MR G. F. ULRICH’S REPORT.

Lake County Press, Volume IV, Issue 206, 15 May 1875, Page 3

MR G. F. ULRICH’S REPORT.

We have received from the Government Printer, Mr Ulrich’s report on the auriferous quartz reefs and crushing machines of the Province of Otago, New Zealand, with remarks on anriferouh drifts and occurrences of copper pre, cinnabar, grey antimony and brown coal in different .parts of the Province, from which we make the following extracts - j > ' THE £EEFS OP ARROW AMD SKIPPER’S - : CREEK.The only reefs of this group ib coarse of being worked, and of which 1 was able to examine the workings, are 7 “Scat hberg’s " and the “ Kugget and Cornish,” Skipper’s Creek; stilt, from examination of the , outcrops. of some reefs at Arrow, and information rpceivedabout the character of a number of others once' worked,, but since abandoned,-in both districts, 1 was enabled to form the following opinion on the general character of the group;— These reefs are true massive lodes, ranging from 4 to 20 feel in thickni ss, which cub through the country-both in strike and dip—toe lutter being generally steep—and show more or Well, defined walls, with clay casings ; a number are traceable for long distances—Seine for miles—in strike. In point ot composition and structure they approach, .however,' far more mullock reels than true quartz reefs —they represent, in fact,' fissures partly filled with debris from the' country, full of interiarainated quartz, i partly occupied by bunches and veins, of variable size, of true reef quartz. 'lhe mullock seems in the larger reels to be generally predominating, and forms in 'places where their width very much increases by far the greater part of their mass—in fact, experience tends to prove that the thicker a reef is, or’the wider it becomes, the there mullock it contains, whilst ou the contrary, decreasing thickness is connected with a relative increase in quattz. aud the reefs bee c e also better d,tined.<. ; Although none of the reefs at Skipper’s Creek have ss vet been opened below permanent water level. arc already highly charged—both quartz and mullock—with pyrites, -'diich seiiously interfere with the smSafactory saving of. the, generally fine gold during crushing. : fhis led the Phoenix Company, after Mr F. Evans, the manager, had proved thefpayably auriferous character of theore as such, to erect in connection with their crushing mill the necessary works for extracting the gold from the large quantity of it saved oh long blanket strakes. i .>

Under the head “ Reefs and Companies of Arrow,” Mr Ulrich refers to the old Criterion Company’s Reef, and says that considering all the different points relating to the auriferous'character of the reef, the workings, management, &c., in connection, he cannot help coming to the conclusion that the reef certainly deserves another trial, and that this, if effected m an economic and systematic.manner, and with the use of good crushing machinery, might likely prove a very profitable speculation. Ot the Arrow Flat, Deep Lead Company he says—A Victorian plan in such cases of emergency might also deserve consideration, viz.*, to sink a good shaft in the rock-near outside the water-bearing driftbed, drive from this.« toCk-level underneath and in the course, of the lead, and to open and work the latter by means of rises from it. The putting down of a number of bore-holes, for the purpose of ascertaining the depth and trend of the lead, would of course be a necessary preliminary Of the Sons of Fortune G. M Co., be speaks well, and says there is no doubt ot rich, wasbdirt existing at the bottom of the valley above the landslip.