OUR GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12862, 10 May 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

OUR GOLDFIELDS.

SUMMARY.

Tin: "old returns from the mines of the Auckland district to hand since the publication of last !li:u.\i.n Summary have again reached a high total, the output for the three, weeks amounting to £71,529 O.s Ad. With the exception of the record yield of £74,348 los ]0d recorded for the previous three weeks, the present return is the highest since that of the period ended March 16, 1904 (£71,922), and is above the average.

The quantity of gold exported from New Zealand last? month was 39,0840z, of the value of £157,769, as compared with 24.9£90z, valued at £92.684 for the conesponding month of last year. Last month's return;! in the various districts were as follows :--- Auckland, 15,532 m (£62,631); IJunedtn, lo.&ldoz (£56,0^9); (Ireymouth, bblOo'A (£26,438); Nelson, I3looz (£5250): llokitika. 1 1510/. (£4616); West port, 5760z 1.C2305). The export of silver last'month was 93.0320/., valued at £9431.

During the first lour months of the present year New Zealand exported 163,0090/. of gold, of a value ol £657,958, being .]."->.i'.'l'i'n/ more than thai for the corresponding period of last year.

During a speech delivered at Waihi on May 3 Mr. W. H. Hemes, .M'.H.R. ror the district (Hay of Islands), retelling to the mining industry said it was time a vigorous mining policy was adopted, but bow was Mr. Seddoti going to patch things up? Why, by importing a geologist from Canada. He believed a geologist could do good work, such as mapping our the country, but to say that the geologist was going to reorganise things, and say where Mie gold was,, and where it was not, was mere folly. He contended that more assistance should bo given to the prospector, and that State batteries should be put up in different part.-*. It was stated thai the geologist was to work in the Norm Island, and his assistant in the South, bur both were- to go to the South until just be/ore the election. Then Dr. Bell would come North. Both would be found afterwards in West land.

At liie Waihi Grand Junction mine splendid progress is being mad'- with the battery work. The stump foundations have been completed, and a start has been made with the erection of the buildings. The. electrical expert, who is to determine the,' site of the power-house, will most probably leave Home for New Zealand next mouth. Work underground is also pioci-ediiig satisfactorily, and No. 2 lode at No. 3 level has been opened up for a distance of 145 ft. The lode is about sft Gin wide, and bears just about the same. appearance as in the upper level. Driving on No. 1 lode is proceeding, and about. 50ft have been driven each way from the crosscut. Only the foot wall side is being taken, the lode being so large, but it- is intended to crosscut into the reef when about 100 ft have been driven. The value and dimensions of the lode matter will then be ascertained at that- jaunt.

The Waihi Extended Gold Mining Company have purchased the Fame and Fortune battery at the Thames, consisting of 40 head of plumpers. It is intended at the outset to ship the ore from the mine to the Thames for treatment. The company have commenced erowetittiiig at their new No.' 3 level, and as the v&ei is expected to be to hand in about lOOfl of driving, their operations are attended with a good deal of interest. The country being favourable for lode system, it is quite probable that a reef niav lie- cut .it any time during the driving of the said 100 ft."

At the annual meeting of shareholders in Hardy's .Mine. Limited, the directors' annual report slated thai the main requirement a!, present was development, in order to establish lite stability of the property and assure a supply of ore ahead of what the battery could' deal with. When they had' six lo 12 months' supplies of ore ahead it would then be time to consider the extension of the crushing plant and additional water power. The capacity of the battery, when running full lime, was about 480 lons monthly, and (he efforts of the board during the ensuing year would be directed to keeping the battery, as fur as- possible, running full lime, To meet the very important work of extending the plant the directors had decided to issue at ones tie* whole of the reserve shares to shareholders at par ami pro rata, but to call up only so much as was required from time to time, .say, 2s 6d on application, 2s 6.1 on June SO. and the balance if required at intervals of not less than two months. The report of the supervisor slated that a quantity of easily-broken ore was in sight, which the battery would be able to treat at tho rate of 18 to 20 tons per day. when the present dry .season was over. At present nine or 10 tons only could he treated. The results of trial ctu.«hings fullv established the many claims made on behalf of this property. Mr. Hardy staled thai the reef was opening up very well. being now from 18ft to 2011 in width. They were not rejecting any ore. The canvas tables had saved stuff that assayed £120 6s per ton. of which 28<f/. 14dwfc was gold, and ~420/, silver. He hope! with roasting and - 'nation, to treat the concentrates with i their own plant. The. process of roasting i and chloriilation to be adopted was not at all new, but advances had been made recently i whereby mechanical rubbling of the ore had been substituted for handwork. This enabled one man to superintend five or six furnaces, and thus reduced the cost of labour, etc.. to a very small figure. Chlorinathin could bo carried on cheaply in this district, a?* the price of sulphuric acid and hypochlorite of lime was as low as in many parts of America, where a. similar process was in one-ration, and the cost of labour was much higher.

