MINING MATTERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 150, 25 June 1904, Page 12

MINING MATTERS.

OTAGO. At an extraordinary meeting of stmrfcholders ia tho Waiinumu Extended Company, voluntary liquidation was uniuiiniuutfly decided on. The direclois reported that though suitable ground could bo obtained (the company's- own claim being practically worked out), the cost of ita purchase and of the removal, re-erection, and repair of the dredge, would come to £1000, and Ih-ey did not recommend that outlay. Tho company's liabilities are now £110 6s Bd. The Ciomwcll correspondent of the Otago Daily Times reports: —The Rilev's lioach dredge it working steadily, and I believe tha prospects are good. There is a big si retch of maiden ground in front of I lie dredge. Both the dredges of tho Electric Company are working. The Cromwell No. 2 dredge is dropping down to work a beach lower down the claim. The Ri*e and Shine No. 2 dredge is ttpairing this week. WEST COAST. The following items have been telegraphed to the Otago Daily Times by ita Greymouth correspondent: —The Nelson Creek dredge got 117oz for 118 hours' dredging. The dredge stopped on .Saturday morning for an overhaul. The lega of the tumbler framing having become soft, will have-to be renewed. Some alterations to the boiler are alao being effected. The dredge is expected to be idle for tea days. The prospects ahead are very promising, the dredge having now reached one of the richest and most fancied spots in the creek; and were it not for the vast pile of accumulated tailings at the mouth, of Nos. 1 and 2 creeks, must sensational returns would be obtuined. The company got from 30th March to 18th Juno 133102 sdwt 19gr of gold, paid 8s 6d in dividends, and will probably pay another 2s 6d for the month now closing. The Stalford-Waimea dredge has encountered considerable difficulties of lute owing to largo floods in the Waiinea Creek. A few days ngo the dredge was taken to the north bank of tho claim, and dredging operations will be commenced in the flat; between the creek and the main road. It is anticipated that the great expectations which were held of the claim will now be realised. The Greenstone Junction dredge washed up 17oz Bdwt, and the Greenstone Creek dredge 19oz 16dwt. Both dredges worked short hours, otherwise tho returns Mould havo been one-third more. AUCKLAND. From 4£ tona of ore, Martin and party* tributers in the Royal Oak cluim, Coroniandel, obtained a yield of "570z 18dwt of melted gold, valued 'at £164 5s 9d. Luhr.s and Barker, another party of tributers in the fame mine, had one ton of general ore- and 60ib of picked stone treated for a return of 38oz of melted gold, valued at £98 16s. The Auckland Star reports that two prospectors named Crawford and Baker, backed by a Thames syndicate, have, been working up tho Kirikiri Creek between Thames and Kopu, and claim to have made'an important discovery about two miles from the Thames-Paeroa-road. They started prospecting with the object of ascertaining the source- of the gold found from time to time by dish te&ts in the Kirikiri Creek. They failed to find a gold-bearing reef, but discovered that prospects of gold could bo got from the country rock itself. Three leases of 100 acres each have been applied for. The ground applied for consists of an enormous mass) of disorganised country rock, for the most pnrb of a hard nature. Numerous ustmys Irnve been made with varying \ results, ranging, it is stated, from mere traces to £5 per ton. The annual report of the Te Puke Gold Reefs Company referred to the fact that tho option over the property had lapsed, ala> that the reports of the discovery of rich ore, recently, seemed not to be borne out by the ordinary means of assay tests. The directors, who visited the mine to see tho reported discovery, stated that the levels required attention, and accordingly six men were put on to securely timber in various places so as to conserve them for future operations. In the Waihi Extended Mine the drive on tho boundary line is now in a distance of 162 ft. During tho past week tho country rock penetrated has been very hard, with quartz veins through it, which makes the rock bad to shoot; nevertheless, it is of a good description for lode system. Several large hauls of specimens have been obtained of late from the New Una Mine, Thames. At the annual meeting of Hardy's Mines, Limited, Te Aroha, it was stated that the total number oi shares allotted was to be 35,000, of which 20,000 nra allotted to the vendor as part payment for the property, and upon each of tlie remaining shares 6s had been- paid up to the 31H May, 1904, the total amount received in respect to the shaies issued, wholly for cash being £4680. The directors' -report stated that in the Premier sections the lode gives goq.d prospects of free gold, and sulphides' can be panned off from a width of ore of 2? feet along the central ore band and with in well-defined walls. Another parallel . band of ore is eight feet wide, which aLs=o carries both freo gold and sulphides, but not to such an extent as the former. The cost of breaking out quartz is estimated at 5s 6d per ton. MISCELLANEOUS. Tho new School of Mines at the Birmingham (England) University is to have a novel piece of scientitic apparatus in the sliapo of a model mine at Bournbrook, about ten feet below the smface, extend ing over about three quarters of an acre. The passages will be constructed of bricli arching, and will be lined, paved, and finished so aa to resemble an actual mine* in detail. The mine will be laid out to illustrate the best ways of working coal and methods of timbering, and wiS, also demonstrate the various systems oF Vy> * underground haulage.

Tho average length of ships has increased some 50 or 60 per cent, during the last quarter of a century. The 465 ft of the Britannic, of 1874, "seems almost insignificant compared with the 702 ft of the latest White Star liner Cedric, and the 760 ft of the projected Cunarders. Thft 1000 ft vessel will assuredly not be long in coming. Berths are even now being devised to accord with this standard, and entrance locks and graving cocks are also being lengthened. A few yenrs back 500 ft was considered an extreme dimension; nowadays this is deemed very moderate.