My Hike To A 1930 Gold Mine In Remote Papua New Guinea

[geof_junk]

All this was 50 years ago when gold started it rapid rise gold value in 1971 when the United States, under President Nixon, ended the direct convertibility of the US dollar to gold.

The price of gold rose from 35 to 850 dollars an ounce between 1971 and 1980, in line with the oil crises, galloping inflation and international conflicts.

1972 Xmas a mate told me that there was a vacance for a Power Dispatcher at a Copper/Gold mine in Papua New Guinea. I chased the position and I was there in Feb 1973. and the wife and kids followed a month later. One of the reasons for going there was the possibility of doing some gold mining but once there I was informed that it was not a good idea to prospect. I spent 6½ years there and saved enough due to high wages, bonus, and low taxes to build a house back in Aus. and take it easy for the rest of my life.

In it 17 years of operation, the mine produced 3 million tonnes of copper, 306 tonnes of gold and 784 tonnes of silver.

As far as gold goes I did a hikes to the 1930 gold mine with 4 of my work mates in about 1975 and later with my oldest son and a Native work mate.

1930 power source....Pelton wheel turbine

1930 Stamping machine.

Some of the climb

A river crossing

Me at river

Native bridge.

Natives taking supplies to village about 16Km in.

A couple of native huts.

The end of 40 KM hike.

About 40 years after we left Bougainville Island there was a group doing a TV show called "The legend of Croc Gold" for those that may be interested in So called gold shows for the masses, try this link.   ........

 The legend of Croc Gold

[VicR]

Great Pictures Geof - between 2005 and 2017 i went to PNG about 23 times for two weeks at a time for work. Mainly Pt Moresby, Lae and Gusap (in Ramu Valley). Luckily the Gusap customer - Ramu Sugar owned all the land and it was a ex world war two USA and Australian air field with 7 airstrips and lots of aircraft revetments still in place - I became friends with the purchasing manager and through him i had permission to detect for WW2 artifacts. Anything of interest was donated to the local company museum. There was a gold mine still working close by and the nationals panned for gold - but it was good advice that you received to not go looking for gold - if you did prospect and even if you found no gold and had permission from the land owner it would still make you are target. I will post some pictures later on.

[Tony]

They are some epic photo's for sure.

[geof_junk]

VicR  WW2 relics were plentiful during my stay. I remember some of the guys chasing ship wrecks for port holes etc. One of the power station operators from UK lost his life doing it. His family had to be sent back to UK with him. I also remember one of the crew pulling apart a load 15 inch shell in the Control Room and was told to do it outside.

   

[VicR]

Some more great pictures Geof. Yes - during my time in PNG you would often hear of the death of a PNG National because they would hit a live large shell with a hammer to get the scrap metal. These are some of the ones we found at Gusap. Also while detecting 50 cal live shells were everywhere - so i was always careful when digging.

A saying by the expats while i was going to PNG was "expect the unexpected" - was that said during your time there?

[Wild Bill]

Back at the end of my aviation career I had rebuilt a P-51 Mustang into an air racer in Southern California.  The guys I worked for would go to New Guinea and get WW2 aircraft out of the jungle, bring them to the U.S. to restore to flying condition.  A lot of airplanes came from there, the P-51 didn’t, it was a former California Air Guard.  After the Mustang was finished they asked me to stay on and go with them to New Guinea to go retrieve more.  Once restored they’re worth millions.  One F4U Corsair they brought home had a lost Marine pilot in the cockpit.  They brought him home for proper burial.  This included Japanese aircraft.  They had a “Toney” fighter in the hangar that needed restoration.  I told them I had a mining claim in Sierra County I wanted to check out.  They said “oh you want to find gold?”  “Go with us it’s not a problem, we have time for that” and the next day one of the guys brought in a container of nuggets and dumped it on a table.  At the time it was the most placer gold I’d ever seen in one big pile.  They showed me photos and home movies but I had other plans and turned them down.  To this day I’ve never been there.  Thanks for the interesting stories and photos!  

[Wild Bill]

Some of these airplanes are referred to as “precious metal” as they are so rare.  The Toney was manufactured by Kawasaki.  This wasn’t the treasure I was prepared to search for at the time, especially in such a far away land and jungle conditions.  New Guinea is one of the best locations for aircraft recovery.

Here’s more on Japanese aircraft, all are very rare.  Even a corroded wreck can be quite valuable.  Awesome photos. 

https://www.silverhawkauthor.com/post/warplanes-of-japan-captured-aircraft-examined-by-allied-technical-air-intelligence-units-ataiu-south-west-pacific-area-swpa  

[beatup]

very interesting thanks for sharing

[Rivers rat]

Is that cool or wot??????????????Love the pics thanks for sharing!

 

 

RR