THE MINISTER OF MINES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7921, 13 April 1887, Page 5

THE MINISTER OF MINES.

[BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENTS,] Te Aroha, Tuesday. Thk Minister of Mines arrived here yesterday evening, and to-day he visited the Waiorongomai mines, accompanied by Pro* ' fessor Brown, Messrs. Stratford, Gordon, Wilson, G. Praßer, and otber gentlemen. On his return to Te Aroha he was waited upon by deputations of the townspeople. The first eubjaot introduced had reference to the granting of a subsidy to form a good track from the township to the top of the mountain, and to conneot with the road from the Tui to the Waiorons;omai mines. Mr. Larnach said the Government would willingly assist in opening up new auriferous ground, and he would recommend that the £60 proposed to be expended on the road by the Piako County Council be subsidised by a similar amount. The next matter referred to wae the tenure on which township allotments are at present held. After hearing the representations of the deputation the Minister said he was quite satisfied that the conditions on which the township and other native lands adjoining were held was a serious drawback to the prosperity of the distriot. He would recommend that the townspeople and the native owners endeavour to agree upon some new basis of settlement, and he believed the Government would willingly aid in getting the matter arranged satisfactorily to both parties. A deputation from the Library Committee next had an interview with reference to the granting for library purposes of an unused building within the railway station reserve. Mr. Larnach took a favourable view of the application, and promised hie aosistance in having it granted. To-morrow the Minister and party will visit the property of Mr. J. B. Smith, at Waitoa, where gold has recently been found, and will likely depart for Auckland by rail on Thursday. . Paeroa, Tuesday. The Minister of Mines arrived at Paeroa on Sunday, accompanied by a number of Auckland gentlemen. He started off immediately for Waihi and Owharoa. At the latter place he was met by a deputation of miners, who were promised an additional subsidy of £150 for the extension of the Owharoa low level prospecting tunnel, which is already in over 1000 feet; a grant of £100 as compensation to the prospectors was also promised for work already done. While visiting Karangahake Mr. Larnach expressed himself very strongly as to the price charged by the Quartz Reduction Works Company for treating ores. He considered that the mines were simply working for Auckland capitalists. He should decline to recommend any further subsidies for the tramway, etc., until the soale of charges was considerably lowered. A meeting of miners has been called for Saturday evening to consider what scale to propose. When at the Thames Mr. Geo. Fraser and a number of gentlemen waited upon Mr. Larnach on the subject of obtaining some aid from Government towards the development of a prooess for extracting gold from our ores, which has been carried on for some months by Mr. Fraser in Auckland. This process is what is known as the pan process, dry crushing, chloridising, and roasting, to prepare the ore for the pane. Mr. Fraaer explained to Mr. Larnach the .results of aome experiments which had been made by this process, among others one with ore from the Union mine at Waihi. The result of the sale of the 17 tons in London, which was announced a, few daye ago, shows the value of tho ore in a commercial point of view. In October last Mr. Fraser treated 7401b of the same ore by his pan process, only the ore was calcined, and not chloridised roasted. The following was the result—Test from 7401b burnt ore : Fire assay of burnt ore, 61oz 14dwt Ogr; value oE aßsay gold, 161. £0 13s 813 d ; value of assay silver, 839, £0 3s 4'27i1~17s per oz bullion ; 617 x 17s, £52 Sβ lid per ton. Return from 7401b, 17oz 4dwt, or 520z ldwt 7gr per ton; assay value gold. 150, £0 12s 89d : assay value silver, 850, £0 3a 48d—16s Id per oz of bullion; 52065 x 16a Id, £41 17b 4d per ton. Result, 80 per cent, of fire assay. The other day Mr. Frasor treated 2501b of ore, out of a parcel of SScwt from the Tui mine, in its raw state in the pans, but without the chlorizing roasting. This was done by an American expert, arid in the way the ores are generally treated iu California, and tho result was a rate of barely 4oz to the ton. The remainder of the parcel was desulphurised and chloridised in the furnace with salt, and then treated in the pane, with a result of a yield of 240z to the ton, showing unmistakably the advantages of this process of Mr. Fraser's, and also that different ores require different treatment. Some of the ores at Karangahake arc free, containing metallic gold and silver or natural chlorides, and will yield a fair percentage of their fire assay, if treated in the pans direct without roasting, but in most cases a great advantage will bo gained from oxidising, deaulpherising, and chloridieing roasting the ores. In the case of the Tui ore and others, this will be found to bo indispensable. —~—"^————