Ext User(ramanovich@gmail.com)
11-05-2007, 04:33 PM
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=266488
Man claims to have found Lasseter's reef
Friday May 11 08:00 AEST
By ninemsn staff
A Darwin businessman is claiming to have discovered the Holy Grail of
Australian gold mining in a remote location west of Alice Springs.
Lutz Frankenfeld, who founded the Northern Territory's Beer Can
Regatta, told the Northern Territory News he is in negotiations with a
mining company to excavate the legendary gold deposit.
The businessman claims he found the reef by retracing the steps of
Harold Lasseter's final attempt to find the gold.
"There are a lot of major landmarks to find before you can consider it
the area - and we've found all of those,'" he told the newspaper.
The fabled reef legend began when Lasseter, at the age of 17,
attempted to walk from Alice Springs to the West Australian
goldfields. Along the way he claimed he had stumbled upon - and
subsequently lost - a fabulously rich gold deposit. He spent the
following years trying to raise interest in his discovery, but died
searching for the lost reef in 1931.
At least 13 expeditions have unsuccessfully attempted to find the lost
treasure since Lasseter first spotted it in 1897.
No maps pointing to the fabled reef were ever found, and the gold
mystery has achieved mythical status among central Australians.
Now Frankenfeld says he has found the gold deposit, almost 500km west
of Alice Springs on the Western Australia border. He says it is often
hidden by sand after flooding.
Frankenfeld said he has Central Land Council permission to mine the
site, rumoured to be seven miles long, four to seven feet high, 12
feet wide and "bulging" with gold.
But Lasseter's grandson Robert Lasseter Jr said Frankenfeld is just
one of many people who have claimed to have found the reef.
"My mum had a fellow on the phone last night from New Zealand who
claimed he found it,'" he said, adding that he does think the reef
exists. "Some day someone will find it."
Darwin historian Peter Forrest believes Lasseter made up the story.
"I haven't been given any information to make me change my mind ...
but I have been wrong before,'' he said yesterday.
Man claims to have found Lasseter's reef
Friday May 11 08:00 AEST
By ninemsn staff
A Darwin businessman is claiming to have discovered the Holy Grail of
Australian gold mining in a remote location west of Alice Springs.
Lutz Frankenfeld, who founded the Northern Territory's Beer Can
Regatta, told the Northern Territory News he is in negotiations with a
mining company to excavate the legendary gold deposit.
The businessman claims he found the reef by retracing the steps of
Harold Lasseter's final attempt to find the gold.
"There are a lot of major landmarks to find before you can consider it
the area - and we've found all of those,'" he told the newspaper.
The fabled reef legend began when Lasseter, at the age of 17,
attempted to walk from Alice Springs to the West Australian
goldfields. Along the way he claimed he had stumbled upon - and
subsequently lost - a fabulously rich gold deposit. He spent the
following years trying to raise interest in his discovery, but died
searching for the lost reef in 1931.
At least 13 expeditions have unsuccessfully attempted to find the lost
treasure since Lasseter first spotted it in 1897.
No maps pointing to the fabled reef were ever found, and the gold
mystery has achieved mythical status among central Australians.
Now Frankenfeld says he has found the gold deposit, almost 500km west
of Alice Springs on the Western Australia border. He says it is often
hidden by sand after flooding.
Frankenfeld said he has Central Land Council permission to mine the
site, rumoured to be seven miles long, four to seven feet high, 12
feet wide and "bulging" with gold.
But Lasseter's grandson Robert Lasseter Jr said Frankenfeld is just
one of many people who have claimed to have found the reef.
"My mum had a fellow on the phone last night from New Zealand who
claimed he found it,'" he said, adding that he does think the reef
exists. "Some day someone will find it."
Darwin historian Peter Forrest believes Lasseter made up the story.
"I haven't been given any information to make me change my mind ...
but I have been wrong before,'' he said yesterday.