MINING.

Evening Star, Issue 14117, 21 July 1909, Page 6

MINING.

River height this morning, 7ft 4in; steady rain during night. " Onr Own" wires from Cromwell that the Rising Sun dredge is undergoing the yearly overhaul, which will take about a fortnight. During the past week the Electric No. 1 diedge-rmister has had a good run, having treated a large quantity of stuff. The dredge worked 134 hours for 33ft ahead, the cut being about 93ft wide. The sample of gold is of a mixed scaly nature. The bottom, is. of pipeclay and "pug" and reddish clay. Prospects are moderate but patchy, and at the time of writing (the 19th) the master reports them as fair. The secretary (Mr G. A. Harlow) has since received a wire that the river is high, but receding. The No. 2 Electric dredge bii6 worked for 196 hours (127 hours on tho bottom) since July 6. The dredge worked ahead 12ft, the width of the cut being about 150 ft ami the dredging depth 42ft. A full three-quarters ot the gold being won is coarse. An extra wash-up on Friday morning yielded 20oz. Tho best gold is won close in to the Barcnockburn side, and the ground there is very rough. In his weekly report, dated 19th inst., the master of the Electric No. 2 dredge states th;ii tho Keystone borer arrived at the claim on Friday afternoon, a start being made on Saturday morning to got the parts on'board to erect the machine on the dredge. Everything is going well, and it is expected that the machine will be fixed up ready to commence lx>ring on Wednesday morning (meaning to-day). An Auckland P.A. wire states that the first call on the Stock Exchange included sales as follow :—Mav Queen, 5s to 5s 8d : Waiofcahi. 9s and 8s lid : Talisman, 57s 6d; Waihi, 186s; Waihi Consolidated, 5s 3d : Grand Junction, 49s 3d and 49s 9d. A return of 80oz for 108 hours' work is reported from the Paracale dredge. Patereon's Freehold No. 2 dredire-master advises a return of 2Coz for 133 hours' work.

The Mast-crton dredge had a fair run last weok. The mantCT reports no change in the nature of the ground. The Mystery Flat dredge worked the full width of the rut hurt-' week. In the e:;storn feetion, which is about three chains wide, the ground wae poor, and the stripping about 14ft deep. • The western section, of about 12 chains, was fairly good, and there were indications of ah improvement. The bottom wae mainly of red clay. The Sailor's Bend dredge-marter wired yesterday that he bottomed or Monday night, and found the prospects good, but the river went up, forcing the dredge to stop._ There is reason to believe that the rise is only a temporary one, as the level of the lake has not been affected. The master of the. South Waikaia dredge reports that he had a very good run last week. The bottom was of red clay, and the wash was a little heavier. On' Saturday all the lines wore shifted, to enable them to dredge out into the flat along the bottom of the Waikaia boundary.

The following weekly report has come to hand from the Waikaia dredge :—" The face is now 80yds from the top of the block. There is no marked difference to report in the width or character of the wash, which is fairly patchy. The last returns seemed to indicate an improvement taking place, but at time of writing the whole face is drifty again." The secretary of the Nokomai Hydraulic Sluicing Company reports that eiuicing was resumed on the 17th. but the water is slack. Indications are that more water will be available soon, as there was a good thaw last Saturday. The work at No. 2 is progressing well, as the weather is favorable for relaying the main line. Work has been delayed for want of the pipes for the syphon." the frost interfering with the carting. The men from No. 3 aro at work on the No. 2 race.

