GOLDMINING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 11

GOLDMINING.

THE YEAR REVIEWED. NO FRESH riXI>S. DEVELOPMENT WOKR. j Operations in the Hauraki during Ihc year now drawing to a close | have ni>t disclosed any important de- j volopments with tlie exception that in I In- Weilii mine the ore roservee liave nut diminished, notwithstanding the! fiu-t that over 200.000 lons wore withdrawn during the twelve months. A lot | of steady development work has. been ] carried out at Thames field, but so far! it lias not led to any discovery of mi- j portance. The Moanataiari (i.M. Co. i ill* at odd times reported clours of | but discovery of a payable run of j ore did not follow. In 1 lie adjoining ground, the Non[>ariel. a company is J Hrrving on operations steadily, while ; he NVw "Waiotahi has liie distinction of i the only mine to get a few pounds j of picked stone, and have a small crush- ■ in-r return. Jμ none of these mines j has development work succeeded in! locating a run of payable ore, but hope I springs eternal in the mind of the gen- j nine gold miner and each company has | its supporters who believe that a find j is near at hand. Steady work ha.s proceeded af I he Zeehan Consolidation mine, with the result, that a lot of ore stated to be of payable value, has been opened up. A small Ross Mill was imported for experimental purposes, and the directors being satisfied that, with it, and oil floatation, the bullion can be saved, have sent the manager to Vancouver to buy two larger ones of a ne.w type after 'having seen them in operation. Mr. Frank She.pheard recently wrote to the directors from Vancouver: 'I am satisfied that with suitable ore crushers, Ross Mills, and oil floatation, the Zeehan ore can be successfully treated.' - Should this faith be proved "by results. it will mean a big thing for "that end of the soldfteld. a* the refractory ores there have always been somewhat of a problem to treat, and in the past, mining was mostly directed to finding runs of free milling quartz, about the hand|linjr of which there wa-s no doubt. There are large ore bodies at the end of the Thames held which mig-lit perhaps, in the future, be worked at a profit, provided that tlie Ross Mills and oil floatation prove a successful method of treatment. The Thames School of Mines has been experimenti.i; with the small Ro ss Mill imported by the Zeehan Consolidated Company, and the report of the results will be of interest, as it may mean stamper batteries becoming a, thin> of the past. "

The Four in Hand mine at Coromandel 1 appears to have belter times in store tor it. At various times during the , year small parcels of picked stone have been reported, but last week a crushing of :i7 tons of ore and 2Slb of picked stone yielded 970z lOdwt of retorted gold. This was from the Cuirassier reet and not from the Tainui section Ihe importance of this return is shown by a report from the manager that lie had considered the ore treated as of low grade, but the return proved that it will .yield more than one ounce to the ton. The rallies were evidently associated with arsenical pyrites which existed in \ the stone. The Kising Sun mine a( Owaharou, , reports payable ore and has a battery at work. At the annual meeting of shareholders a scheme was approved for raising more money to put the company on a sound financial footing and enable the work to be pushed on with vigorously. Steady development work lias also been done at the Majestic mine. Maratoto, where a reef was recently located. Small parties are also pro-1 specting areas in different parts of the Peninsula, but the difficulty at the present time is to get any finaiii"d.l backing. It is when money is plentiful and rate's uf interest low that people are tempted to back prospectors, but where 01 per cent can be got on mortgages, there is a tendency to be satisfied with that, and r.ot put money into what is certainly a more risky venture, which, however, has the lure that '•( the prizes are few they are very rich, w'ici j. Lonsnza is located at Thames or Coromandel. The whole position would be changed if any mine should strike a rich patch. Interest in mining would then revive and an added incentive be given to prospectors. That money is readily found even now where people's interest is aroused, is shown by the fact that Kawarau shares, one shilling paid uj>,| sold in Auckland last week at 20/ eacli.j Evidently the buyers opinion that once the big dam is completed in the fc-outh Island and the men get to work on the bed of the river, there will be some rich finds, and as the parent company is to have 20 per cent of the gold won from each subsidiary company, it would naean a big thing if the precious I metal is there. The Wailii mine has gone on steadily giving payable returns during the year and paid the customary dividend. Of special interest to shareholders is the development of the Surprise Reef at the No. ti and No. 7 levels. It appears to be a connecting loop between the Martha and Welcome lodes and assays at both levels give an averiigc value of £3 9/ per ton. As the reef in the 6th level is 17 feet wide, and in the 7th is 25 feet in width, this adds greatly to the known ore reserves of the company. " The blocks already opened up are estimated to contain from 23.000 to 25,000 tons of ore. The great point about this reef being located is that it goes to prove there is payable oie in the upper levels, that hitherto! had not been found. The Martha lode! at No. 12 level is being worked in the | vicinity of No. 2 shaft with satisfactory I results*. The lode for a width of 22! feet and a length of HO feet assayed 39/ per ton. Starting- from the 300 feet I point a drive has been extended southj west for 102 feet. The first 57 feet jwaa worth 35/ per ton, and the next 45 j feet assayed 'sti/G per ton. There i» a known run of payable quartz for 132 feet. The crosscut on the Edward lode at the 13tU level is still going through the reef. The last assay was 20/ per ton. Exploratory drives are also being put to intersect the reef system from tlir bottom of No. \'i level. The Wailii Grand Junction mine shut clown during the year and boring has now been undertaken to test the property at a depth, but, so far no good indications have been reported. It is of interest to note that the greater portion of the bullion produced Tn New Zealand during 1923, was from quartz mining, being an increase of £102,182 upon the output for the previous year. The bullion from quartz, lof which the great bulk.was from the j Waihi mine, was worth £609,993, which was £127,177 more than was obtained from both alluvial and dredge mining.