THE GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9714, 9 January 1895, Page 5

THE GOLDFIELDS.

[from our own correspondent.] Thames, Tuesday. The Sharemarket.— sellers 2s; Hazelbank, buyers 8d ; May Queen, sellers 4s 6d ; Moanataiari, sales 4s Id, sellers 4s 6d ; Alburnia, sellers 2s ; Victoria, sellers 6d ; Talisman, sales 7s 9d; Bonanza, sales Is 6d, Is sd, Is 6d, Is 5d ; Retreat, sellers 8d ; Monowai, sales 4s. Broken Hill (Waiomo).A meeting of the shareholders in this licensed holding was held in Mr. W. S. Styak's office to-day for the purpose of conferring with Mr. R. McDonald Scott, of Auckland, relative to the formation of a company. After due consideration ib was resolved to form a limited liability company, with a capital of £8250 in 55,000 shares of 3s each, nil paid up, ol which 5000 shares should be held in reserve for the company. Mr. McDonald Scott was appointed legal manager, Mr. D. B. McDonald as auditor, and Messrs. J. McFarlane, Gorrie, Kirker, J. Russell, and E. McDonnell were elected directors.

May Queen.The operations carried on in this company's mine at the present juncture are of such public importance that any information concerning the same will no doubt be acceptable. As is already wellknown, the chief and most important work in progress is bhe development of a new low level in the May Queen section, from the No. 6 level of the Saxon shaft. The work has been in hand for fully twelve months, and during this time some 2000 feet of driving has been accomplished in order to intersect the May Queen reefs, and towards effectingdirect communication with the Queen of May shaft. . Although both the No. 4 reef and north-west lode have been intersected, still the connection with the Queen of May shaft has nob yet been finally accomplished, but the crosscut is being pushed ahead as rapidly as possible with the aid of the rock-boring machine in order to effect that purpose, and about 140 feet of further driving should see the connection completed. At present the crosscut is passing through a rather tight blue sandstone, bub with the aid of the machine very fair progress is being made. The development of both the No. 4 reef and north-west lode has already commenced from the eastern side of the

crosscut, and in order to reach the junction of both bodies a distance of about 300 teeb will require to be driven upon each of them, the distance separating them from the present point of operations being about 230 feet. As yet, however, very little work has been done upon No. 4 reef. A portion of it was broken down where the crosscut

passed through en route to the shaft, and about six feet in length broken eastward of that point, bub from now until the shaft is connected with it it is intended to keep only one shift employed in driving eastward upon it. The reef so tar has averaged about fifteen inches in thickness, and has shown nice strong dabs and colours of gold, which augurs well for its productiveness when systematically opened up. It is a nice compact body of quartz, encased by a good class of sandstone, and the manager anticipates meeting with the junction of what is believed to be what is known as No. 3 reef in about ten or twelve feet of further driving. This latter body, which is about four inches in thickness, was intersected in the crosscut about twenty feet prior to mooting with No. 4 reef, but it is running at such a sharp angle that it should junction with the No. 4 at the distance stated. Upon the north-west lode, a length of about 20 feet is now opened up, but so far the lode has been of rather a jumbled up character, being a mixture of sandstone, clay and quartz, fully five feet in thickness. Notwithstanding this _ discrepancy, the lode bears a very promising appearance, especially the footwall portion, which is carrying excellent mineral indications and a good deal of silica. A start has been made to save that portion for a trial crushing, and it will be treated during the next monthly treatment of quartz at the company's battery. Good sandstone country exists on both walls, and the manager anticipates meeting with improved prospects in about 50 feebof driving. Owing to the difficulty ot getting away all the dirt broken at this level, and to wind for the tributers and company's workings at the higher levels, only one shift is employed driving on the lode just now, the same as on No. 4 reef, but when the crosscut is completed then three shifts will be pub on. It will be seen, however, that no time is being lost in the development of the now low level, and that so far as the works have progressed the results have been of a very encouraging character, and such, when the good prospects left underfoot at No. 3 level are also taken into consideration, as to lead to the belief that very valuable gold-bearing blocks will shortly be available for sloping. Operations upon Clarken*B leader at and above Nos. 2 and 3 levels continue to result in a most remunerative grade of quartz, and judging from present prospects, and the large extent of ground that still remains to be developed, this state of affairs is likely to last for a long time to come. At No. 2 level the leader has been opened up by the company for a length of 260 feet, which leaves about 60 feet further to drive to reach the No. 1 break ; whilst at No. 3 level, 77 feet of driving has been accomplished, and there is about 180 loot further to go to intersect the break. So far the leader has averaged about three inches in thickness throughout, which means that a good deal of ground has to be turned over every month in order to get 50 or 60 loads of quartz from it, but its quality so far has been pretty uniform, and the returns of gold obtained have averaged fully 3ozs of gold per load of quartz. There is one feature in connection with this leader that is worth referring to, and that is this: That the section of the Saxon ground in which the operations upon the leader have so far resulted so successfully never proved very remunerative so far as the other main reefs are concerned. The section of ground where these last bodies referred to proved so remunerative with the Saxon company was that lying between what is called Nos. 1 and 2 breaks, which section is still ahead of the present workings upon Clarken's leader. This being so, it is only reasonable to suppose that if the leader can be picked up in the section of country lying between Nos. 1 and 2 breaks, even better results will then attend the operations that will be carried on upon it than have been obtained from the blocks now being worked. At any rate the time will now soon arrive when the correctness of this theory can be proved, and Mr. W. H. Burch, the company's energetic mine manager, purposes to avail himself of the opportunity as speedily as possible.

