MINING NEWS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4743, 6 November 1872, Page 3

MINING NEWS.

Grahamstown Tuesday. Caledonian. —Consequent upon a rise in the water, operations below the No, 2 or bottom level are entirely suspended. There is over Bft. of water in the No. 3 winze. Considerable modification in the general work of the mine has been effec f sd during the past week. The number of handa that were employed haB undergone reduction, although increased labour power has been applied to the more remunerative sections of the mine. For instance, the specimen leader south is now double-banked ; where six men found employment 12 are at work, and such is also the case of the hanging- wall leader. In the Otago stope the reverse is the case, only enough handa to put up a prospecting rise at the Lack of the big face from the intermediate level being retained. By-and-by a drive to meet the rise will be put in from the face to prospect the intermediate strip of ground, say 30ft. wide, and should payable stuff be met with atoping operations will again be the order of the day. Below the intermediate level the lode has been worked down to the back of the bottom level, and shows very poorly — work there is suspended pro tern .; above the No. 1 level the upper, branch of the same lode has run into poor saniy stuff. Stoping there has also been stopped whilst a prospecting rise is going up to connect with the No. 2 shaft level. A contract has been let to drive south on tho No. 2 lode at the bouudary of the Cure mine from the rise that was put up from No. 1 level, and as soon as convenient driving in the opposite direction will be proceeded with. GoldExN^ Era. — Work has progressed apace in this mine sirce my last r6port. The winze is down 45ft., and carries a nice lode some 20in. thick, in which the colour of gold is frequently seen. The leader strikes towards the Eureka mine, and I should nob be surprised if ifc was proved hereafter to be connected with the leaders which were struck by the Eureka Company on the eastern side of the big slide in the workings conducted ■ from the 20fathom level of the Kurauui mine. The underlie of the same leader was long ago struck in another place of the long tunnel, and there the stuff yielded at the rata of 15dwt. the ton from more than one ton crushed. It is intended to follow the leader down to the tunnel, a distance of 100 ft. deeper, and then stope it from below and send the stuff to grass by the tunnel, the mouth of which is connected with the beach by a good road down Shellback. Hence all the powerful batteries are easily accessible, including the Tararu Company's mill, with its motive power of water. I was in errcr in stating in a former report that the Golden Era mine was held under miners' rights ; it was one cf the first mines for which a license under the new Act was applied for and granted, and, the ground so secured, working it immediately commenced in the long tunnel, which was drivea 200 ft. in the course of the subsequent three months. Bad ventilation, or rather none at all, brought work to a standstill, and then it was determined to sink a winze upon the leader, and so provide means of ventilating the tunnel and prospect the ground at the same time. The undertaking has prospered so far, and it is to be hoped will be conducted to a triumphant termination. United Pumping Association. — A singular accident, which happened last night, has caused a temporary suspension of pumping below the 200 ft. level, where the plunger is fixed. So much progress with sinking the shaft having been made, preparations to lower the draw-lift column and add another section to it were proceeded with, when something went wiong with the top section of the column, necessitating its removal ; whilst this was being effected a steel crow-bar unfortunately j slipped from the hands of one of the workmen and fell down the column upon the bottom clack ; and, so far, all attempts made to recover it have proved unavailing. Science, however, has stepped in to the rescue. It ia proposed to try the effect of j electric-magnetic attraction, under the direction of Mr. Severn, of the Caledonian ' machine. He has a powerful magnet and battery, and is to try the experiment this evening, and,, in the event of a successful isaue,the pump will be at work again shortly after midnight. Should the cross-bar prove refractory to deal with, it will be allowed to remain where it is until the necessity for changing the clack arises, and then clack and crowbar will be lifted together j that is, unless the bar should become so awkwardly fixed as to stand in the way of the clack's removal, for in that case the entire column would have to be lifted. Morning Stab. — Singular to say, the water, after falling two or three fathoms, has again risen to its original level ; and as the stream, which suddenly burst into the Moanataiari mine some time ago, and which must have been fed by the water in the Morning Star workings, has nearly ceased to run, it is probable that the channel has become obstructed, and the water thus dammed back again. This is much, to be regretted, as the re-opening of the Morning 'Star is thereby postponed indefinitely ; unless, indeed, the shareholders would obtain permission to drive an adit from the Moana.'taiari lower-levpl working?, f or in that case the water might soon-be tapped, the distance to be driven being comparatively inconsiderable. North Star, Tb Papa. — Another cruehing, of some 40 tons, has keen commenced at •the Una machine, and is showing up for a ,gooil yield. Nonpareil. — A new leader of great promise has been struck in this mine at bottom level at the end of a drive put in 60ft. at right to the footwall of the main lode, which, 'runs towards the Waiotahi Creek. The new leader is Ift. thick, is' good-looking, and lies nearly parallel to tho main lode. Gold has 'jbeen seen in it. The manager's report of the other parts of the mine is satisfactory.— 1 [Correspondent.]