ROYAL MAIL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 267, 10 November 1899, Page 2

ROYAL MAIL.

On the Roval Mail section of the Victor-Waihou property, good progress is being made in driving south on the Dubbo reef recently intersected, and an assay of a general sample from the south face, where the reef is five feet wide, has this week given a value of £7 19/ per ton.

NEW WHAU. THAMES, this day. The Sons of Frcdom lode maintains its former size and still looks promising. A paddock is being arranged outside the drive for stowing the quartz now being broken out for crushing. The Company's working staff are to be augmented by two men on Monday, when operations on the lode will be commenced vigorously. GOLDEN BELT. The manager reports the drain to divert the creek from the No.- 5 leve has been completed, so that the leve* is now secure from damage by floods. The creek caused a heavy slip on the mouth of No. 5 level. This slip has been cut into for a distance of twentyfive feet and the drive timbered for the distance. From the present appearance twenty feet more driving will reach solid ground, after which better pi-ogress will be made.

RIVER CLARENCE GOLD DREDGING COMPANY.

A meeting of Auckland shareholders in the above company was held in the long room New Zealand Insurance Buildings on Wednesday last, when there was a large attendance. Mr D. B. McDonald was voted to the chair. It was resolved to form a company under the Companies Act of 1882 with a capitl of £15,000 in 30,000 shares of 10/ each. Mr E. G. Eliott was appointed legal manager, and the following gentlemen were elected directors:— Messrs D. B. McDonald, Jos. Thornes, Jas. Coe. John Dawson, and Captain Morris. Mr E, Mahony was appointed solicitor, Mr G. F,.. Brimbleconfcie auditor, and the National Bank of N.Z. bankers for the company. Mr D B. McDonald, who was for a considerable period in the Otago dredging district, gave a short but very favourable account of the property which he had lately visited. The prospects he said were far better than anything he had seen in Otago.

WHANGAMATA GOLD CORPORATION.

This company's mine continues to look well. A large block of ore is now being blocked out south of the main -shaft between No. 1 level and the surface, and as soon as the necessary winze has been completed a considerable improvement is likely to take place in the value of the ore delivered to the mill. This work will not be completed until after the Christimas holidays. Driving south is being proceeded with at No. 1 level, and it is expected that- the silt formation which some months ago made its appearance in the fissure will soon be passed through, and payable quartz again be picked up, as indicated by quartz outcrops at the surface south of the present face. Driving north is being continued at No. 3 level. The crosscut to intersect the new reef at the northern end of the property ismaking good progress, and it is possible the reef will be met with before Christmas. The foundations and framework for the third Kru^p mill (in course of shipment from England) are in an advanced stage of preparation, and the necessary material for the erection of the second ore drier will /be forwarded to the mine next week. It is anticipated that as soon as the additional machinery is in running order, which will probably be about February next, the quantity of ore treated per month will be increased to something like 1500 tons, rendering it possible to make satisfactory profits even if the value of the ore per ton does not improve.