THE PORTSEA. MINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9581, 4 August 1894, Page 5

THE PORTSEA. MINE.

♦ ~ . v- — [PROM OCR THAMES ; CORRESPONDENT.] Thames, Friday. As the Porteea mine at aitekauri has been very prominently before the public during the past week, owing to a rather serious error having been made by the manager in mistaking whab is known as chrome in the quartz for gold, a few particulars concerning themine and prospects at the present juncture will no doubt be acceptable to readers of the Herald. At the outset, however, I may state that the information I am now about to give has been gleaned from a personal visit to the mine' no later than yesterday morning (Thursday), which visit I paid in company with Mr. Wm. Morgan, manager of the Grace Darling mine, as Mr. Grace, the manager of the Portsea, was absent in Auckland. * ,y r . , - The property "itself ii situated on the southern boundary of the Grace Darling mine, and the work done 'so far has been tbe driving: of- an upper and lower level, both of which are some 30 or 40 feet distant from the Grace Darling ' boundary. . The top level was first driven, and in order to reach the reef, which is supposed to be the southern continuation of the same reef as is being worked in the Grace Darling mine, a crosscut4o feet in length was required. At a distance of 30 feet in this crosscut a hangingwall leader about 18' inches thick was intersected, and after two feeb # further driving the main body was met with. At this point the reef proved to be nearly nine feet in thickness, and after ib was cub through, ' driving southward, in the very centre of the same, ; was parried on for a length of about 60 cuts being put in on both sides of the ur>ive at intervals, in order to ascertain whether or . nob v it /'maintained its : thickness of nine foefc, which it did. The quartz of which the reef is composed ab this level is generally of a rubbly character, especially on its hangingwall side, bub the footwall portion'is a little more solid. The country encasing the reef is of a brownish sandstone, and appears to me to be of a favourable class for : carrying gold-bearing quartz, whilst I was informed that very fair prospects . were obtainable from th' quartz -on ! its being panned off in a dish. I notioed !at this level that the quartz was generally of a whitish description)-interlaced with blue seams and bunches of silica. The backs obtainable are about 40 foet in height, In order, however, to test the reef at a greater depth, and no doubt to ascertain also whether it. would not be richer in quality, a lower level ; was recently driven, which provides 90 feeb of backs up to the floor of the top 'level. In order to cut thereefab this pointit was necessary to drive a crosscut a length of about 125 feeb, ab the end of which the reef was intersected. The point of intersection is some 20 or 30 feet farther south of tho point where the reef was cut at the top level, and at the litneof my visit yesterday, the two men employed. in the mine had just completed cutting through to the i footwall side, and were preparing to open out with the intention of driving southward upon ; its course. The width of the reef is from eight) to nine feet, .and from what I could see it is well defined. < Its character generally, however, is not in my opinion so favourable as is the case at the upper level, for with the - exception of about two or three feet of rubbly quartz on the hangingwall side, the quartz is principally of a solid and hungry nature; and what I consider a defect in it is the prevalence of large spots of blue sandstone. The hangingwall portion of the reef, however, is of a more favourable character, for here the quartz is more looking, and is intermixed with silica, and the blue veins which generally carry the precious metal in the Waitekauri district. I did nob observe, whilst in the drive, any of the yellow-looking chrome which had been the cause of so much trouble, but one of the men broke a dishful of dirt from the reef on the north or right-hand side of the drive for the purpose of panning it off, so that he might show me a good prospect of the same. *• Unfortunately, hpwever, it panned off very badly, as only a very few fine specks \7ere noticeable.--- Another dishful was then broken out nearer the floor of the drive, and near where the now wonderful prospect was obtained which led the manager to wire that the lode was equal to 20oz per ton. This, however, like the first dish, panned off very poorly, which led to the remark from the man who was doing the work, that " this is very strange," meaning that he was surprised that there was not more of the chrome present. From the results that attended this effort to show me a good prospect of the chrome, it struck me that Mr. Grace, when he meb with his " excellent prospscts," musb have struck upon a " pocket" of the stuff, for it was not to be found there yesterday. Mr. Morgan, however, assured me that the chrome did exist at the time Mr. Grace sent his telegram, and that he himself, as well as several other experienced miners, fully believed at the time that it was gold, and no one was more surprised than he himself after it was discovered that ib was not . gold. Being asked why any assay tesb had not been made at the Grace Darling, - Mr. Morgan replied that the 3 necessary appliances for ■ doing the • same had nob then arrived ; .in fact, the only crucibles then at the plant were second-hand ones, which had been used at the Sylvia mine at Tararu, and they would not have been safe to use. Ho thought everything had been done at the time that was possible.' There had not been the slightest intention to deceive anyone. It bad simply been an error in mistaking the chrome to be gold, an error in which nob one man, bub many others, had fallen into, who had seen the stuff. So far as the prospects of the mine are now concerned, I cannot speak very favourably. Am yet very little work has been done, and besides I do hot like the country encasing the reef at the low level. Ic is of a rather blue, decomposed rook, and nob the class in which one would expect to meet with gold in any of the Thames mines. There is a doubt being expressed now as to whether or nob the reef to hand is the same that is being worked upon'in the Grace Darling mine, as its course is not exactly in accordance with the run of thereof in the minementioned. This, however, may be accounted for by the fact that just on the boundary of the two mines a gully occurs, and this may have had the effect of throwing the reef a little oub of its ordinary course. Ib would nob, however, be an expensive work to continue. , the crosscut ,at the low level in the Portsea : a further distance of, say, 100 feeb, which would prove whether, or nob the reef now to hand is the right one or not.- Until this is done or the reef now to hand is more fully opened up it would be just as well for investors to be a little more careful than has been evinced lately in dealing with this company's stock, for they should take into consideration the fact that very little work has yet been done, and that up to the present only two men-have been employed in addition to the manager. ' It must also be taken into consideration that the only asset the company is in possession of up to the present time, or at least so far as I am aware, is the mine itself, a few tools, and a tin dish in which to pun off prospects, and that before any payable quartz that may be discovered can be dealt with ib will be necessary to incur a heavy ; expenditure in " the erection of an efficient crushing plant. ■