The Bruce Quartz Mining Company.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 811, 13 June 1876, Page 6

The Bruce Quartz Mining Company.

■■+ It will be remembered that about four Aveeks ago ten additional head of stampers were started at the claim of the Bruce Quartz Cpmpany- Canada Reef, and that at the time we gave a short description of proceedings Avhen the new machinery Ayas set in motion. We paid a visit to the Company's claim on Saturday la.st, and possibly a short description of the plant and the method of carrying on operations will be found interesting by those of our readers A\*ho take an interest in the development of the mineral resources of this district. At the present time, the three batteries of fi\*e heads each, burdan, Avindmgjgear, pump, amalgam barrel, and concentrator, are driven by one of lieffels' ten inch

turbine wheels. The turbine, which is driven by water conducted from a fluming sixty feet above the level of the penstock, makes 1200 revolutions per minute, It is connected in the first instance with a vertical shaft by a six-inch leather belt, and the motive power is then applied, by means of other belts and shafts, to the cam shaft, by which the stampers are raised and let fall, and to the pumping, winding and other gear. The shaft is situated immediately behind the hoppers, | from Avhich the batteries are fed, and at a ! signal from the miners below, the braceman is ready to land the buckets and empty their contents into the hoppers. The plant is a remarkably compact one, and the mine is worked at the present time by eighteen men, including a mining manager. Three machine men and two bracemeu are employed, and tAvelve men work below ia three shifts. The Bruce Quartz Mining Company came into existence about three years ago, and uutil the early part of May last, little was done except prospecting and trying the ground. The shaft Avas sunk to a depth of 80ft., and a tunnel Avas driven along the reef for a distance of eight hundred feet. The reef proved to be a clearly defined one, ruuning east and west, and ranging from a foot to five feet in thickness. Over two thousand tons of quartz have been raised, and the average yield has been four pennyweights of gold to the ton. The reef has already been traced for about a mile, and the Company's claim, Avhich consists of about thirty acres o£ land, has been taken up to a Avidth of two hundred feet along the course of the reef. The claim is held under three leases. Until a month ago, the claim Avas Avorked Avith ouly a five head crushing battery, and then eight men Avere employed. When work Avas carried on in that A\-ay, the yield of four pennyweights of gold to the ton was only sufficient to pay Avorking expenses. Now that the size of the battery has been increased to fifteen heads, the motive power does not involve any increased expenditure, and only eighteen men are required, so that taking into consideration the quantity of stone crushed, a saving of labor has actually been effected. The shaft Avas sunk in a deep gully, and the quartz is now above the miners, who Lave fully twelve months' Avork stoping in view. There is a "jump up" at each end of the main drive, so that the underground Avorkings are Avell supplied Avith air ; in fact, the current is rather too strong at times, and the miners experience a difficulty in keeping their candles alight. Mr W, J. Dyer, the managing director, informs us that the Avorkings are seven hundred feet above the leA r el of the south branch of the Tokomairiro River, Avhich runs a short distance from the Avestern side of the machine house. He is of opinion that the reef could be more economically Avorked close to the river, and he has already had a tunnel put in at a point about 29 feet above the level of the Avater, in order to allow room for machinery below, and to aA r oid danger from floods. This tunnel has been driven upAvards, at an incline of one in fifty, so as to allow an ample fall for drainage, and to facilitate the running out of the trucks. -The length of the tunnel is one hundred and thirty two feet, and the Avail of the reef has been struck. The Company will probably determine to erect machinery at tbe mouth of the tunnel, and if this is done, and a good body of stone found, a large number of men Avill be employed. About six Government heads of Avater is the quantity used constantly at the Bruce Company's claim, and this supply is obtained from the Table Hill Company's race. The Avater is brought from the south branch of the Tokomairiro River, at a distance of thirteen miles from the Bruce Company's claim. Crushing with the fifteen head of stampers had been going on since the new battery Avas started — four Aveeks ago on Thursday last — but there have been one or tsvo stoppages, reducing- the number of Avorking days since that time to twenty-three. The quantity of stone crushed during that period Avas four hundred and eighty tons, and the average yield Avas 6ve pennyweights eight grains of gold per ton, producing a cake of retorted gold Aveighing one hundred and thirty-two ounces. The capital of the Company is £6400, in 6400 shares of £l each, and of that amount the sum of sixteen shillings per share has already been paid up. The value of the cake of gold after deducting all the working expenses shows a profit for the past month, at the rate of fifty - eight per cent, on the paid-up capital of the Company. This appears to be a most satisfactory result, and Aye Avish the Company eA*ery success. The Avhole of the plant and machinery Avas erected under the supervision of Mr W. J. Dyer, and everything is in good Avorking order.