The manager of the Komata Reefs Cold Mining Company has sent a cable to the [Tome directors, containing the following information:—ln the drive north on No. '.', reef at No. 3 level, the lode lias an aver;>."o width of loft, and an average value of £3 per ton. In the drive north on the same reel at No. 4 level, the hale has an average width of 12ft, and an average value of £5 iter ton. it is encouraging that both these laces should give such good values.

The directors of the Waiotahi Cold Miuini' Company on May 5 declared another dividend of 'Gd per share. This payment will absorb £1500, bringing the total reimbursement- to shareholders to date to £49.000. The company's shaft has now been sunk to a sufficient depth for the well-hole below the new level (No. 5) and the work of crosscutliiig for the reef will shortly he commenced. The country is still of a hard nature, but will probably improve as the drive gets away from tne shaft. The continuation of the "shaft downwards lias been decided on. and this work "ill be gone on with at the satin- time as the driving of the crosscut, and 'will bo sunk about another 60ft to open up [mother block. No. X slope above No, 1 level hits been extended for about 50ft in

length, and us there is now a large space open work has been" temporarily suspended to allow, of filling in, which will take the most of next, Meek. There is. however, sufficient quartz on hand to keep the battery fully employed until after the filling in.'is completed, and a start again made on the slopes.

Recently one of the directors of the Victoria Cold Mining Company, together with the manager of the Kuranui-Caledonian mine, visited the Victoria mine, and they were present at the breaking down of the reef at No. 3 level, at the point where it- was reported that gold was showing during the last few months, and which was the cause of a- rise in shares. During me last fortnight two men have been working stripping a bench of the reef, and this was all broken down for about lift and 6ft in height, with the result that no gold was seen iu the reef itself, and only a few colours obtained from the small stringer lying on the hangingwall of the reef. The work of repairing the shaft down to the No. 4 level is being pushed on, and it is the intention of the manager to clean out and repair the drive at No. 4 level, and commence at the face of the old drive to drive northward for the purpose of intersecting the Waiotahi reef. This will take about 500 ft of driving, according to the surveyor's estimate, and the Waiotahi reef should be cut about 70ffc below the Waiotahi No. 4 level.

The drainage of the New May Queen mine having been now effected, it will enable the company to commence work on their lower block of ground, that was partly opened up by the old May Queen Company, and which had to be abandoned by that company, owing to the stoppage ot the Thames Jlatiraki pump and the rising of the'water in the shaft.

Considerable difficulty has been experienced during the last week or two in making the necessary repairs to the plungers at the Thames llaiiraki pump. One of these has, however, now been taken out, repaired, and replaced in position, and the improvement in the working of the pump is very noticeaide. It is still necessary to remove and repair the other one, and this work has been commenced. When completed there should be no further difficulty. The water is now down to a depth of 650 ft, and, a very slow stroke of the pump is sufficient to keep it at that depth. ■

(old-bearing stone was cut in lie Kuraiuii Gold brining Company's mine towards the end of last month. The find came from the Sholover reef in. the winze, about 50ffc down, and 25011 above the battery level.

In the Champion mine, which adjoins flu- Golden Belt, at Neavesville, development work is being steadily carried on. A low level is being driven to prove the lower value- of the lodes worked on the surface with encouraging result*. This drive lias already tin No. J lode, which has been driven upon lor 20ft. and without meeting tin- foot wall. The ore broken so far from this lode appears to be of a good quality, and shows gold freely in the stone. It also gives good dish prospects. A further distance of 60ft of driving should, cut No. .2 reef, which lias been worked on at the surface, and is about 15ft thick. Where worked it i i of a very high grade.

In the Golden Bell (fold Mining Company's mine a reef was cut in the low level on 'May 2. It is a tine body of stone, Bft wide, heavily mineralised, and n sample taken from it assayed 17s 3d. per ton. The new reef was cut at a point 100 ft north of the run of gold in the road level, 'There is every reason to believe it is the hangingwall of the Ajax lode. This is the main tire body for which the manager was driving at the low level.

The annual report of the directors of the Harbour View Gold Mining Company, issued recently, stated that the principal work done in the mine dining the past half-year was the extension of the main crosscut to a distance of 557 ft. in which numerous leads were intersected. On some of these, a little driving was clone, but without meeting with payable quartz. As the funds of the company were almost exhausted, and the capital was till called up. the directors were reluctantly obliged to cease operations, and apply for protection for the property, pending reconstruction of the company. They were of opinion that the fjads cut in the crosscut are well worthy oi further trial, and to provide funds for this purpose they would place before the shareholders at a future date proposals for ichurning lite company.

