GOLDMINING

Grey River Argus, 18 April 1936, Page 12

GOLDMINING

BIG RIVER MINES. ANNUAL REPORTS. The Directors’ report for the aunu.il meeting of Big River Gold Mmes. Ltd-, on May 6, states that during the year ended December 31 last, there were 2172 ions of ore mined and crushed, mliich. yielded £17,104 19s 7d, and in addition there were paid £1484 2s lid gold duty, £232 19. s 6d realisation expenses, and £206 2s Id freight and conceniiating costs. The gross v.'aaue of production was £19,028 -Is Id. There- was £2,126 16s 7d expended on repairs and maintonance. There was a credit, of £5,847 2s 4d on the year’s operations. Bank credit balances! plus investments and cyanide slock amount tn £9,754 Is 3d, while £l3 19s 6d is owing to the Mines Depai Intent. The Company has £5OOO cash on loan, £2500 fixed deposits credit in current account of £1995, and gold stocks oi £2 309. The Directors also remark: •‘Now th'at the end of our difficulties over the restoration of working conditions in the main shaft is in sight, the Directors are confident that tin’ future of the mine -will develop satisfactorily and profitably for the shareholders. During the past year, the ore channel which was loeu.ted. in virgin country in No. 4 Level. 311 feet south-east of the main shaft, was further developed by three winzes sunk on three blocks of ore whom were driven on in that' level. These winzes are known as the south winze, the centre winze and the and they reached depths from 53 feel to 59 feet, all on reef carrying payable values. When No. 5 Level is ready fur mining operations, a crosscut will be driven out east Horn the main shaft to intercept the downward continuation of these blocks in me new ore channel. A total distance oi approximately 230 feet will requite to’ be drive into intercept the line ol lode. No. 5 Level is vertically 11/ feet below No. 4 Level, and therefore this height will be available tor stoping operations,, plus any additional height gained through the underlay of the lode east, which should provide several years’ full time crushing operations on payable ore. l u the fast annual report, the reconditioning and re-opening of the main shaft from No - 4 Duvet to No. 5 Level were referred re, and shareholders were advised this this work was causing a great deal of worry, o’>ving to the walls of the shaft just below No 4 Level having caved considerably, which made the problem of re-timbering the shaft oue of consulerable difficulty aud expense. During the year under review; this problem became more difficult than anticipated. It wias found necessary to fin m the whole of the shaft from a point 70 feet' below No. 4 Level right up to this level and. then re-sink the shaft down through the filled-m ground, which was •arefully limbered as work was carried on. The caved ground was filled in at the same time. After! this was- done, considerable settling of the filled in ground took place, which pulled the shaft timbers out of plumb and altered the position of the squares of the shaft. As a result, this work had to be done all over again,', and the new timbers had to be taken out and put back into their correct positions. Also, the caving in the shaft affected the ground directly under No. 4 Chamber, and considerable difficulty .was experienced in restoring -this chamber to safe w<»n]riqg order. During the year, only a Iraii'ied amount of general mining work in the mine could be cariied on. The mine worked two shifts, but one shift of eitrht hours wias solely reserved fort main shaft repairs. Later, the time given to these repairs was increased t'o twelve hours per day; which left only four hours for general mining work. This necessarily .oped operations in the mine, and very mueli hampered progress. However, when work wa.s resumed in the New Year, it was decided to suspend all work' in the mine, and confine operations to main shaft repairs,, and this work has since then been carried on continuously for the’ full twentyfour hours. We are now pleased to report that No. 4 Chamber has been in first class working order, also the main shaft from No. 4 Level to No. 5 Level has been placed in good order ■ ready for winding operations from our lowest objective, namely No. 5 Level. No. 5 Level Chamber has also been re timbered, land made ready for work. A further 20 feet of the main shaft .below No. 2 Level has been fitted with new timbers, replacing decayed timbers. No. 2 Level Chamber has been renewed., and there yet remains about 40 feet above No. 2 Level to complete .the repairs in the maiin shaft-. No difficulty will be experienced in this section, because no caving of the ground has taken place,” ‘ Mr F. Clifford Culvert’s report stales: No. 4 Level—With the exception of a- crosscut north from the «>>'- workings which was driven for 1feet wilthout cutting anything of importance, the whole of the development work and extraction of stone has been confined to the new make mentioned in the laslt annual report as having, been cut at a distance ot 311 feet south-east from the main shaft. The accompanying skeleton map will help shareholders to appreciate the significance of this new block of stone. As far as can be seen from .the two levels already opened up (Nos" 3 aud 4) the dip of this . new block is practically parallel to the line of No. 2 Adit Level, or the same as the previously worked block. Of all the old levels,. No. 9 was the only one which penetrated into the country south of No. 2 Adit Level, and as one of the Jute Mr Brett s plans shows stone at .the extreme south end. of No. 9 Level, it is possible that this is the same block. 'The plan also shows the location of Cosgrove ’s Block, from which 190 tons of high grade stone was won in 1914. The North Drive was extended 98 feet along reef track with stone up to 6 feet wide in places. The South Drive was lengthened 112 feet in reef track. A rise 25- feet north of shaft crosscut was put up on stone which was 4 feet wide at the bottom). and narrowed iu to 1 foot, at 57 feet' up. This holed through to winze from No. 3 at 71 fedt up. A further rise at the .end'of North Drive went up to 16 feet ou reef 4 feet wide. The reef in this rise should be cut by extending the No. 4 Level further .noijth, Three winzes have been sunk below No. 4 Level. North winze (140 feet north of shlaft crosscut) is down to 554 feet, land carried a full face of stone fori almost all of the first -10 feet. The stone then narrowed in to 2 fdet and at the bottom is still visible; in the south lend of the winze. Centre winze (35 feet north of shaft crosscut) is down to 53 feet, and carried an average of 3 feet ot' stone for the first 40 feet. Reef showed all the way to the bottom, though the last 5 fc'et was a bit bUOKen up. South

winze (50 feet south of shall crosscut) was 'Sunk to 59 feet on a full face of stone. Stoping was carried out in three blocks above No. 4 Level, each of an laverage length ol: 10 feet on stone from 3 feet to -8 feet wido. The battery crushed 2472 tons of ore for ra. yield of 23230 z sdwts, of which 19390;z 154dwts obtained by amalgamation and 2350 z lOjdw.ts by cyanidation and 1470 z 19dnvts bv treatment o±\concentrates, the net value of the whole being £17,104 19s 7d. PROSPECTING WORK. The sixteen men engaged on the Unemployment Board’s subsidy prospecting scheme l at Mosquito Greek, have driven the No. 2 tunnel «32 feet, and it is expected that a. connection with the No. 1 shaft will soon be made. It is then proposed to open up numerous eross-eut tunnels, iu gold bearing wash, which has already been encountered in the main tunnel, and the area- will be blocked out among the individual members of the party engaged on the extensive preliminary work.