MINING MATTERS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1895, 19 August 1874, Page 3

MINING MATTERS.

Old Whatt.-A few ounces additional, resulting from the final cleaning up of the crushing for tho company at the Moanataiari battery, was lodged in the bant yesterday morning, and the whole yield then melted together. But the gold had been retorted to such an extent that it was almost melted; so much so, indeed, that the appliances of the meliinahouse were inadequate to breaking it into convenient lumps for the crucible" and it had to be broken at a blacksmith's shop. Dnder those circumstances it was scarcely to be expected that it would lose much of its gross weight in melting. It produced a splendid bar weighing 5710zs Gdwts of melted gold. The company's own mill was started to work yesterday morning, and will now be kept fully employed. Qcken of Beauty.-Out of the result of the last fortnight's crushing the shareholders have had heavy dividends. The amount to each full shareholder was £130, besides which the heavy current expenses incidental to the extensive operations which are being carried on were defrayed.

PtrapiNo Association—The sinking of this company's shaft will be resumed to-day, the contractor, Mr Box, having made all his arrangements, and the other works of the level being in a sufficiently advanced state to permit ot sinking being carried on conveniently, The arrangements for ventilation are perfect now that the opening has been made to Tookey's shaft. The chamber at the bottom of this shaft upon which the men havo recently been employed is almost completed and the first shaft of the new drawing-lift will be attached to-day. We may remark that the new drawing-lift is only 12 inches in diameter. An attempt will ba made to continue the sinking with a column this size. Should it prove capable of coping with the inflow of water, it will prove a groat saving of labour and expense, for the removal, fitting, and shifting of the heavy 25-inch columns which have hitherto been used has been a very serious drawback. There is every likelihood that the 12-inch lift will be sufficient. As our readers are aware, the greater portion of the drainage comes, in above the 400 feet level. ' his drainage will not be allowed to run into the shaft at all. It will be conveyed into the cisterns in which the plungers are fixed, and it is therefore probable that when the bottom of the shaft is thus relieved from the drainage overhead, the smaller lift will be sufficient to keep the lower section of the shaft dry. As we have already stated, if the experiment proves successful it will materially lessen the actual expense of sinking the shaft.

NONPABEIL.-The identity of the lode on which the winze is now being sunk at the Italian side of the slide with the No. 1 reef may now be considered settled, and the prospects are much richer than the most sanguine shareholder could expect. The reef in the winze now shows a good body of stone upwards of a foot thick, and it is increasing in size downwards. Gold has been carried all the way, and some idea of its richness may be formed from the fact that although the winze has only reached a depth of 16 feet, there are already 1801bs of specimens and rich picked stuff to hand from it in the company's strong box._ The No. 2 leader, upon which a winze is being sunk on the near side of the slide, ig a fine promising lode. It is larger than the No. 1 reef, and is remarkably well defined and composed of a good quality of quartz heavily charged with minerals, and showing a little gold. Each breaking down of the No. 1 reef adds to the rich stuff in hand, but in consequence of the very limited mine force at the disposal of the manager the works are not progressing so rapidly as would be desirable. Now that there is every reason to believe that the large section of the company's mine at the Italian side of the slide will prove valuable it should be the object of the company to develop its resources as rapidly as possible by prospecting it thoroughly at the same time that proper attention is being bestowed upon opening up the rich auriferous reef already in hand. Golden CaliP.— The shaft of this company's mine has now reached a depth of 836 feet, or to a level corresponding with that of the Otago mine, and the manager is now excavating a chamber with a view to driving at this level for the Just-in-Time and Golden Calf reefs, As 'soon as the chamber is excavated, the shaft will be sunk a further depth of about BO feet, so as to provide a good well or sump hole. The country in the chamber is rather hard in one portion, where there appears to be a corner of the last hard bar cut through in the shaft, but this is not likely to interfere with the workings to any extent. The most serious inconvenience arises from the inflow of water, in which there is not, we understand, any decrease.

Cur of London.—The trial crushing from the east-and-west cross-reef found near the City of York boundary in the City of London mine was finished yesterday, and produced 22ozs gold from 80 tons of stuff. The yield at first sight looks to be a very poor one, ani so it°no doubt it is in comparison with yields from the other reefs, but the result is far from being discouraging. This cross-reef is a huge lode over 12 feet thick, and although the first crushing has notproved rich when the whole lode was taken together it is quite possible that when it is opened up for stoping some portions of it will be found payable, and the manager will have a better opportuaifcy of selecting what is good and neglecting the worthless portion. The result so far is an average of better than sdwts to the ton, but of course with a trial such as this it is impossible to say which portion of the reef produoed the gold. There was also a 20-ton parcel put through from the No. 1 reef, from the drive which is going towards the City of ifork, and to procure ventilation. The lode opened out to a big size, and although it did not show much mineral, the manager deemed the stuff worth a trial. Tho.resulfc showed it to be worthless.

BBiarrr Smile.-The main shaft is now down 35 feet below the working level, and is in good siuking country, although thore is still a portion of the hard bar remaining on one end of the shaft. For the last day or two the men have been employed timbering it up, but sinking will be resumed to-dav. The sinking of the winze on the shaft lode is also continued. It is now down only 5 or 6 feet, but gold shows on every occasion when tho lode is broken down, and a small parcel of 4 or 51bs catao to hand yesterday afternoon. Crown Prince. — Crushing for the Crown Princo was commenced yesterday at the Manukau battery, with 20 head of stampers. There is sufficient stono in hand to giye a fair start, and as the two principal reels are now being opened up from tho main level, which will be immediately available for crushing, the manager will no doubt bo able to make the a pormaneut one, There was gold show* yesterday fva usual in both reals, '

Bied-in-Hand.—Cleaning up and retorting for the Bird-in-Hand Company will take on Thursday next. Latterly the stuff hss been showing up for not more than a moderate average on the plates although the quartz is to all appeaaance as good as any which has been taken out of tho mine, but it is coming to hand chiefly from the eastern workings, and it was at the western ond that the richest show of gold was always found. However, the return will no doubt be a good payable one) for during tho early part of the month there wa? a good show of gold in the mine and a proportionately good yield of amalgam on the plates. Black Angkc.—Crushing for the Black Angel Company will be commenced to-day with 10 head of stumpers at tho Moanataiari battery. Thero is a large quantity of stuff available, but it will depend on the average which it yields whether the crushing will bo a short or a long one.