MINING NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume 57, Issue 10520, 24 August 1901, Page 4

MINING NEWS.

r ' "; . (o) Since the output of the White Cliffs opal mines is worth annually about LIOO,OOO they are of sufficient importance to the State to demand every : assistance and protection that it is possible to give them by legislation. The trouble at the White Cliffs arises ". from the fact that the large area of 300 . acres of opal producing ground is held ;■ by one company. The company does " not work this ' ground, but lets it to tributers, who contract to hand over all opal found to the company's representatives. He in turn agreed to pay 75 per cent, of the money obtained by the sale of the gems to the tributer. jg... But there is a large amount of opal that is sold in an illicit manner. Instead of the English company getting it, men known locally as " truckers," or "runners," who -are the agents of rich outside buyers, secure many valuable parcels. The recent commission of inquiry on the field recommends that the Goment should redeem the leases held by W the English company on payment of» LB4OO, and- then throw the land open ...for mining in small areas unders miners' LN^ghts of leases. 7^ The richest gold mine ever owned Hk/ one man," says a writer in : the r| estern (Kalgoolie) " Argus," "is V . .luated about 20 miles north-west from ■ Mount Malcom townsidet, and is owned r/by FredMerton." Mr Merton, who L may be described as a very busy man, ■ Manages every branch of his mine. He F/has no directors, managers, underfe: ground boss, assayer, accountant, timekeeper, or clerks. His 20 heads of \, stampers are kept continually going on ; good golden stone. The returns from i day to day are amassing a large fortune for Mr Merton, who pays good wages, and has only a limited number of men, about' 1 50 hands all told. The -whole hill which is being worked on the open- : cut system, is impregnated with gold. . Another . 10-head battery is being put !;- up, and these will soon^be increased to >: *~ 50 head. Six years ago Mr Merton ? found the place, when he had not y enough money to pay the rent of the 1. mining lease, . and had' to work on a t "protection". Since then everything ?■ has turned out .well for him. In the course of a recent chat ,be* tween a representative of the "British Australasian" and Mr Zebnia Lane, the following opinions by the . mining expert and authority were uttered. Asked what he called the five leading mines of Westralia, he: said : "The Great Boulder, -the Perseverance, this Golden Horseshoe, the Ivanhoe, and the Lake View Consols," The, Great Boulder maintains her positiqn- as-, the leading mine on^thfe P field. :%th.J-he - Perseveranceiind Boulder plah^^te Wining very smoothly, and doing ve%.

good work. The new fin-i-at the Perseverance at the 300ft level adds greatly to its value, as the lode is 8f j wide, and goes, I according to assay, ' over Buz of gold to the ton. Mr Lane was asked if his faith in the Murchison district was.as strong as ever, and he replied : "Quite. I visited all the principal mines, including the Great Fingal, and you know bow well thai is turning out. It is a splendid property. A number of mines are being opened up now that more c-pital has been introduced, with the result that Cue is tun. ing out mre gold to-day than it ever did before."