MINING NEWS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4755, 20 November 1872, Page 3

MINING NEWS.

Grahamstown, Tuesday. Caledonian. — I inspected the mine to-day, and can give a more favourable report than I penned last week. Aa I then stated, work is confined to those parts guaranteeing most profit present and prospective, and I think that results are likely to be satisfactory. Commencing with the hanging-wall leader, I noticed a marked improvement in its appearance. It has settled into ay» ell-defined body of stuff Borne 30in. thick, with tolerably clean walls, and that very little gold is to be seen iv it is, I think, mainly to be attributed to the colour and character of the stuff. Probabilities are all m favour of its becoming richer as it is followed upwards. The specimen leader south, between the bottom and intermediate levels,' maintains a good appearance, although the one thing needful — gold — does not show very freely. The vein however pays for working, and may improve at any moment. The p- > of the Cure run of gold being i>«i . .a .ha No. 2 lode on the Cure boun wiry aits decidedly good. The stuff looks well, containing as it does much antimony aud sulphides, and the wished-for result is, I think, merely a question of time, for work makes but slow headway, owing to the induiated character of the stuff. At present the lode 13 being followed only one way, towards the Golden Crown boundary, and the distance to be driven in that direction is only 7ft. or thereabouts to the boundary. A contract has however been let to drive in the opposite direction, north, and it is there, I thinks that the shot will be picked up, inasmuch as whenever a shot of gold has broken in the Caledonian mine it has been found to the north of its original line. At the. same time the shot may have contracted to sufficiently narrow limits to lie between the face of the} present drive and the Golden Crown boundary. The most noticeable and encouraging change in any part of the mine was observable in the rise that is going up from the intermediate line in front of, or to the north of, the Otago big stope. The rise was started in a bed of heavy mullock, but very soon a vein of stone came in, small at first, but widening as it waa followed up. Gold was seen in it. This vein has been followed up 20f fc. or more, and, this morning, showed a face three feet thick, with visible gold in the band of stone against the hanging- wall ; not in specks merely, but nice little patches. I anticipate an important find will be made in this quarter in a day or two. Work is still suspended below the bottom, level of tho mine, and cannot be resumed until the United Pumping Association reduces the water. Cuke.— l visited this mine to-day. The show of gold in the mine is not so good as it was ; but this I should not have deemed worthy of more than a passing notice, so frequent are the fluctuations to which a shot of gold is liable, if it had not been for the fall in the price of the company's stock, and the free comments and many interrogations aiising therefrom. Excepting that less gold was visible in the face.no change was apparent iv the lode. The latter maintains a fail size, say from three feet to seven or eight feet, whilst its lie is unaltered. The shot of gold has not run out : it has but made a poorer show for a time. If the patch of good ground on the right -hand side of the stope, about half-way up from the main level, has undergone any change since my last visit, it is for the better. '1 he stuff is a mass of copper, antimony, and iron, through which gold, peeped in many places. Golden Calf. — The manager, Captain Ninuis, is busy timbering and filling up the big open stope between the bottom and upper levels. The work has progiessfd apace since the two levels were connected by winze, as the latter constitutes a convenient pass through which mullock for filling-in can bo sent from above. The.} bottom -level winze is still going down, and has reached a depth of 20ft. The lode looks well in it, shows gold freely, and improves the deeper it is followed. lam decidedly of opinion that the company's mainstay lies in the deep levels of the mine. Bright Smile. — The lode or formation of a lode, which I stated in my last report had been uncovered on the right-hand nide of the crosscut leading from the chamber of the new shaft to the old workings, and which was assumed to be the continuation of the No. 2 lode, has been opened upon and followed some few feet westerly, and bids fair to realise all the expectations formed of it. From a somewhat indistinct band of stuff it has resolved itself into a nicely-defined lode 2ft. thick, and in which gold can be Been. — [Correspondent.] Coromandel, Tuesday. Tokatea. — There is no change of importance in the upperw orkings, the lode averaging about the same amount of crushing-stuff as when I last visited thf* mine. In the Bismarck level the lode still continues to maintain a firstclass appearance. The face shows a strong body of sfcone about 2ffc. Gin. thick, and carrying splendid walls. The quality o£ the stone is also of equal richness to that taken out during the past week ; in fact, several pieces of stone shown to me by Mr. Kelly were worthy of being classed as more than ordinarily rich picked stone, good patches of the precious metal being freely seen. Peep o'Day.— The winze on the Peep o'Day leader was holed through on Saturday into the old Day Dawn shaft, and about 121b. of good picked stone taken out, making nearly 501b. now in hand. The manager states that gold has been carried down the entire distance, and that the above quantity of picked stone has been obtained from time to time as sinking was proceeding. The leader for the whole diatanco has averaged from lOin. to lft. in thickness, well defined aud compact throughout. The manager intends sinking the winze to the low level, and a3 soon as the ground about the shaft is properly secured stoping will be commenced. A crushing will most likely take place before tho Christmas holidays commence, and should tho quality of the stone continue to prove as good as that already grassed the shareholders may confidently anticipate a good payable return. Royal Standard.— The winze ia now down 65ffc., and a slight change in the country in the last few feet ia noticeable, being considerably tighter than it has been since sinking was commenced. The contract for driving low level 100 ft. has been completed, but arrangements have been made with the contractors to continue driving until the leader is intersected, which in about l';ft. or 15ft. is e_xp<;cted to be met with.— [Correspondent.] ' ' .