPS OF TRAVANCORE.
First,
then, in point of time, we have the report of the committee appointed
by the Indian Government on December 14th, 1832, to examine the gold
mines in the Zillah of Malabar. They allude as follows to the
geological features of the country :—" Nearly the whole of the province
of Malabar except that part immediately along the coast consists of
lofty mountains covered with dense forest or thick jungle. The
principal chain more immediately connected with the present subject is
formed of the Koondah and Moor Koorty Hills to the south-east of
Calicut, the Nilgiris to the east and the Wynaad mountains to the
north-east. These send off numerous lateral ranges, between which are
deep valleys, in most places closely covered with forest. The most
extensive of these is that of Nellamboor, including nearly the whole of
the Ernaad Taluk, bounded on the east by the Neilgiris, on the north by
Wynaad, on the northwest by a lateral range running south from the
Ghauts called the Wawoot hills, and on the south by the Koondah and
Moor Koorty mountains. From these on all sides innumerable mountain
streams descend, and meeting near Nellamboor form the Beypore river of
considerable magnitude, which falls into the sea about eight miles to
the southward of Calicut. In the mountainous districts of Wynaad,
streams in 'the same manner descend through every valley, and unite
into lager rivers which fall into the Cauvery in the Mysore and
Coimbatore countries. The whole of the mountains above metioned seem to
be of primitive formation. In the Nellamboor valley, so far as the
observations of the committee went, the prevailing rock is gneiss, a
kind of stratified, granite. Above this in most places is a species of
clay-ironstone, which from its softness enabling it to be cut into the
form of brick for building purposes, received from Dr. Buchanan the
name of laterite. It is what geologists call the overlying rock of the
whole country, between the Ghauts and the sea to the westward, and
many of the smaller hills are formed of it. When first dug it is
perfectly sextile, but on exposure to the heat of the sun and to the
weather it becomes of considerable hardness. So far as the gold mines
are concerned it may be considered to be a deposit formed in the lapse
of ages, from the gradual disintegrations of the immense mountain
masses in the neighbourhood, in which process part of the precious ore
may be supposed to have been worked over along with the earthy
particles. However this may be it is certain that gold exists more or
less abundantly in the whole of the country on the western side of the
Ghauts in every* stream which takes its rise from the Koondah,
Neilgiri, and Wynaad mountains, and in the sands of the sea-shore along
the whole of south Malabar it is throughout in the form of minute
grains"
Further
on in the same report the committee in alluding to the geological
formation of the country in the neighbourhood of the Beypore river,
near Mam-boot, say—" the superstratum consist of sand and gravel, below
which are large nodules of quartz and gneiss."
Mr.
Brough Smyth, in his report on Wynaad geld fields, alludes to the
lithology of the gold district as follows:—" The granatoid schists or
the gneissoid rocks of the south-east Wynaad are, it is probable as
will be shown hereafter, only completely metamorphosed sedimentary
strata. The minerals observable are felspar, quartz, hornblende, mica,
talc, chlorite, pholerite, and magnetic iron. The ordinary foliated
rock usually massive or composed of thin impact layers of quartz and
felspar or of quartz and hornblende. Magnetic iron takes the place of
one or other of these constituents or accompanies them in some places ;
and at, and in the neighbourhood of Marpanmadi, North peak, magnetic
iron is largely present in the rock, the decomposed surface stone
exhibiting layers
*
By J. Macdonald Cameron, Fel. Inst. Chem., F,:C.s., etc. (late
Assistant in the Chemical Laboratories of the Royal School of Mines).
