Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1916 — A Wonderful Mine. [ARTICLE]

A Wonderful Mine.

Situated in the beautiful Kasp valley, in the Jamestown district of Barberton, Transvaal, there is a mine known by the name of Verdite. The name was given to it on account of the peculiar greenstone found in the mine, which is unknown in any other part of the globe. Articles of jewelry and ornaments are made of verdite, and it has been called the lucky green l stone of South Africa. This greenstone is a silicate of magnesia, or talc, colored green by nature in the course of its formation. Other silicates of magnesia may be mentioned here: Peridote, serpentine, Smieerchaum and steatite. The mine, or, rather, hill, consists of three varieties of talc, green, white pnd black, but a peculiar fact is that in the black talc there 19 present pure gold. Some of the finest specimens of gold-bearing rock have been found at this mine. Every one knows that gold is found in quartz, pyrites, or even in sea-water, hut scarcely ever has it been mentioned in hooks that gold exists in talc. When the verdite rock has gone through the ordinary process of crushing and the gold has been extracted, the waste (or what is called the slimes from a gold mine) is used in the manufacture of soap, grease, paint', paper, toilet powders, gasjets, electric inuslators, crayons and many other articles of everyday use. In fact, one might say that everything got from This mine can be used for some .0 commercial purpose. Chamber’s Journal.