MINING NEWS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXX, Issue 5113, 12 January 1874, Page 3

MINING NEWS.

Cuow \ I'ni\< r, — 1 \ lsited the Crown Prince mine to day loi the fi 1 3 u , time since theholiil i> s, and wai f »»i Ijy as-tmuJcd At tho c\ccllcnci' of tho piospect-i opened up, and tbo nchncn of two 0! the lodo-s winch arc being woikeil. It is but fan to state that tho show to d.iy was auicnor to anything ever bc-foie found 111 the mine ; but I think fewaro altogether cognisant of tbo real richness of this compuativcly now mine. Tho manager has undoubtedly b"c:» guiltless of any attempt to ' crack it up. Indeed 1 am now aware that tho contrary is the fact ; and, although ho lias at all times been willing t> have tbo mm'.! impacted, by the rcpr. sentatives of tho Press, or others interested, he his been extiemoly reticent and guarded in any allusions to tho mine or its prospects outside. I Ho has, I think, wisely allowed the mizio to apoik for itself in lesults. I think, however, that the public J and tho shareholders especially have a right \ to know w hat is going on, and for this reason j 1 give a tuoro dotadeel loport thau ! should otherwise have troubled your readers with. There are thrco distiuct reefs or parallel lodes intersected in tho drive which connects the two shafts, each of which is auriferous, although one — tho No, 3 — is poor iu compaiison with tho othors, and so fir very little labour has been expended on it. The No. 1 lo.le baa been, driven in 39ft. towards tho Kxchango boundary, leaving 19ft. to drive in this direction, and in tho other line to seawaid it has been followed GSft. , leaving a \ cry great extent of the mine still to drive through. The lod", which is lomarkably well foriiied and sunounded by fxcelleiit country, is 15iu. wide on an average, and thero lias throughout been a very fair show of gold thiough the whole extent of it, which has been opened within about 6ft. of the present seaward face, the lode has had what w t< clinically known as a heave, that is it is thr< wii back some distanco out of its former com so into tho hangmg wall. Whit its width may be here is not known f >r it was not quite penotrated to-d<iy, but tliero is a fine body of stone to hand, and its auiifeious character was proved by a fe»v very nice epecimens which came to hand from it while I was in the rmue. Thia proves that the heave haa not in any way affected the Aimferoua quality of the reef. Toward* thi« exchange boundary the ground has become der.mged, apparently by the action of a oross-cou se, but the lode has nob yet been followed through this derangement, which I do not tkink is much likely to materially influence tho character of the iO3f itself. On this lode * riso his been put up a height of 4Ofc , aud the highest ato|>o has now reached a height of 30ft.; but, although the upper atopea show gold, and produco good crushing stuflf, tho best and richest gold has been found in thu mam level and iu the leading stope. Tho No. 2 reef, which has hitherto been consideictl the bett and richest-, has been more cxtons.vely op ned up than the other. Tho seaward dnvo has been earned lOOtt., and at this end the character of the gold is really excellent. There is fully loin. ■ f fine-looking quartz, densely impregnated with white round ic, through »vl.ii h tin re is a fine show of gold. Iiu'et d, 1:1 Una lodo tho bjst flpeoim ns are foii'.d amoM^pt thia s'^uff 'iVvards liio Eu'linnui' ift has liccn diiven in 49't. leaving IS.'t. ttill to drive; but in ibis faca the reef is mflumoed by tho samo dts urbanou pre>ious'y alluded to in n-epeot to No. 1 teef. Indeed they are in all respects sister roefsandaro vtry Mmiia-. like tho other the liuht'st g< Id bus bocn found at tho main 1 vel, and thit tm gold cairios strongly downward is shown by two wiizes whicu have befu sunk each to a dwpth of almost 22 feet. They are 45 fe-t apart and both show gold freely, s< me re lly splendid specimens cunetolruul to-day fioin tho No 1 wiuze. Tliu gas was up iu the othor so that I had no opportunity of examining the lode thcro but a fan was being erected to expel it Theso winzes i may s.iy have not been suuk for the pin peso of opening blocks for immediate stopmg, but lather for tho purpose of teatiug tho reefs befoie siiikiug tho main shaft. I must say that if the directon do not think now that they have sufficient encouragement to undortake the expense of tho permanent work nccetsary it will bo hard indeed to convince them. So far as the workings of tho imno are concerned I have to repoit that they have been vastly inipioved under the piesent mana^tment, and the operations can now be cat ned on with very great economy. — [Con espon dent."] Coro-wvndfl, Saturday. Iu moat of thu pmicipal workings the men have returned to their labours, and things are b< giunms; to bo a little biiskcr, The district lias, dining tho last few weeks, lost some of its best men frnin various causes ; but a short timo will lemody that &tatj ot aflaird, and, consequently, place tho mino nian.iLjua in a position to continue the rhileiont companies' undertakings without let or hindrance. Many persons aeom to be of the opinion that the distiiot is somewhat stationary, but a glance at tho gold returns for the last four months, as compared with the Bmall monthly quantities during the s itne period of 1872, must convinco tho mostunboiibvni!/ that tho district h is inpidly progressed The quantities of gold obtained fiom the vanoin ciu&lunga duiing tho laBt four month", aud lodged with the Bink of Now Zealand, luvo been :— JSeptcinbor, OSOoz. melted; October, l,079' 2 oz. and 119.>z letort> d ; November, l.GOSoz melted; Decembc., l,423oz. molted. In addition to the latter quintity, neatly lOOoz. of gold were lodged with the National Bank hoio on account of the Union Beach Company, and 111 all probability tomo small piictls were banked with the Batno institution, thereby bunding tho returns for November and Docember close to each other. The3o quantities, I havo no hesitation in stating, arc larger iu legard to the number of our population tli in tho yield of the Thames poition of tho golilfield is to its gross population. Although tho year just onded has not pen haps come up to tho standard of our expectations, tucie ia still sufficient proof that the year has been an avei ago good one, with every prospect of a steady and permanent increase in tho prooious metal in tho present one Of courho many will eay this is all moonshine ; but jtheio aio abundant facts to adduce m suj»2>ort of tho conclusion. The cut rent year is certain to witness tho required amount of sinking in tho Kapanga Company and to bring tho management, after opening out, upon tho old shut of gold left and witnessed by disinterested re sideuts here iu the old aVuft, and that in a very few months. Tho Coiomandel Tuiinol Comp my, which has been doing a veiy consideiable amount of doad work during tho I.ibt twelve months has now reached a point on tho Coromundel side, where tho ludicitions aio such as to fully wanant tho belief that a change for tho better is clo-ie at hand. iScaily 1,050 fiet aie now driven, aud as there is a marked change iu the lovol, water coming in, and the bard country giving way to tuc r , eaLy shootiug ground, thoro is no reason to douU but a change 13 so near that it will gladden the bhaieholders, audiubpire additional 0011. tideuco in the district. Tl.e Bismatek, which has been but littlo developed for 1 early 12 months, will be 111 full tvviug linm.diaoly. Benin tt's Litttny, which is ready to&tait crutliiiig, makoa n uiiv in thfitdirottioii. Tho Van is coming into a position of piominence, Mhuli is so ceitain tj uieieaso. Tho Margan tta is on the ovo of mere favourable pi (hi cots, having intersected a lode in tbo new .uiit level, at about IGOf'. from the mouth of tl.e tunnel. Tho Jlailiom Viow iu tully opaned up for ixtoimvo blocking out ; the Tokaita and Uoy.il Oak rank amongst tho eon, taut gol.l pioduuing and dividendpijii g cl inns ; w luUt the oroction of crushing jilaut 111 thu m lghbomhood of the Waikoiomiko C'mk nui rounding tho l'Jutus, Olympus and otlur wcll-woiked pieces ot ground, will bring that poition of tho field quickly to tho f tout. The couwtiuetion of tiacks to Iho bond of tho r.inl'u Creek immediately Mirrounding tho avorley, will ufFitid another good portion of tho diatrut nearer battoiv accommodation, and last, although i:ot least, the b«aoh and Tiki ait ceitciiu befori long to place tlio public in a position of judging as to their gold producing qualities, and settling per-

