MINING INTELLIGENCE.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXVII, Issue 1372, 13 August 1895, Page 4

MINING INTELLIGENCE.

Although in, t mid-winter weather, and the sluicing claims standing' idle through severity of frost, mining matters in other directions livened up considerably within the last s few,! weeks. * Parties, who held claims river, finding it was not likely to go any lower, arid as it was getting late in the season, have Bet to work with a will and are likely to be well rewarded. A party ot t Chinamen on the Molyneux last week, got *SQO worth of gold, and have sent to their mates, and others are also »making good wages, Ah Kew's party have about 16 men at work night and day, they have put in two large wing dams and have got on the wash to-day, As the party obtained about £7O worth of gold in two or three days' work when the river was down*three years ago, it is pretty well a certainty that they have a good thing, if the river does not'rise for a time. Mr J. Ritchie started his claim to-day, and it is known there is good gold there. A few days with ordinary luck will see him on gold. Gair and party have a claim near the Half-way House where good gold was got by fishing it out of two feet of water when the river was last down. They intend working it with a spoon dredge on a, pontoon, and as it is still water inside the current, there: should be no difficulty in getting, a good portion of the gold. There iis ; not much work being done on the Kawarau, as there is such ; a depth '6l tailings in most places-tbat little prospecting can be done, but the Electric Dredge 'Co., who hold the greatest portion of . the river between Cromwell and Kawarau 'Gorge, seem to have a good thing in the tailings alone. Below the outlet of the Slaughteryard Gorge, there is a large island in the river composed entirely of tailings brought down through the gorge. When the river was down three years ago, a party of Chinese were putting the tailings through a box and cradling them and making from 30s to 40a per week each, the following year they were again working there and apparently paying them, this winter a paity of Europeans; are putting the § tailings through, ; and appear to be satisfied with their returns. If one man puts 3 loads through a cradle or two men 7 or 8 loads through a should think they have done a very good day's work, While a steam dredge working those tailings, accord to report puts through about 60 loads an hour, equal to 18 or 20 days' work for one man, if it gives the individual man a fair living what wduld it pay the dredge. At Quartz Pointji near Hayes and Co. and Tillmari ahd rt Partridge's oliams,; some old shafts had been stink which could not be bottomed for water. Hayes' and Tillman's claims being wprked,, and a drainage race taken up the creek, have lowered the water considerably. A party, Campbell and Co., took up one of these shafts nearer the river than Hayes' claim and have strrick good payable wash. They sunk about six feet through it and got water again and have not been able to bottom. Sufficient has been got to show that the golden wash extends over a large area of the flat. Five or six claims have been marked out and applied for, and there is every prospect when the ground is drained of there being some good claims. There is a, great depth of wash in the claim now worked by Hayes and party. Bethune and Hanlon worked about 10ft of wash, but could not get lower for water. Hayes and Co are working the same ground underneath about five, feet deeper still. ', ',., ■. Abelsted and Todd, who have a claim in • Aurora' Gully, Bendigo,hav€i struck a reef in their ground, which report says will go ,2oz 0t30j5 to-,the t0n.,,, On inquiries ;W.e v hear that the ' reef struck " carries, very ; good prospects, but is narrow.' They are sinking on it with the hope that it will widen' out. However, what they have got is sufficient to show that with <a little perseverance in prospecting, other reefs are to be found in the Bendigo district yet. When the Aurora was first opened in 1871 there was some wonderfully rich stone in it, and for a time it paid handsomely. «