MINIMS MATTERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 56, 3 September 1904, Page 12

MINIMS MATTERS.

OTAOO. In six years the famous Hartley and Riley dredge has paid £78,812 in dividends. There aie 360 shareholders in the company, and the scrip is held all over the world, Dunedin by no means representing the bulk of the shareholders. Referring to mining operations in the Shotover and Macetown districts, Olago, the Quecnslown correspondent of the Otago Witness reports :— "lt is currently reported, and 1 believe tho rumour is well grounded, that Messis. W. L. Davis and J. IS. Davis have just washed up in their sluicing claiim on Stony Creek Terrace, Shotover, for a return of oOOoz. lihia does not represent one season's work, but with a. previous return of 200oz makes a total of 800oz for two years' work. In quartz reefing we hear of Mr. Farrell having been successful in flouting his Macetown mines, and men are already at work upon the mines known as tho Homeward Bound and tho Victor Emmanuel. During the last six months things havo indeed moved ahead. Tho Premier-Sunrise was tho only claim in active operation at the beginning of tho year. Now there aro the Sunrise, the .Invincible (formerly, belonging to the Westralia Company), aud Farrell's mines. " About 4600 acres in the watershed of the Wetherburn Stream, Naseby district, Otago, has been exempted from the provisions of the Mining Act. WEST COAST. The shareholders in Minerals, Ltd., aro face to face Avith a financial dilliculty. Ab a meeting of the Auckland shareholders last week tho Chairman explained that thero were liabilities amounting to £11 12a 2d, and unfortunately the drift that yielded 4dwb per load did not last. The company ihad therefore to face the problem of whether to go into liquidation, reconstruct, or issue further shares. A circular had been issued to shareholders suggesting that 2000 additional shares be isscd ab ss, of which 6d should be payable on allotment and tho balance in calls of 6d p_er month. Thoy were prepared to give a bonus of £ for £ out of profits. If tho 2000 shares were taken up it would givo £500 with whioh to put in the tunnel and prospect tho property. It was for the meeting to decide whether ib was wcrth while to go on. Already 890 shares had been appiifid for, und another 495 had been promised to be taken up. The meeting decided to approve of the suggestion in the circular, the directors being duly empowered to issue the 2000 shares on the terms therein stated, and an additional 2000 if more Were applied for. The New Zealand Mines Record states that a communication has been received from Mr. P. B. Atkinson, solicitor, Westport, enquiring upon what terms Mr. Fergus F. Munro will be allowed to surrender his coal lease at Waimangaroa, which was issued on the Bth Jury, 1903. Mi\ Atkinson has been informed that if tho lessee finds it unprofitable to work he can surrender the lease upon payment of the rents reserved up to the end of tho current year of the term. AUCKLAND. The Klondyko mine, Omahu, was sold at auction last week by order of the Warden. Tho price realised was £120. In order to secure a clear right-of-way for the extension of tho Moartataktri tunnel into the Albumia ground, Mr. H. H. Adams has purchased for the Alkirnia Cempony the Old Whau special quartz claim. Although only 1230 tons of ore were treated by the Komata Reefs Company last month tho valuo of the gold was £2900, as compared with £2230 worth from 1260 tons in the previous monhh. Since its formation in 1900 the company haa obtained £127,225 worth 6f'gold. Ab the Waihi Extended mine Mr. Johns has now got two shifts' driving on the reef towards tho Grand Junction boundary, with the object of connecting wibh the workings in the adjoining mine and securing Ventilation. Another shift is driving in the reef in a northerly direction. A fresh assay of ore from the reef has been made at the Waihi School of Mines, tho sample treated being taken from 18 inches of tho footwall and to-wa-rdt* tho bottom of tho drive. The report from the School of Mines states that the sample consisted of a^ rubbly class of quartz, , iron pyrites, etc., and assayed as follows:— Gold, odwt Kgr per ton ; stiver, 4oz 14dwt 17gr per ton j value £1 15s 6d per ton, "• MISCELLANEOUS. A prospector named David O'Rourke had a lucky find at Slurb's Creek, near Breethen (Vie), whero he had been working for about nine Weeks without getting a colour of gold. He was about to give tho place up, but he decided he would try another dish for the last. This dish of dirt ho found contained a hugget M weighing 18ox lOdwt. During 1903 the Vtabarian Government batteries treated 3067 tons of ore, which yielded 16020z 14dwt, showing an average of lOftwt lOgr per ton. The greatest quantity crushed by any ofco battery was 'at Creswick, 624£ bonS beiitg treated for a yield of 200oz 17dwb, or an average of 6dwt lOgr per ton. Three head of stamps were added to this battery in October last, making it six heads. The receipts in' shape of crushings foil far ■short of expenditure, the loss for the year amounting to £2516. Arrangements have been completed by the stock exchanges of Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne for the simultaneous quotation on their official lists of tho shares of any company which may pay a fee of £10 10s. Should a company wish to be quoted by only two exchanges, the fee will be £9 9s, or for one exchange £5 ss. Tho Victorian Mining Department's report for 1903 states that, although tho year showed a slight increase in the number of accidents that had happened, there had been a great fulling off in tho number of person^ killed or seriously injured. Of 103 accidents which had occurred in gold mining, 21 had proved fatal, whereas during the previous year from 96 accidents there had been 33 deaths. Of tho 21 men killed during lavs, 14 meb their death by falls of rock, etc, 2 by falling down shafts, 3 oy contact with machinery, 1 from suffocation by foul air, and i by falling from a platform in a battery. Of tho 86 injured, 41 received thoir injuries by falls of rock, etc., 10 by falling down shafts, winzes, etc., 7 by falls of material down shafts, winces, etc., 9 by contact with machinery, 5 by explosions of blasting compounds, 2 crushed by trucks, and 12 by miscellaneous causes of an easily avoidable character. Four accidents occurred in coa^ mining, one person being killed, whereas in the provious year there had boon 17 accidents, of which ono had proved fatal. The Great Southern, Victoria, is instituting working economies which are expected to save the company about £1000 per year. The output of the Barrier mines for the first three months of the ycur (says tho Town and Country Journal) na« valued at £69,728 more than the ore products for the corresponding period of last year. The total value of exports for tho Juno quarter was £418,295. The silver-lead concentrates exported during the quarter were valued at £316,357, as compared wibh £257,440 for tho same period last year, and £265,304 in the opening quarter of 1904. Silver-load slimes sent away for lasb quarter were valued at £21)459, as compared with £19,246 for the corresponding quarter •of.laab £ear k