MINING NOTES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 1039, 2 November 1889, Page 3

MINING NOTES.

We are indebted to |Mr;"-Uicksori,neg : al manage? of the companies namta, for the following - information supplied by the mine pianagers and otherwise GOLDE.N" GULLY CO., SKKTB-VTINK. The battery is in .full swing, crushing well and the tables looking very well. It is intended to continue crushing- as long as the water supply will holdout, but owing to the exceptionally dry weather operations are likely to be impeded uuless hiin couies soon. C« tile other hand, at the time of writing th?re is every indi-. catioa of a heavy fail of snow or rain within tiie next few days; This company intend as soon as the present crushing is completed, and during the dry season approaching, to remove the battery from its present site to one in Long Valley immediately below the tunnel mouth, and to erect reservoirs for the storage of the water for crushii g purposes, to Jiil which it has purchased from Messrs I)arli;igton and A'lea a water, right which will command the whole site and in favorable seasons bring in a constant and sufficient, supply of water.. The stone now being crushed is very good, gold being visible fully throughout it., and the result of the crushing should be a very satisfactory return. VICTORIA CO., XEXTIIOIO?. The working shaft has been sunk to a depth of 64 feet, the reef at the bottom being fully IS inches thick, carrying quite-as good prospects as anywhere else in the mine. The mine manager has commenced to stope out stone at a depth of 44 feet from the surface, leaving 10ft. of a well, and has driven in for the stope a distance of 15 feet» The shaft from which the trial crushing was taken has been bail»Ml, cleaned out and sunklC feet deeper, making it 41ft deep in all, and at the bottom the reef is 21 inches in thickness earning good gold. The mine manager estimates the average width of the reef in this shaft as two feet from'top to bottom, and says that it carries good prospects for the entire distance. There are between SO and 90 tons of stone at grass, the bulk of which has come from the shafts alone. The machinery ordered by this company for the conjoint use of itself, the Consolidated and Break o T Bay Companies, is now being carted to the batterv site. It consists of one rock breaker, two Challenge ore feeders, Reliance scamper battery (10 heads), two Krue vanners, two grinding and amalgamating pans and settler. Besides these a 33 h.p. Westinghouse engine and a suitable boiler have been ordered, a,id will be on the ground in time to supply power wlieu the rest of the plant is erected. Mr. W. Petersen, the mechanical engineer who accompanied the plantfrOm San Francisco to erect aud run it, is now at 2(enthorn busily engaged in preparing the site to receive the plant, aud its erection will .by him be pushed on as rapidly as possible. Mr. Petersen brings the' highest credentials with him, and appears to be a most competent, painstaking and even enthusiastic man in his profession.

(From Otm Nexthorn Correspondent. Settling- down steadily to work is the order of things at Nenthorn just now. Specimen showing: and the sound of the mortar seem to have given way to the steady look of purpose and the stained clothes of the practical miner, whose efforts cau alone tell the real value of the field. Nenthorn is fortunate in the fact of being late in date compared with the Carriok, Bendigo Gully, Macetown and Skippers districts. The 'prentice hands of managers and men who were trained on the above mentioned fields, and who have obtained a respectable expertness at the expense of previous efforts, will be found really serviceable here ; and if directorates and managers will take advantage of the improved rii&chinery which skill and science has placed at their disposal, there can be little doubt butthat Central Otago will get a most effective trial during the coming decade, for it will take about ten years to give a field like Nenthorn a fair trial on the surface alone. . A new battery called the Reliance Stamper Battery is reported at Nenthorn, the one already mentioned as coining from San Franeisco for the Consolidated, Break o' Day.and Victoria claims, and no doubt it will soon augment the music of the mill at Nenthorn. Water seems to be the great want of this place, and I would take this opportunity to point out td Nenthorn residents that as far as domestic wants are concerned, they have the matter entirely iu their own hands as the Croesus Company bail enough to supply all the town with drinking water ; and this proves t>eyond a doubt that the hill on which the Crcß3us shaft is sunk, and which is higher than most parts of Nenthorn township, coutaius a good supply of the much-needed element which needs tut the boring' rods and wind mill pumps to make it available for use in the township ; whilst it is just possible the rods would show the pumps to be unnecessary. Messrs Malone and Burinan's hew hall for general public purposes draws near completion, and is certainly a credit to all concerned. ,It is certain to be in great demand as soon as it is finished. Music and the drama seem equally anxious with the Warden aud the gentlemen of the long robe to patronise the accommodation which its spacious chambers afford, and which points direct to an energy which far exceeds anything ever experienced on a goldfields rush iu Otago before the opening of Nenthorn. Notwithstanding the fact that proved claims are in full swing here, the indefatigable prospector is work* imrovrr a large extent of country between Macraes and Silver Peaks* Splendid prospects are being r ot in No, 2 reef in the Zealandia Co.'s claim* In No. 1 the shaft is 62 feet deep t and they have driven 30 feet on the fifty feet level on a 3-foot reef. The Croesus Company washed up on Monday, 130 tons of quartz having been reduced during the mo»-th. The result was lS2oz. of retorted gold- equal to a return of a shade less than of gold per to.i. Crushing has been resumed. The trial crushing of stoue from the Golden Chariot quartzclaim, reduced atMessrsKincaid and M'Queen's battery, .Dunedin. yielded two ounces three penny* wei hts to the tou—a most satisfactory and en* couraJng return.