A combined deputation of members representing mining districts will wait upon the Hon. R. M'Konzie. Minister of Mines, at Wellington this week to urge that the water power regulations be amended. The Hon. A. R. Gninnees and Messrs Colvin and Seddon, M.P.s.. will represent the West Coast at the depnta.tion. and Mr W. H. Hcxries, M.P., will speak on behalf of the Northern goldfields. THE SHARE MARKET. DUNEDIN EXCHANGE. Quotations : Alexandra Enreka—Sel 3/. Electric—Buy 4/9. sel 5/. Golden Bed—Buy 9/6. Island Block—Sel 2/6. Lady Roxburgh (paid}—Sel 5'6. Mann herikia—Sel 12/. Muddv Creek—Buv 37/6. No Town Creek—Sel 12/. Otago—Sel 20/. Pat-tolas—Sel 8/6. Sailor's Bend—Sel 10/. Barewood— Buy 10/, sel 14/. Kiimnui Caledonian—Buy 2/3, sel 2/4; sale 2/3. May Queen—Buy 5/6, sel 5./7 L Talisman Consolidated—Buv 56/3 sel 56/9. Tairua Broken Hill—Sel 2/4. Waihi Consolidated—Buy 5/, sel 5,2. Waihi Extended—Buy 6/7. sel 6/IT. Waihi Grand Junction—Buy 48/9, sel 49/. _ J / « Waihi Grand Junction (options)—Buv 23/. sel 24/. Waiotahi—Buv 8/9. sel 9/; sales 8/6 and 8/9. Consolidated Goldfields—Buy 19/3 sel 20/. New Saxon (ex rights)— Buy 2/1, sel 2/6. Westport Coal Co.—Buy 128/, sel 139/. West port Stockton—Buy 5/9, sel 7/. Mil burn Lime and Cement (£l)—Sel 27/ N.Z. Drug Co., Ltd. (£2)—Sel 47/. Union Steam Ship Co.—Sel 34/6. Shaiiand and Co. (ord.l—Buv 20/6. Sharland and Co. (pref.)—Buy 21/. 1).1.C. (pref.)—Buy 21/6. N.Z. Paper Mills Iflel 22/6. Dunedin Stock Exchange Proprietary Buy 15/6. THE OREPUKI DISCOVERIES. EXCITEMENT PREVAILING. Excitement is at fever heat at Orepuki, and everyone ie talking black eand, platinum, and gold, owing to the discovery by a party of prospectors of a lode carrying platinum in great quantities, so much so that the smelting expert Baid that if there was any grea.t iiuantity there would be a fortune in it. In the "words of the expert, Orepuki is inundated with platinum—at least it k said to be. On top of all the other disooverias cornea news of the finding by an Invercargiil syndicate of a coal Ream near the same locality containing the best coal this side of Westport.

Last night the correspondorit advised as follows :—" This thing ha 6 fairly taken possession of a lot of onr most reliable men. From a few miles across the. Waiau, right up to Blneoliffs, the whole bea<;h for eight or ten milas is taken up. Men were coming into OTopuki last week, getting miners' rights, and going away on the long, dreary ride towards Blnocliffs, riding all night and waiting for daylight to peg off some of the beach. People hero are beginning to shake their heads and say that it is too good tn be true, and that they don't believe there is anything in the whole business. Meanwhile, °the works are being erected, and heavy machinery is being carted for them." THE LON'GWOOD DISCOVERY. [Special to the Star.] JNVERCARGILL. July 21. Things are moving quickly, though information is somewhat indefinite, in regard to the reported discovery of gold in the Longwood district, and a goodly number of local people have gone off to the spot. There is something in the nature of a small "rush" at present, and close on 200 persons have paid a visit to the place. Claims have been pegged off right and left, and for about a couple of miles on each side of the 150 acres pegged off by Messrs Love, Cullen, and Fryer, who are the cause of all the excitement. It is not definitely known by those outside the party what the formation of the ground is where the reported discovery was msde, but

rumor has it that it is a quartz reef, and not tho gravelly sand with the black seams which produced the fine pocket that waa responsible for the 1880 rush. Old hands are not too " keen" on the quartz problem, on account of the thousands of pounds that have been thrown away in it before in the 1880 boom. The central figure was Mr George Printz, who purchased the daun of Messrs Morgan and P. Hayes for £2,000. Mr Printz and his friends were so in view of the returns that Morgan and Hayes had got, one wash bringing out £5 for half a bucket, that the claim was floated into the Longwood Reefing Company, of 50,000 shares of £1 each, Mr Printz retaining 30,000 in called-np shares. The shares ran up to 13s per scrip, and kept on rising, one shareholder refusing to take £l2 per scrip, and they fully believed they had struck a veritable Bank of England. The machinery for attacking the reef arrived in February, 1880, but it was not until June that crushing commenced. In the meantime about a dozen other boys had commenced operations round about,. and everything centred in the Printz crushing. Rumors were industriously circulated that a return of 400oz or 500oz was the result of some 30 tons of stone, and the shareholders went wild with excitement Then came the denouement, and the disgust of the shareholders was pitiful when the return was only 470z for the 38 tons of stone treated. That was practically the end of the 1880 rush, and the Longwood operations ceased abruptly. "■ A rumor is also current that platinum has been fonnd in payable quantities, but there is nothing new in that story, because platinum has been fossicked for many years now, and several men have eked out an existence in a more or less successful search for that valuable substance. A platinnm miner brought some 15oz into town the other day, but it represented several months' work, and was not of the best quality. Pure platinum is, of course, much more valuable than gold, and is estimated to be worth up to £8 or £lO per oz, although in 1870 it was worth only 28s and in 1890 £4 per oz. Later. Additional particulars of tho gold rush to Longwood are to hand, and samples arrived from Love and party's claim to-day. '1 he reef consists of a formation of disintegrated q-.iartz. containing good prospects of /old and platinum. '"There is also a seam of what is believed to be pure hematite. The reef had been cut through for a water r-ue yea is ago, and passed, and was only discovered last week. The samples are highly thought of locallv.