VICTORIAN MINING INTELLIGENCE.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 14, 17 June 1863, Page 3

VICTORIAN MINING INTELLIGENCE.

(From the Argus) Further experience of the Majorca leads, or deposits, only proves the ground to be extremely patchy, though some parts of it will ray well. Thus the yield of the claims down exclusive, of course, of the duffers, is estimated at from a quarter of an ounce up to two or three ounces to the load; the higher yields being, however, mostly in anticipation. The best return announced from any large quantity of stuff actually washea out was rather more than an ounce to the load, and the yield from sixty loads out of one of the claims commonly spoken of as good ones was only twelve pennyweights to the load; leaving, however, some tailings to be crushed which would make the average a little better. In some places the sinking is easy, but in others water is troublesome, or else stone or very hard cement has to be passed through. On the whole, the miners are said to be in good spirits, and work is proceeding briskly, with the certainty of some months' profitable employment for those fortunate enough to strike on the gold. There is now little or no doubt that the workings will extend to the old Gibraltar Lead, in which case some, at least, of the claims in that direction are likely to be good. A portion of the gold obtained already is in pieces of some pennyweights each, and it will be remembered that several nuggets of a fair size were found formerly in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar. Nothing fresh has occurred at Mount Greenock, except that a strong opposition to the granting of any more leases there is springing up, in consequence of the lead turning out to be so rich and so well calculated to pay small parties. The Rocky Flat Lead continues to pay well, and there is again almost a certainty of its only running under a corner of the paddock of private land, and thence into the Crown land beyond. The last returns obtained from the freshly-opened part of the Fighting Woman's Lead were poor; but the stuff since raised looks better, and the holders of the claim may not be altogether disappointed. A small rush has set in to a flat near the Slaughter-yard, Amherst, where a fair prospect was obtained in twelve feet sinking, but the deposit is not supposed to be of any extent. There was a report a few days since of some prospectors having struck on a rich deposit between the reservoir and Quarterman's station, but the spot could not be found at the time, and the discovery has not yet been confirmed. Topazes appear to be tolerably plentiful at Mount Greenock, as more have been found since that one about which there was so much squabbling: but these are declared to be almost valueless, as all are more or less flawed.

The Lamplough rush promises well so far, as the lead has been struck below the prospectors' ground, and there is every probability now of its being traced for a good distance farther. In that claim the run of gold is from thirty to forty feet wide, and promises to give from three quarters to an ounce to the load. It is reached at a depth of about 70 feet on a dry ledge, and in the deeper and wet ground beside this no gold is to be found.

We were promised a good yield from the last lot of stone crushed from the prospectors' claim on the Jersey Reef, Inglewood, and this, 470 tons, has produced 1,683 oz. 15dwt. A lot of 200 tons from one of the claims on Maxwell's Reef is now going through the mill, and is expected to average nearly four ounces to the ton. A lot of 100 tons from the next claim lately produced 200 oz., and a parcel of 140 tons from th? March Reef the same quantity. From the prospectors' claim on the Leicester Reef, three smaller lots of stone yielded severally 12 tons 50 ounces, 11 tons 49 ozs. 11 dwt.,and 31 tons 82 ozs. A lot of 14 tons from the next claim produced 34 oz. 18 dwt., and 11 tons from a claim on the Columbian Reef, 65 ozs. 3 dwt. A very rich vein was struck in one of the claims on the Morning Star, and the reefers generally in this district are for the most part in a highly prosperous condition. A new lead is supposed to have been discovered in Nuggety Gully, near Mitchell's Reef, in the Ararat district. The sinking is only 24 feet, and the yield from the part struck by the prospectors was at the rate of 12 pennyweights to the load. A new reef has also been opened at Armstrong's. It runs from two to four feet in thickness, with good sized pieces of gold to be seen here and there in the stone throughout, and it has been already reached in four or fire claims. Nothing remarkable was done by any of the companies last week. A few people are still doing well at the Great Western Diggings, in the old ground, which was supposed to have been worked out long since. The best of the yields lately reported from the M'lvor district was 200 ozs. from 30 tons of stone crushed at the new mill at Stewarton. The miners on the Costerfield reefs are working with spirit, but no large yields are reported from them. The puddlers are still busy, and in the Heathcote gullies they are turning over a large extent of ground which they had to run away from in the summer. The improvement in the Bendigo district still continues, and there is some prospect of the rush to the Whipstick proving to be of more importance than was anticipated. The reef first taken up promises well, and a number c? men are sinking in the very likelylooking flat adjoining, where the fully expect to come upon a lead. This newlyoccupied spot is in the vicinity of Myer's Creek. A few days since a nugget, weighing 28 oz. 19 dwt., was found in Napoleon Gully, at the opposite side of the flat to which the Five-Mile Flat rush set in not long ago. Some of the claims on this are paying well, and the reefs give indications of being more than commonly rich. Amongst the late good yields from the older reefs was one of ninety ounces from twelve tons out of the Lawrence Reef Company's claim. Of the Forest Creek reefs, the Vineyard Reef is still the best, and a lot of twenty-four tons from one of the claims in it yielded ninetyfour ounces last week. A lot of twenty-five tons from the Argus Hill Reef produced thirty-four ounces, and a very rich vein has just been struck in a new claim on this as well as in one of the old ones. Otherwise, there has been little done in the reefs in this part of the district. The engine on the White Horse Gully Reef is about to be removed, so work on it is at an end. In the Campbell's Creek division the reefing interest continues in a most depressed state, the late yields having all been extremely low. A rich lead of cement has, however, been opened at Pennyweight, and a new reef at the Baldhill, Barker's Creek, on which several claims have been taken up. Every day the Blue Mountain diggings are assuming a more permanent character. Four reefs have been already opened, and all are said to promise remarkably well. Some of the specimens taken from near the surface were very rich, containing, on being broken up, several ounces of gold, and a crushing-mil is to be erected at once- The population is fast increasing, and so easy is it to make a living that none but the most industrious work more than half the week, idling away the remainder. A new and valuable reef is said to have been discovered a few days since near the reservoir at Daylesford, but the exact situation was not announced at the time. A lot of thirteeen tons of stone lately raised from a depth of 175 ft., in Adams' Reef, produced 200oz. The Nelson Company, at Ballarat, paid a dividend of £3O last week, for the fortnight, and the Koh-i-noor Company £25 a share for the same period. The small rush at Spring Creek, which was at first supposed to be a failure, is now likely to eventuate in the opening of a new lead, two of the parties remaining having succeeded in reaching a gutter that pays them well. The only news from the Gipps Land diggings is about the finding of new reefs, and as one lot of crushing machinery has reached Donnelly's Creek, some at least of these are likely to be shortly tested.