The Sunbeam Gold and Silver Mining Company propose to shortly ship 50 tons of ore from their property at the Great Harrier to Australia for smelting. The result from this trial parcel should give i f:o shareholders a fair idea of the value of I lie ore being mined. The company have now some 400 tons of quartz in paddock, of which the 50 tons referred to will be .in average sample as nearly as possible. In the mine the reef is still being driven upon, at Xo. 2 lev. l !, a distance, of 500 ft having been accomplished to date on tin: course of the lode.

THE GOLD RETURNS. , TOTAL For: THREE WEEKS, £71,529. .During the past three weeks the gold return from the Auckland' district mines have reached a total of £71,529 0s 4<l. This shows a slight decrease compared with the record yield of the previous three weeks (£74.348 las lOd), but nevertheless easily ranks second in the periodical returns for the current year, and on the whole is rather above the average. The following are the details of the past three weeks' returns: — OIIIXEMURI. £. s. d. tt'aihi CM. Co.. 21,778 tons ... 54.110 0 0 Talisman Consolidated, 3820 tons 9,278 7 0 Koinata Reel's CM. Co., 1260 tons 3,230 0 0 Total Ohineururi district ... £66,638 7 5 THAMES. £. s. <!. Champion mine (Neavesville), 2 tons. 7ok B'.hyt . 19 12 2 New Moanataiari CM. Co., 52 loads. 80oz lOdwt 223 10 0 New Saxon CM. Co.. 13 loads, 270z 74 14 0 OKI Alburnia tributors, 36 tons 2011). 50oz 1 dwt 154 7 8 Waiotahi G.M. Co., 385 tons, lewt picked stone. 12570z sdwt ... 3,409 0 0 £5,863 3 10 T.URIIA. New Chelmsford G,M. Co.. 106 tons 138 11 10 Total Thames district, ... £4,021 15 8 COROMANDKL. £. 8. d. Hauraki South tWinners, 3 tons, soz 15 1 0 Kapangra tributers, 116 or. lOilwt ... 300 0 0 Old lliuuaki tributers. 17 tons ... 126 2 0 Royal Oak (CM. C 0.., 701b picked si one. 470/. I7d«l 130 0 0 Tokatea Consolidated G.M. Co., 1 ton and 251b, 260 x 9d\vt ... 77 0 5 £648 3 9 I GUMTOWX. lib Beetle tributers, 20 tons, l2oz 3dwt 30 13 G £073 17 3 KIUOTUXU. Wuitaia CM. Co., 60oz 12d\vt ... 190 0 0 Total Coromandel district... £868 17 5 Total Auckland district for three weeks £71,329 0 4

TALISMAN' CONSOLIDATED CM. CO

£9270 FROM 3820 TON'S,

TOTAL TO DATE. £348,358.

During April the Talisman Consolidated Cold Mining Company crushed and treated 3820 tons of oi for a return of bullion valued at £9278 7s sd. This shows a decrease upon the return for .March, when 3550 tons gave a record yield of £10.510 7s 3d. The costs for the past month were £1 8s 3d per ton, made up as follows:— Mine development. 6s 6d ; mining, 9s 7d ; milling, 10s 5d ; general expenses, Is 9d. The total amount won from the mine to date is £348,338 14s 10(1. as shown in the following table of details : ■•- To December. 13->i ►_ £39.875 7 3 To December. 1899 35,317 6 0 To December. : : 't) 23,645 2 7 To December. 1901 36.764 19 8 To December, 1902 24.262 Vi 4 To December. 1903 ... 88,095 0 5 To December, 1904 M ... ~. 84,326 1 7 Total ... ... ... ►.. £317,786 17 ~\ Period ending j • January 31. 1505. 2570 tons ... -".394 18 8 February 28. 1905. 3420 tons ... 6,368 4 2 March 31, 1905. 3550 lorn 10.510 7 ,5 April 3D, 1905, 3320 tons 9,278 7 5 Total to date ... ,Uo'l3,i>3 14 10

