DEEP LEVEL MINING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 209, 4 September 1899, Page 8

DEEP LEVEL MINING.

The possibilites of deep level miningat the Thames proving remunerative may be estimated /to some extent by the following extract from the annual report of Mr James Travis, secretary for Mines, Victoria. Referring1 to the results of deep mining- at Bendigo, he states: "A fair inference may be drawn of the possible success to be expected in the future from the following- facts: In 1894 the New Chum Railway Company discovered a payable auriferous lode at a depth of 2S7Sft from the surface. From 1895 to the end of 1898 the company raised from the lode in question 40.77S tons of ore, and the yield of gold therefrom amounted to 35,5510z 14dwt., showing an average of 17Mwt per ion. Tho amount realised was £142,248. Each ton of ore was -worth £3 9/2. Dividends to the extent of £78,391 5/, or £2 2/6 per share, were distributed as profits, in addition to a reserve fund being established. The company is now working the lode profitably at a (7epth of 3000 ft. The Shenandoah Company worked the same reef at 27S2ft, and obtained 91700z of gold from 16,728 tons, and from this paid £14,800 in dividends. The lode, in its continuation to the south, at a depth of over 3000 ft, is being worked by the Eureka Extended Company, find to the north, at a depth of 2782 ft, by the Shamrock Company, which up to the end of 1898 won 15210z from 1474 tons of ore, and paid in dividends £3750.. The total output from the.se mines to the end of 1898 was 55.950 tons crushed for a yield of 46,2420z 14dwt, averagingl 15|dwt per ton, and the dividends amounted to £96,941 5/." Such results may well be considered sufficient warrant for testing the deep levels of a field like the Thames, which on the area and surface output in the past rnnl-s mnongst one oi the richest in the world. „ _■ ._ ~, ,„.. ....._ _.