MINING NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 12258, 27 July 1904, Page 6

MINING NEWS.

The New Eoyid Maori dredge is still opening out her cut. As the ground is 50ft deep some time must necessarily elapse before bottom is reached and so form an estimate of live ground (says the • Dunfitan Times').

The Alpine Extended Company, Recfton, have cleaned up for a Teturn of 195£0/. retorted gold from 500 tons of ;tione. The manager of the Champion sluicing claim washed down on Friday for a return, of 15oz 13dwt of gold. The Rockland's- Beach dredge obtained 240z lOdwt for 126 hours Inst week. The Central Mai aura directors are summoning shareholders to consider the question of winding up the company's affairs.

The secretary of the Chariton Creek Gold Dredging Company reports that the pontoons were refloated last Saturday, after having received a, thorough overhaul and replanting. The re-erection of the machinery is now being proceeded with as rapidly as possible.

The Electric Xo. 1 dredge has now reached a small Hand on the Bannoekbum side of the river, which will have to be dredged away, .-is it interferes with coaling. This will make some, dead work necessary, but so far the stuff from it has been failing away fairly well. At the end of last week there seemed to b" a flight improvement in the deep ground, and the wash looked uice, bnt the best gold was still on the Cromwell side of the river The Junction Electric Company's Xo. 1 dredge was troubled with drift last, week, and this week it is expected to be quite as bad, as the dredge is- Hearing the top of the rapid?, and the stuff comes away from the flat ground above. The rough grouud and the immense stones give a good deal of trouble, the buckets sometimes being thrown off the bottom tumbler. ,At other times the stones aie too large to gothrogh the hangers, and the dredge has to i-e dropped back and the engines reversed to get; rid of them. Prospects continue fair. The Xo. 2 dredge is on ground thst. varie? from 15ft to 25ft in depth. The deep ground has besn worked before, and any gold got there is very fine. Some of the shallow ground ha* not been worked before, and the gold got there is heavier, although prospects aro small. The total quantity of ore treated for i he twelve months ended May 31 at the Meant Morgan Mine, Queensland. w,w 237.161 torus, from which 1C6.11607 of gold was ehtairitd. In addition. 30.794 tons of tailings were retreated for 3.785f>/. of gold. The average grade of the ores was B.93dwt. This ii; an improvement on the first mi months of the year, for which the average was B.22dwt per ton. As compared with the previous year, the value of the or© declined 8s 6d per ton. Copper matte weighing 157 tons was also produced. The approximate contents are stated at 1,7940z of gold and 75 ton? of copper. Dividends totalling £150,000 were paid during the year. The general manager (Mr G. A. Richard), in his report on the auriferous copper ore discovered at the 750 ft level, states that it is a continuation of the main ore body, and differs from the mundic ore higher up only in containing less gold and much more copper. The zone of payable ore is said to be very irregular in shape Borings show the existence of 1,045,600 tons of ore, of an approximate average assay of 3| per cent, copper and Bdwt of gold per ton, and 570,400 tons, worth about 3 per cent, copper and l£dwt 'of gold, be-

sides large quantities of material of the assay value of 2J per cent, copper and ljdwt per ton gold. The treatment of the auriferous copper ha* been given the closest attention by the management. Sufficient knowledge has been gained of the character and quantities of the ore, Mr Richards states, to warrant the erection of smeltiug and bessemerising plant, for dealing with the more suitable, ores. Work in connectkm> with the design ;ind construction of this plant is to be commenced this month. The directors say that it may be found necessary to raise funds for this work bv the issue of debentures. The lower grade of ore extracted from the open ait workings last year is accounted for by the stteam shovel and trains working over the best material. STOCKS AND SHARES. DtrnISDIN KXCHANOR. This morning's sales :—Bignell's No Town. 20/; New Fourteen-mile Beach, 18/9 p : New Roxburgh Jubilee (contribs), 12/6. Quotations: — Aldinga—-Sel 4'. Alexandra Lead—Sel 5/6. Alpine No. 2—Sel 27'. Bignell's No Town—Buv 19/6, sel 20/. Central Charlton—Buv ' 12'.' Charlton Creek—Sel 7/. Chicago—Buy 5 ■'. Electric—Sel 50'. First Chance—Buy 16/6. sel 17.3. New' Fourteen-mile.Beach—Buv 18'9 p; sel 19/6 p. * Golden Bed—Buv 9 •'9. sel 10/6. Golden Run—Sef 31/. Hartley and Riley—Buy 58.'. sel 61'. Junction Electric—Sel 5/3. Mosquito—Buy 11'6. New Alpine Consols—Buv 11/, sel 12'. New Bendigo—Buy 13.'9, sel 15;'. New Golden River—-Sel 11/. New Halfway House—Buy 4.'. New Roxburgh Jubilee—Paids, buv 29', se! 31/: contribs, buy 12/ p. Otago—Sel 24'. Riley's Beach—Sel 16/. Rising Sun—Sel 18'. Sailor's Bend—Sel 19,'. Sandy Point—Sel 25/6. Tuapeka—Buy 6d. Waikaka Queen —Bnv B', sel 10/. National Bank—Buv'94 6. sel 98/. Bank of New Zealand—Buv 99.'. Union Bank—Buy £45. National Insurance—Buv 21,6. > Standard Insurance—Buv 18/6. sel 18.9. West]wrt Coal—Buv £7" 1/6, sel £7 2/6. X.Z. Drugs (40/ paid)— Buy 45/, sel 45/6. STOCK EXCHANGE NOTES. River height. 3ft 6in ; weather cold. Speaking comparatively, the market presented quite a spmblancp of activity this morning. The. river has now fallen to a height which renders work possible on all the gorge dredges, and on the whole the prospects for investors arc much more rosylooking. Bignell's No Towns have been the object of considerable attention this week, a sale being brought ot? yesterdav at 19/6. This morning, again, buvers were inquiring for them, the result iieing the recovery of share values to paT once more, j A buyer was asking for Central Charltons, j but there was no response from sellers. The market in First Chances was slightlv firmer, and fairly general inquiry on the part of buyers was noticeable. Last week's return m Fourteen-mile Beaches has had a marked effect upon buyers' quotes for thatstock, much longer prices ruline. A transaction was put through to-dav'at 18/3 p.. with more in request. Hartlevs were firmer, buyers' offers having been'on the up-grade during the week, and the contributing stock of New Roxburgh Jubilees again drew attention, a sale resulting at 12/6 p. In investment stocks, a. buyer was askmg for Union Banks, but the inquiry did not elicit any response. A shilling market W ;is established in Westport. Coals with, however, no transaction following! Other stocks remain much at the same level as b'.-for..-.