li i])S foi a luii^ tune wh< t'u i the f nth of iho few or the unlitliuf of tlie in my is to prevail. ilnnrilu's> arc alwa><3 looked upon as bt u>{ ni'lit and it mw not lie unreasonable to expect that tho s.une rule will apply m theau instance, and fully puve Unit tlia fewer were the truer prophets. Altoee'liei, Com mandel has no reason to be dia-otu-liod with its present year's prophets ; .uul 1 feel confident as the old year approaches, and the new one ia nshire.l in, Bpecuiatoia will hive no reason to ic«rot their faith in hoi resourco 1 ?. CoitoAf vmm r, Exciumou Tui i:u rr..—Kneebone and patty, who have taken the intermediate and top hloeks of this company's property on tribute, seem determined on fully \v01k1n4 the ground. The former party who worked a portion of the mtermoiliaLe jpoition tipped a considerable quantity of mullock in front of tho lutcrraediato level, I which is being oh-aml aw.iy to enahlo the ti ilmtora t<* get mto the level itsolf. The drive has only to he carried about loft, until an opening on tho Coiomandcl side is met wuh, which will facilitate the transportation of tho mullock 011 that side, and the quartz on the Tokitua side, to one of the adjoining batteries. There is a good block of ground, piobably about 70ft. by 40ft, to be worked out, and, as tho lodo iu hand looks promisingly and piesents a compact and pood aveiaije tlnelviirs*, thcro is no reason to doubt but tho triKuto will be a 1 pajablo speculation.— [Cor cs-pondent.]