SOUTHERN CROSS QUARTZ MINING COMPANY.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2203, 12 August 1864, Page 4

SOUTHERN CROSS QUARTZ MINING COMPANY.

To the Editor oj (he Daily Southern Cross. Sir,— lv your iuaue of tho 6th ultimo, and also in the New Zca.la.ndcv of tho stli ultimo, appealed a letter from Mr. Ninnis, having reference to the crushing and extracting gold from quaitz. I have for the last eight or nine years been entirely engaged in gold mining opeiations in connexion with tho lni'gesl and mosb successful gold mining companies of Victoria. Thercfoie I may venture to claim some small knowledge of the subject m question. I would have answered Mr. Nmnis's first letter at the time of its publication, but deemed it unnecessary to do so, seeing that to all ptactical goldmmeis it carried with it its own condemnation. Another letter from the same authoiity appearing iv tho New Zealandcr of the Ist instant, I now feel it a duty to myself, and to thoso of your readers who ate iutcie3ted in Coioinaudel, to reply to them. Mi. Ninuis lays claim to .1 novel piocess (in use years ago) of treating Ins auriferous quartz, asset ting that he has obtained startling icsults theiefiom. gi-Ecforo pioceeding to inform you how Mr. Nmnis's results weie obtained, ltr will be neccssiuy, for the information of tho uninitiated, to state that tho chief and only object of the crusher diumg the process of oiushmq is, if possible, to extiact the whole of tho gold from the quaitz, without the requirement of any second opciation, as all fuither treatment of the hillings after ciiislung is voiy expensive, and never found to pay the small crusher. Iv order to obtain this desnable lesulfc 111 the piocees of crushing, tho gieatast caie and attention are lequiied in the mauagcinout of tho apple-boxes and blankets. Having pi etmsod tins much, 1 will now proceed toiefute iHi. Nimiis's statements Dm lug the ciushing of the 99 tons of quartz icfeued to by Mi JN'muis., Mr.lt, Kelly, tho th«u maiugoi of the Southern Ciosa Gold Mimug Com p.my, and Mi. Turner, the piesent managei of the Albion claim, paid a casual visit to tho Junction battery; aud, observing that the iipplo-bo\'es and blankets weie choked, thereby allowing tho gold to pass away with the tailings, called the attention of the man in chaige to the impeifcct hoiking of the battery, to which he lpplied that it was unimportant, as Mi. Ninnis intended to extinct the gold by his novel piocess of calcination, evidently pioving it was not Mi Niuuis's intention to exti.iet the gold by ciuslnug, but meiely to ie luce the sue of the quai Iz, and to give his novel sxndevpensive pioccss the colour of success. As it is a well known fact h n re that at the completion of the ciushing and cleaning up of thp bat- I teiy, from sivty to seventy ounces of maiketibl« gold weie obtained by Mi. Wootlin, jun., and Mr. P. Downs (both shmeholdeis iv No 5 claim) , tho whole of this gold, to Mi. Nmnis's oulei, was put backs in the tailings to be again. exUaoted by his uovol process of cilcination. And fmther, 111 a very expensive piocesi, called middling (which is quite unnecessiuy, and novel 10soibed to wheie elhoient macluueiy is usod, nnd Cfticfnl and e\penenced cuisheis employe.l), Mr. Kmnw sndeicd consult!) able loss of gold , this is proved by the fact of Mi ft Wood and Ml W.xueu Palmci (one of the ablest and most e\pi noticed gold nuneis), and many otheis obtaining good piospccts fiom the tuhng-> in the cieek aftci budillin<*, and upon the attention of Mi. Niunis being cilledto this state of affaus, we woie sm prised next raoimng to find the whole of the tailings had disappoaied. "Though lost to sight, to memory dear." The process of calcination, claimed by Mr Ninius as his invention 01 adaptation to gold mimug puiposes, is nothing new. For the last five yeais it has been the pi.ictico of ill extensive gold mining companies to calcine the muiuhc tailings obtained fiom the blankets (voiy different material from the tailings ruu oil fiom the battery), and tho resultobtained varying from half an ounce to two and a half ounces per ton of muudic tailings, accouling to the quality of qn;utz crushed. To obtain one ton of mundic tailings fiom 200 to 300 tons of quart/ would lequite to be crushed, thus giving only tour gi.ains for each ton of quaiw ciushed, and tins small ie«ult is found not to be ptoiitablo foi small companies to result to calcination. The plan generally adopted is to expose them for a short time to the action of the atmosphere, and then pnss them tluough the battery again. Theie are also other tailings taken from the stamp heads at the conclusion of a ciushmg; these tailings, fiom only being parti xlly cuished, contain a gieatti 01 less amount of god, accoiding to the quality of the quartz crushed. It appears to me, from the said high re-ults Mr Nmms obtained, he must have expenmented upon a portion of these tailings (which were put aside for a futin c crushing). I again defy any one to obtain more than J gtain of gold pcl 1 ton from our tailings after I have lun them off For Mr. Ninnis to claim the invention of the calcination pioces3, is an assumption of mind which can only be accounted foi by his <-hoit acquaintance With, and gieit ignorance of, gold mining, and is only equalled by the unmanly com->e he has pu> sued, that of traducing otheis 111 oidei to ingiatiate himself with his employers, and pass himself liefoie the public as an authority on gold wining matters I would suggest for Mi. Nnuiis's I cnefit, tint it would be wise of him to attend to the efficient man agemeiit of the claim with which ho is connected, and no longer allow inmseU to leinain tho lau^hi lgstock of the people of Coininandel And much safei for Mr iSinnis's lDputvum would it have been, if he had quietly communicated the resul's of hise\poiimentsro his dnectois (with whom possibly his oiioi-, might Ime passe. l without delec tion) lathei than lushing in to (Hint, for l>y<-o doing hp has only piovcd to the community that he is enliio' v at sea on go'd-imnmg, as well as other 11 attci-. unii which he lias foi meily bed comuct'd, and sliou -i how aptly can be .applied to linn (lit ml si>mg "A htt'e knowledge is a dangerous tl iv« '' Puili ips, M^r. Editor, at some future clay 111 t'n. | io>pent ot Coromaudcl, when yoiu special coiiespoiiilent ii mailing a tonr of the pohl field-, of Auckland (like his biothei correspondent of the Au/iis) 1 p iuay 10 >k lonnd and say, " tfeio stands a mumi'u nt or Km nis's folly," Trusting that Mi Kin ins will not .iLpm pie-uiiio on the general want of infoiniati'in by tlio 1 • 1 1 1 > 10 on gold-mining matter, to assume a position which his want of knowledge and expeuence enfcudy unfits him to hold, and see the nnpiopiiety oE t!-e coiuse he has taken in this niattui, L will conclude by challenging Mr. Nmms to a tu.il crusLmg, ioi any leasonable sum ovei one hundicd pounds —X am, sir, yours,, ie, W. Wiraiss., Manager of the t-ouihein Cioss Qimt' Mining Company. CoTomandel, Augusts, 1851. PS How Mr. Is mm% became possessed of Ihe tailings refened to 111 hi-, Icttci liannnt till. iinlcs-> they were sm 1 eptiliouily lemoveil fiom tlio]»iounse-,€>f Uie Southein Cioss Qimtz Mining Compmy, ami I now call upon Mr. Nmnis to account foi Lis poaic^iou uf tho same.