VENUS GOLD MINING COMPANY,

KUAOTUNU. A meeting of the shareholders in the Red Mercury Syndicate was held on Monday last, at the office of Mr. H. Gilfillan, jun, Insurance Buildings, when it was decided to form the venture into a company, under the no-liability section of the Mining Companies Act, 1894, the name of the company to be the Venus Gold Mining Company (No Liability). The capital of the company was fixed at £6000. divided into 60,000 shares of 2s each, 48,000 of which are to be allotted to present shareholders, and the remaining 12,000 shares are to bo reserved for the benefit of the company. Mr. Henry Gilfillan, jun., was appointed manager, Mr. A. H. Gosseb auditor, and Mr. A. Peebles mine manager. The ground owned by the company consists of the Red Mercury and John Bull licensed holdings, Kuaotunu, which were; lately acquired by the syndicate at auction upon the sale of same by the liquidator of the Red Mercury Company. As was recently stated in our columns, the _ syndicate, shortly after commencing operations on the Red Mercury reef, came upon a valuable shot of gold in the intermediate level, and a recent crushing of 100 tons therefrom yielded, by battery and pan process, 20U ounces melted gold, of a value of £4ao , while the tailings on hand gave an assay value of £2 lis per ton. The reef at this point is four feeb wide, and promises to yield further similar results tor some time to come. In addition to this reef, the main (or Try Fluke) lode of the district traverses the whole length or ttie company's property, and as but little wor has been done on it, good results may looked for from further developeraents thereon. The company has £320 , ' faa °rA and, starts upon ' its career with eve * prospect of a highly-successful future.

MINE MANAGER'S. REPORTS. May Queen. (.January 7).—-The low level crosscut was extended 16 feet for four d V » being now 68 feet in from No. 4 reef. - in? country is a. tight sandstone, but in the l«c._

now there seems to be better ground coming in. There has not been much work done on the north-west lode or No. 4 reef. The timber at junction of crosscut with No. 4 will be finished to-day, when a start will be made to drive east on the reef from the crosscut. The drive on North-west reef is in 19 feet, and the reef in the face is fully five feet thick, carrying nice mineral and silica, but no gold has been seen. , A trial crushing from here will be ready when the battery starts again. Saxon section, _ No. 3 level: This level has been kept going most ot the holidays, and is now in 77 feet from O'Briens boundary. The ground is a splendid_ sandstone for gold. The lode is three inches thiok, and is carrying nice , mineral and silica, and gold is seen at each breaking down, but has produced very little picked stone during the week. Tne available ground between Nos. 2 and 3 levels is 73 feet of backs. No. 2 level: During the last fortnight one man has been extending this level, and I believe the drive is now through the broken piece of country. The lode is making in the face, and at the last breaking down dabs of gold were seen. This is important, as we have every chance of getting gold right alonsr to the No. 1 break. I may mention that the available ground now opened over No. 2 level will last two months yet. • Cambria, January 7.—Work is proceeding as usual on No. 5 leader and the hangingwah leader, and the quartz being obtained frequently shows gold. Quartz of a fair grade, showing gold at each breaking down, continues to come to hand from Nos. 2 and 3 leaders below No. 3 level. At No. 4 level prospecting is now being carried on on No. 6 leader. I intend to try this leader above the level before sinking upon it. Norfolk (January s).—The drive on the California reef at the Missouri level, has been extended a further distance of 15 feet. The reef is now opening out again, and is carrying some very nico mineral for gold. There is now a steady flow of water coming from the face, and I am expecting daily to tap the water that is coining out of No. 3 level. The country we are now penetrating is all that could be desired for gold. Orlando (January 5). During the week two men have been engaged cleaning out a winze at the top level that was sunk some years ago on a run of gold. It is the same reef that the top level comes in on, and is about 186 feet south-west from the last winze that was sunk by the company. The winze has been cleaned ont and re-timbered for a depth of 14 feet. The reef is about two feet in thickness. A portion of the same which was left on the wall has _ been taken down. Colours of gold were seen in the quartz. I intend to clear ib out to the bottom, sink down a few feet, and drive in from each end. This will be the quickest way of proving it. The drive on the hanging-wall leader is being continued.