LATE MINING

Evening Star, Issue 11890, 19 May 1903, Page 5

LATE MINING

Sixty-six Otago and Southland dredges reported returns for the week ended May 16, tbe total return being 1,8430z lOdwt 20gr. Fifteen West Coast dredges reported returns for the week ended May 16, the total return being 4490z 15dwt 6gr. The Maori King dredge resumed work this morning, after repairs to the first motion shaft.

The Lower Enfield dredge-master reports that he, landed the dredge safely in Post Office Creek on Saturday night. He began on Sunday night at twelve, and will up on Thursday. The dredge-master of the Manuherikia wires that he has bottomed on soft bottom, with good gold. The dredge-master of the First Chance wires that he has started dredging, and bottomed at a depth of 40ft. DUNEDIN EXCHANGE. This afternoon’s sales:—Alexandra Lead, 13/; Hartley and Riley, 63/ : Manuherikia, 29/6, 29/9. ’ BAREWOOD GOLD MINING COMPANY The above company have lately acquired another 40 acres Of ground in addition to the 60 acres acquired three years ago by the syndicate from which the present company was floated. Some work hid formerly been done on the field on which the Barewood Company’s property is situated by the Anglo-Continental Syndicate (now defunct), who sunk three shafts in the line of reef which traverses the field. One of these that known as the Scots Gully shaft, is on the Barcwood claim. The shaft was sunk on the hangiilg-wall side to the lode, which is nearly vertical, and intersected it at a depth of 130 ft. A level was driven along the lode from the intersection, and it is from this level that the Barewood Company arc sloping. The level has not been driven f’Tther than the 290 ft driven by the AnsiloContinental Syndicate, as there was already a large quantity of stone in sight, nn'd there was too much mullock to wind to the surface. The stone is not expensive to break out, as the lode, which is about 10ft in width, is of a mullocky description. In one place the stone is gold bearing right through, but in others the auriferous ore is confined to a thickness of from Ift to 4ft out of the 10ft. The manager has lately been engaged in baling out the shaft below the 130 ft level. The former syndicate sank to a depth of 200 ft, and after intersecting the lode from this depth with a cross-cut of about 40ft, began driving another level along the reef. It is believed that about £SOO or £6OO worth of work has been done at this level, and the company arc naturally anxious to utilise tbs work and prospect further at this depth. The shaft has lately been fitted with new machinery, comprising a safety cage, baling tank, and winding engine. At present, however, operations have been somewhat hampered by want of water, the dams having been very low for the past two months. The amount of water per day required for boiler, tables, etc., is 50,000ga1, and only 12,000ga! per day is being lifted out of the shaft. The directors are now taking the question of water supply into consideration, and the result will probably be that bigger dams will be erected. Although the new area before-mentioned was only granted to the company about a month ago, a start has already been made to test it by means of Prospecting shafts. The last return was from a crushing of fin tons out of the 100 tons won during the four weeks ended 26th ult., and this yielded 650z 15dwt, or over an ounce to the ton. The remainder of the stone was not crushed, a« owing to the shortage of water the battery (a five-head orte) was only run for a week. Crushing has been carried on almost continuously for the last two years, and the average returns have been about 200oz per month. The result of fortv weeks’ work in 1902 was 1,8770z of gold from 1,834 tons of stone, and the returns for the part year have been slightlv better. The cost of winning and crushing the ore hue averaged about Bd\vt to the ton, and as the stone cm-hed has averaged over an oume to the ton there is a good margin of profit. Mr D. B. Waters (the company’s consulting engineer), to whom we are indebted for our information, is sanguine of bringing down the cost of winning and crushing the ore from Bdwt to somewhere nearer 6dwt tc the ton, when the mine is -till better opened up. Mr Waters also in formed our representative that, judging bv the number of samples *of quartz for warded for assay the lart few months, prospecting for reefs in Otago has lately received a very considerable impetus.