TEE GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5493, 25 June 1879, Page 5

TEE GOLDFIELDS.

Thames, Tuesday. Caledonian. — Number 2 level : In the drive on the No. 3 reef at this level, a break in the lode haa been met with, and consequently, in the present face there is no quartz showing. The country, however, is of a favourable character, and there is every prospect that the lode will be picked up again as the drive is pushed forward. From the slide to this break is a distance of abont 70 feet, and along the whole of this length, there is a fine healthy-looking lode, which is now being stoped out. The reef in these stopes varies in size considerably. In some parts it is fully three feet thick. On the whole, the stone has a most promising appearance, and contains excellent mineral indications. Small parcels of picked stone, showing strong dabs of the precious metal, are frequently obtained. Since the last crushing a hundred loads of general dirt from these stopes have been crushed at the Herald battery, and a cleaningup on Saturday last, produced the good yield of 1290z5. Sdwts. melted gold. The return is a most encouraging one, and if the quartz obtained from the lode above this level continues to yield at the same rate, the reef will prove a very valuable one to the company. Even on this level the lode is at present almost untouched, and it is impossible to say what the result of further development will b?. No. 3 level: On this level the lode has been intersected about 63 feet from the crosscut, which leads into the Old Golden Calf Company's workings. Since the lode was first cut, it has been driven on eastward towards the slide, about 12 feet. Here it is a fine compact body of «tone, fully four feet thick. The quartz contains excellent mineral indi. cations, and has a most promising appearance. Several tests by hand-mortar have given very good results. All who have seen the lode are unanimons in the opinion that it is the most likelylooking lode for gold that has yet been discovered on this level. Besides the main lode. ? small leader about four inches thick has been cut in the footwall. If anything, the qnartz in this leader has a better appearance tban the main lode, and some few stonea have been taken from it in which strong colours of the precious metal could ba seen. From the direction the leader is running at present, it is calculated it will strike into the main lode in the vicinity of the slide. None of the quartz from this level has been crushed as yet, but what haa been broken out will shortly be cruehed by itself, and will give a good t-st of what may be expected from the lode generally. Unfortunately, the water is close up to the floor of the level, and consequently further prospecting on the reef will be suspended very soon—in fact, the manager ia already making preparations for abandoning the level. Old Golden Calf.—The reef in this company's ground has been driven on some distance northward. Here it is not nearly so large as in the Caledonian Company's ground, but still the stone has a healthy appearance. The country is also of a very favourable character. In the present face the lode is about ten inches thick, but as it has only just been picked up beyond a small break, there is every prospect of its making larger again as the drive ia pushed forward. In the stopes above the level there is a good body of stone, and a considerable quantity of crushing dirt is being broken out. The works, however, on this level will very soon be flooded out, and preparations are consequently being made for abandoning it.