A VISIT TO PUHIPUHI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8529, 1 April 1891, Page 5

A VISIT TO PUHIPUHI.

Mr. P. Kelly, of Otahuhu, who has had considerable experience in mining, has lately visited Puhipuhi, and gives the following narrative :—" After breakfast in Whanga'rei, I started with my party in Air. Dickey's buggy for the Silver King country, arriving, after several business delays, at five p.m. at the Comstock Hotel, where during our stay we found every attention shown by Host O'Brien to man and beast. On the way we passed through the Young Colonial, but the tunnel being locked, we could only examine the quartz at paddock, which to my mind is a very favourable looking stone for carrying silver. Proceeding to the next claim, the Just-in-Time, in which we found a very finely defined reef had been cut two feet six inches thick, carrying silver, and in a nice sandstone country, from which there had been taken from an intermediate level Iscwb quartz and packed to the Thames School of Mines for treatment, producing at the rate of 14oz silver and sdwt gold per ton. This reef ha? been traced through the Just-in-Time ground for some 20 ohains, and a more compact and defined reef I never saw in Puhipuhi or elsewhere. Great credit is due to the manager, Mr. Dixon, for the amount of work done, considering the roughness of the country. After leaving the Just-in-Time we proceeded to the Prospectors, and were kindly shown over their workings. In the intermediate level there is a drive put in, to cut a reef which has been driven on both ways about 400 feet. From this drive there is a pass connecting all top workings, as also a pass connecting with the low level, [where the tramway comes in to connect with' the hopper, by which the stuff will be transmitted to the battery. Passing from these working?, we arrive on the breastwork of the waterrace, which is in very rough country. The breastwork, together with the sills and legs, are all laid down ready for the fluming, and the battery building is in course of completion. The whole of the plant has been on the ground a week so the directors are in hopes of having everything in working order in about two months. I found several other claims including the Alameda, possessed good prospects, but being pressed for time I had no opportunity of inspecting them very closely, lam of opinion, if the plant* now being erected can turn out anything approaching the tests obtained from the different claims, there is a big future before Puhipuhi, inasmuch as there is any quantity of ore, besides the necessary fuel, wood and coal, required for its treatment, on the ground. The prospectors in parti cular, and those working on the field generally, deserve every * credit for the energy displayed and the hardships undergone to bring the field into prominence, and it should bo borne in mind that the bulk of the money has been provided locally, and that most of the men interested are purely workingmen."