THE GOLDFIELDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 37, 12 February 1904, Page 2

THE GOLDFIELDS.

WAIHI G.M. CO. FORTY-FOURTH DIVIDEND. The directors of the Waihi G.M. Co, have declarad a 44th dividend, payable on March lit. The amount is 2/0 per share, making the total declared and paid £ 1j315,3yti. MAY QUEEN EXTENDED. Crushing is proceeding at the battery with 10 heads of stamps, the other seven being employed on outside quartz. At the mine the stopes are being extended eastward. No. 0 slope is now up to the face of No. S. The manager intends to push die stope past the face, as the reef looks very well at this place at present. SCIENCE OF GOLD MINING. WAIHI, Thursday. A matter of great importance to the science of gold mining, and which, no doubt, -will be to a great extent revolutionise the present system of prospecting and development of mines, was again brought forward by Mr P. G. Morgan. M.A.. Director of the Waihi School of Mines, at the annual meeting of subscribers the other evening, viz.. the petrological ik'terminatiou of. the country rock in connection wth its niinerulogU-al and rhemicnl composition and classification. Some instruction had already been given, said Mr Morgan, in the science of petrography and In the use of the polarizing microscope, and he recommended the purchase of a suitable petrological microscope at ouce. By the determination in question, any sample of rock taken out of a drive or crosscut, and subjected to the necessary analysis, will indicate whether in such country any auriferous lode bodies will be located or not The determination, however, does not,' of course, go so far as to indicate whether such reefs will turn out payable; that remains for mining development to demonstrate: but at any rate if the lode indications are not present then the work in hand may be abandoned at once, and a great amount of money and useless development will consequently be saved. Mr Morgan states that a very elaborate report, including hundreds of valnable plates, etc., by Professor Sellons (Oxford), and Mr A. McKay, the Government geologist, has been in the press for a considerable time, and when published will bring this question forward in every detail of its scientific bearing. The science, if applied in a practical manner, will, no doubt, create a revolution in the ordinary methods of prosecuting mining development.