MINING NEWS

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11340, 1 August 1902, Page 3

MINING NEWS

Our Dunedin correspondent telegraphs that tho Goicien Gate has declared a dividend oi 10s per share. The Alpine C<__>ls Company has gone into liquidation. rne secreuiry o: i_e \. ciroine Company received a te.egram. irom tne dredgemaster yesterday stating _at tho tcptumb.cr snafl "oroke yesteruay morning. Ihe breakage is now being remedied, ana in tne course oi two or three ciava the dredge shou.d resume ~or__. The master of the Al Company s dredge te.eirrapned yesterday that the bottom tumbler flange had broken. The dredge is sti.i walking, but she may have two cr three days' deiav refining. A new tumbier riarge is on the'way to the claim. 'Ihe broken tumbl'-r .s being replaced by a st el one, which wm pic-vent future breaKages. The master cf the Greenstone Creek Compai:y's dredge, reporting under date July 2Sth, states that he has had to effect repairs to the bucket lips, whicn hrve been breakirg. Th:s i.. due in his opinion, to the lips being tn ihe brittle side. Tho .to md is stiil very hard, and large stones pre plentiful, but steady work is not being affected thereby. The dredge is stiil working towards the nortn. A te.egram received from tbe dredgemaster vestcrday states that the return this week will ha average. Tho wish continues to ba tight in character. Mr George King, who recently visited .lie West coast, gives the fo.lowing parf.cii.ars regarding the working of the dredges mentioned:—Tho 41 Company's dredge is getting down into good ground, and m the course oi three or four weeks, at latest, returns similar to her brat may tairly be looked for. At, the end of that period she will be working ground abutting on that where her good returns were obtained. Past experience o; tho claim, in Mr King's opinmc, warrants shareholders in anticipating continuous good results right to the bottom boundary. Ihe Weicoins Company' 3 dredge is still working on a rocky bottom, but tho indications are that one week's work will see her across the hard on to the puc bottom, when better results are anticipated. The rocky bottom which she has been working contains good go d, but the dredge cannot clean it up very well. She is still working the beach on the northern side of the river, and is not likely io be troubled with silt to the same.-extent as iv tne past. The Hokitika Kiver Company's dredge, after working tip to tho bridge on tho Karutri side of the river, has been moved down as far as possible on tho opposite, or Woodstock, side of tho river. Ihe river at present is very low. The dredge will have to open a new face when she gets as near to tho lower boundary as the state of the river wall permit. Tho indications from the o a Woodstock workings, below the terrace, jeadf one to suppose that the lead of gold continues into the river just a little above where the dredge is to start. The o.d miners say that there is every probability of the dredge bottoming there. The miners have worked the ground right to the bank of the river below the point of the terrace, and it is below this part that the dredge wui start working. The dredge is in perfect repair, and shows little wear and tear notwithstanding her hard buffeting with the coarse wash. Referring generally to gold dredging on the Coast, Mr King is of opinion that the only nominal success of the industry is not the fault of the claims, but is the result of not providing dredges of sufficient Lt-O.igth to cope with the wash. He says that there is scarcely a dredge on the Coast capable of dealing with the wash met with withcut constant breakages. The fact that few dredges are able to work tip to their full capacity, he says, is duo to the fact that the parts are not proportionately strong. Thus a dredge with a 25 horse-power engine is fitted with buckets whioh would bo torn to pieces if the full engine power were exerted. Mining generally ia being largely impeded by the dry weather—the season being one of the driest experienced for many years, and sluicing can only be carried on spasmodically.