OUR GOLDFIELDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 302, 22 December 1898, Page 3

OUR GOLDFIELDS.

PAST YEAR'S OPERATIONS

TUB YEAR'S OPERATIONS

As IS9S is now rapidly drawing to a close and most of the mining- companies have already cleaned up for the year, the departure of the English 'mail is a fitting opportunity for furnishing a few facts regarding the mining operations for the past twelve months. UPPEE THAMES. . For several reasons the Ohinemuri mines receive prominence In this retrospect. In the first place the returns from that district are most complete, although before the end of the year another clean up for a fortnight's work will be made at the Waihi Company which should ' bring the total yield from that mine up to a quarter of a million for the past year. The return from the Woodstock mine was not to hand in time for inclusion in these statistics, but an approximate of the amount has heen made so as to complete the list. Another reason for giving most pro- J minence to Ohmemtiri mines is the \ fact that it is in that, district that English capital has. in the past, been most lavishly expended in the construction of long waterracos, tramways, and a railway, as well as the erection colossal crushing plants and the systematic opening up of the mines, and it is therefore fitting that stress should be laid upon the fact that the bulk of the bullion has been obtained from the district where the most English capital was invested. In order to show how the output of bullion has increased from Ohinemuri during the year, appended are the monthly totals as compiled from mail to mail: — January (partial clean-up) £12,982 9 6 February 29.75S 1G S March (drought) 25.54S IS 3 April (drought) 30,467 14 7 May 33.G14 10 S June 29.53G 0 0 July 25.571 0 0 August 33.194 4 10 September 39.591 2 0 September 35.313 6 9 October 40.39fi 11 1 November 42.950 0 0 December 4T.355 17 9 Total to December 22 £433.240 12 2 The most significant feature of the tabulated gold returns is the steady increase in the yields from some of the leading Ohinemuri mines. Tn the case of the Waihi-Silverton there is a shortage due to the fact that the battery was closed down for repairs. The Woodstock return is also less than it was last year. The cause of this falling off was difficulty experienced during the early part of IS9B in treating the ore. Numerous experiments were tried to discover the most suitable method of treating this ore, and vanners were added to the plant, with the result that the last two returns have more than doubled former ones, so that the outlook is satisfactory. In the case of the N.Z. Talisman the improvement in the monthly returns has been most, marked owing to the average value per ton of the ore treated having greatly increased. Appended are the returns for 1597 and 1393 from the seven English companies that have had crushing plants working during the year. Although the increase in the return for IS9S is £125.643 3/1 as compared with that for 1897. it must be remembered that in the latter year the Komata Reefs Company had only its first crushing, and the Talisman mill was only running four months. Apart from that, however, a substantial increase in the output has taken place, as will be seen by the returns appended: — 1897. 1898. Waihi £144,000 9 7 £242,871 9 8 •Waitekauri .... 51.837 14 3 63.652 2 2 K.Z. Talisman (4 months) .... 11,960 15 0 25.357 811 NZ Crown .... 43.595 18 1 47,848 0 0 ■Woodstock .... 30,865 0 0 17,564 0 0 Komata Reefs „ „ „ (1 month) 3,300 0 0 17,023 0 0 Waihi-Silverton 15.526 0 9 12,013 0 0 £301,085 17 8 £426,829 0 9 Increase for 189S £125,743 3 1 COROMANDEL. In this district a large amount of development work has been done during the year by both local and English companies. The results have not, however, been up to expectations, although at the same time many o^: -he companies are in a much more promising condition than they were a year ago. So many small returns ca^a in. from tributers in this district that space will not permit of the various yields being tabulated. Suffice it to say that, roundly speaking, -oro" BiandelandKuaotunu have contributed about £61,000 worth of bullion during the past year. Of this amount the English companies yielded as follow: liauraki, £1.527 15/4, making a total output of about £246, 157 2/8. 1-he la;;t crushing promises well for next year, as specimen stone from the Union Beach section was Jncluded iv the ore treated. Eoyal Oak of Hauraki, £16,05S 18/j, making a total output of about £34.842 since tin present^ company commenced operations on August, ul, 1897. The last two returns show considerable falling off, but this is partly ] attributable to the fact that a lot ct dead work is at present being done, which should result in better yields shortly. The richness of the ore m the mine is shown by the iaot Iliac the £34,842 was the product ot only 443 tons of ore. , , Kapangn, £10,343 28/3, the product of 274 tons of ore trailed by Ihe Company and tributers in the upper.ieveis. This gives the excellent average value of £37 5/ per ton, another object lesson as to the richness of the Coromandel reefs. The Company during a greater part of the year was working at the 1,000 feet level. Meanwhile the upper levels were, let on tribute to a number of men. Very rich hauls ot specimens were obtained during the earlier part of the year by some ot the tributers, but latterly the tributes have been either surrendered or bought out, so that the whole mine is now once more being worked by the Company, and the last crushing of 30 tons yielded £820, which augurs well for the future. Hauraki Associated: This company s 10-stamper battery started crushing at the end of last year, and since then the output of gold amounted to £ 0,557. As the .nine. Is opening up well, further satisfactory yields may ue looked for next year.