MINERAL EXPORTS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXI, Issue 31, 12 April 1862, Page 2

MINERAL EXPORTS.

The most noticeable local occurrences of the past month, are the shipments which have been made of our minerals. The completion of the Dun Mountain Eailway has enabled the Company to get down to the port, within the last few weeks, considerable quantities of chrome ore, and after shipping 30 tons by the Sir George Pollock for England direct, and 147 tons by the Fayaway for Sydney, they have, within the last three weeks put 400 tons on board the Queen of India. In addition to her freight of chrome, the Queen of India will also take home 50 tons of copper ore from the Dun Mountain, and she goes in a few days to Port Underwood to fill up with wool. The copper ore now about to be shipped to London, will confute the opinion which some persons had formed, that no good lode of copper was likely to be found in the neighbourhood of the Dun Mountain, as the ore about to be adopted is rich in quality, and the lode promises to yield largely. In Aniseed-valley, Waimea-east, the prospects of chrome and copper mining are also good. 'Several tons of chrome have already been got out there, and a ton of very fine grey copper ore, from the same locality, is intended to be shipped to Sydney by the Prince Alfred this day. Here then is a trade begun, which we are likely to see rapidly increase for the Dun Mountain Company can now, by the aid of their railway, supply any demand that may arise for chrome ore, and we shall expect to see copper mining rapidly advance, and copper ore become one our great staple exports. The prospect of a large coal trade for us is also encouraging. The Superintendent and party, who have been absent for several weeks on a visit to the West Coast, returned on Thursday evening last, and the accounts they have brought of the quality of the coal at the Buller, and the extent of the seam, show'it to be more valuable than that at the Grey, while it has the advantage of being much nearer to us, and the river more accessible. We hope we shall have an official account of his Honour's journey. Then, nearer home, a tramway is about to be laid between the mine at Pakawau and the harbour, which will enable coal to be shipped to Nelson at a moderate cost ; and the vessel that has taken over to Pakawau the plant for the tramway, is to return with five tons of plumbago, which will serve as a -sufficient sample of that mineral. Lastly, there is our gold export, which, though not what it ought to be, ia still sufficient to give encouragement for continued hope that Nelson will yet afford profitable employment to a large body of diggers. By the Sir George Pollock, which sailed on the 16th of last month, 4,765 ounces were shipped to London, and 500 ounces go by the Prince Alfred to Sydney to-day, and 500 ounces still remain in the Banks. At the Waimangaroa and the Buller, on the West Coast, several small parties of diggers are doing well, and the belief is strong in those who can best judge, that a very rich field exists there, although not yet discovered ; but in a country so densely wooded, it is not to be wondered at

if the first parties of diggers who prospect, fail to discover the rich treasures they go in search of. We have heard also of rich claims lately found in the neighbourhood of the Batten, in the Wangapeka district ; so that, altogether, though our gold-fields have not as yet done any great thing for us, we have the satisfaction of knowing that they are progressing silently, and that in the course of the year they yield a handsome amount of gold.