MINING NOTES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 37, Issue 9615, 20 December 1907, Page 1

MINING NOTES.

(By Director.) DEEP SINKING. '. The application for tenders resulted in, three being received for the sinking F. Caspar, Hyde, 14s 6d per foot for the first 100 ft and LI per foot oyer that depth ; John Charlton and Co., Alexandra, 15s per foot up to 100 ft and LI per foot for the next 50ft; G. Stephens, Naseby, 22s 6d per foot all throuah. The tender of Stephens was accepted. The minutes do not explain why.the highest tender was accepted, but it seems somewhat unbusinesslike in such a vnt ure that if the other tenderers were capable men the committee should deem it advisable to pay LI 68 15< for sinking the J 50ft when they had the option of tenders amounting to L 125 and L 122 lUs. However, such was their decision. ' The tenderers for the supply of timbers werh Langmaak and Mitchell and G. Stephens, both of Naseby. In this instance the lowest tender—that of Stepens was accepted. It was decided to use red pine in timbering the shaft. Mr Ash resigned from the committee owing to his intended departure from Na-seby and Mr G. A. Wilson (Bank N.Z.) was appointed to the vacancy and also secretary and treasurer. The first letter in The Chronicle on the subject of deep sinking appeared after the acceptance of the tenders, when Mr Caspar wrote asking why his tender had not been accepted. An editorial footnote stated that: 'No doubt the committee had reasons for accepting Mr Stephens's tender. What they were, is of course, not made public." The sinking was begun about the middle of March, 1882. The contractor proceeded with his work in a leisurely fashion. Only one man —Mr K. Moore, seu.—being employed at first. When the shaft got so deep that a windlass was necessary to hoist the dirt a Chinaman named Ah Sue was employed to work it. He had had a good deal of experience of shaft sinking in Victoria, and a very useful, careifuT man he proved to be. Later on two shifts were employed, which were increased to three when the watermade it necessary. The 6ix men were—R. Moore, Joseph Hore (an uncle of our well known citizen of that name), P. Paulson, J. Crawford, D. White and J. Lobb. At the depth of about 45ft the report published in the paper was : ' The prospectors are at present on what is known in mining phraseology as Maori bottom, intermixed with a very fair quantity of quartz. This bottom.in the minds of miners is but a precursor or indicator of the actual presence of gold in payable quantities. On Tuesday last a small quartz reef (or what may be termed such) was passed through. It was not exactly in, compact or hardened form, but slightly resembled quartz in a rotten or decom posed form. But very little water is making in the &ha.ft>. About six; buckets is the quantity drawn out every morning.' At the 135 ft level the result was summed up in the words...'.the. indica tions so far have uot been of "a very promising or unprouiisyig character' The nature of the ground was princi pally clay and sandstone. The shaft made about 40 gallons of water per clay, (To be Continued.)

Sydney cable : A large outcrop of stone has been discovered about 40 miles to'the south-west of Jervis Bay. The samples assayed yielded 40oz of silver to the ton, 50 per cent of lead, 33 per cent of zinc, and 17 per cent of copper.

(Mines Record). In the November issue of the Record appears a condensed but comprehensive report of the public meeting held recently at Naseby to discuss the question of deep sinking. The thanks of the local public is due to the editor for seconding their efforts to give publicity to the possibilities of our goldfields. A party of miners are making ready to start work in Pennyweight Gully, near Blackstone Hill. They have gone to an expense of £2OO for pipes to siphon the water acrost Pegleg Gully. The water will be supplied from the Blackstone Hill Race. A communication has been received from the St Bathans Miners' Associa tion with reference to the tenure on which the settlement blocks at Hill's Creek and Cambrians should be granted, and statin" that a considerable amount of mining has been carried on there and a large quantity of gold ob tained, and if worked with modern ap pliances large areas would still yield good returns. The President of the Association has been informed that the blocks of land referred to were dis posed of on lease in perpetuity under section 115 of "The Land Act, 1892," the prescribed tenure of which leaves the land practically free for mining operations under section 18 of "The Mining Act, 1905." The maximum value of any of the lands referred to is £1 per acre, so that any compensation the lessees may be entitled to for sur face, damage by mining would be a very small item. The return of mitiiug privileges for Naseby, registered by the Mining Re gistrar, for the month of October was : Number of extended and special claims granted, 4; area, 16a 2 roods 1 pole; annual rent ': -first year. -£,2 5s ; second year, £1 10s; third year, £6 15s. Number, of ordinary claims or tunnels granted, 1 ; number of water rights granted (including water races, tail races, dams, drainage areas, &c), 8 ; number of transfers, assignments, mortgages, or liens &c, granted or dis charged, 55.