WAIHI G.M. CO. £51.110 FROM 21,778 TONS. TOTAL TO DATE; OVER £4,000,000. The Waihi Gold Mining Company during the four weeks ended April -22, crushed and treated 21,778 tons of ore, for a yield of bullion valued at £54,110. Though this exceeds the output for either of the first two months of the present year, it is less than the return for March last, when 22 453 tons gave a record yield of £55,310. It'will be noticed, however, that on the present occasion a smaller tonnage was treated This is accounted for by the fact that owing to a shortage in the water supply the company's mills have been hum-'* up for some time, causing the amount of ore crushed to be lower than the average. The Waihi mine has now produced an"output of a, value of over four million sterling, the actual figures to date being £4.031,484, as shown in the following table of details: — To July 31 1890 •••' £13,623 •hil'v 51. 1890. to December 31, 1331 ... 36.458 Iu 1892. 18.297 tons 2?'=ir In 1893. 19,805 tons M.$J In 189-1, 24.354 tons .... 33.0Z5 In 1895. 33.6"9 lons iß'^ In W76, 34.410 tons iy-}-f In 1897. 40.754 tons £44,041 Ju 1898. 77.929 tons ■• 2.6,494 lit 1899. 102,381 tons ... - 302,525 In 1903, 112.012 tons -• 317.902 In 1901. 159,325 tons : 461,20? In 1902. 179.437 tons .. 521,574 Hi 1903. 231.573 tons , ... 600.4» In 1904, 259,953 tons .., ... „.. 675,101 £3,326,487 Period ending— ~ „, January 28, 1903. 21.400 tons ... 43,477 February 25, 1905. '25.076 tons ... 62.100 | March 25, 1905, 22.455 tons 55,310 April 22, 1905. 21,778 tons 54010 Total to date ... •-, ... £4,031,484 Total dividends, etc., to date. ... £1.515,395 KOMATA REEFS G.M. CO.. £5250 FROM 1260 TONS. TOTAL TO DATE £152,810. During the four weeks ending April 22 (be Komata Keel's Gold Mining Company crushed- ami treated 1260 tens of ore for a return of bullion valued at £3250. This shows a slight decrease compared with tho return for the previous month, when a similar tonnage yielded £3557. The total amount won from' the mine to date is £152,810, as shown in the following table of details: — To December, 1990 £30,369 0 0 In 1901. £670 tons 11.092 0 0 1.1 1902. 12.260 tons ... 27.085 ° ° In 1903. 14.780 tons ... 37,107 0 0 In 1994, 16,900 tons ... -» - -A 43 ° ° " £140,133 0 « Period ending- , n .-, „ ~ .January 28. 1905. 1260 tun' .- 2.407- 0 n February 25, 1905. 1320 tons ... 2,« 0 0 March 25. 1905. 1260 tons ... £.557 (I U April 22. 1905, 1260 tens ... j.ZjO 0 0 Total to date £152,810 0 0

VYAIOTAHI G.M. CO.

£3300 FROM 385 TONS.

TOTAL TO OATH, £207,999. During Apiil the Waiotahi Gold Mining Company crushed and treated 385 tons of ore, and lewt of picked stone, which yielded 12570z sdwc of melted gold, valued at £3409. This shows a slight decrease compared with the return for the previous month, when 389 tons Yielded £3514. The total amount won from the. mine to date is £207.999 6s Bd, as shown in the following table of details: — £ 6. (1. To December. 1904 193.079 6 8 .January. 1905. 250 tons ore. Bcwt picked stone. 1580oa ... ... 4,267 0 0 February, 1905. 330 tons ore. 2501b __ _ picked stone. 13700z 3,<00 0 0 March. 1905, 389 tons. 13060z ... o,W t) 0 April. 1905. 385 tons, lewt picked _ stone, 12570z s<lwt ... ~ • ______ _ Total to date ... £207,999 6 8

KAPANG A BUTERS. Messrs. Jos. Martin and parly, vim have been crashing the Kapanga, lips on tribute for some time past have banked 720z lOdvVt of retorted old. and a fortnight hack they banked 440z, making 116oz lOdwt for the'past month, valued at about £300. BIG BEETLE G.M. CO. 'The tributers' last crushing from the Big Beetle Hold Mining Company's claim gave 12oz 3dwt of melted gold from 20 tons of ore, and realised £2 10s 6d per ounce, or a total of £30 13s 6d. ITAURAKr SOUTH TRIBUTERS. • Messrs. Keen ami party, tributers in the HUuraki South mine, treated at the old Uauraki battery three tons of general ore, for a rot inn of soz of retorted bullion, valued at £15 Is. new moanatatari G.M. CO. The New Moanataiari Gold Mining Company have crushed 52 loads of ore for a re turn of 80oz lOdwt of melted gold, valuei at about £225 10s. NEW SAXON G.M. CO. The New Saxon Gold Mining Company have crushed 18 loads "of quartz for a, re turn of 270z of melted gold, valued at £7^ 14s. ' WAITATA G.M. CO. The. VYaitaiaGold Mining Company (Kuao tuau) completed a crushing for a return <> 60oz I2dvvt 'of inched bullion, valued a ! £190, from the. plates and berdans.

OLD ALBURNIA TRIBTJTERS. During April the tribulers working in tho Old Alburni.i initio crushed 36 tons of ore and 2011) of picked stone for a return of 50 ounces ldwt of gold, valued at £134 7s Sd. OLD HATJRAKI TRD3UTERS. Osborne and party, trilmtors in the Old Hatiraiki Cold Mining Company's mine, crushed nine tons of general dirt for a return of 7o;i 12dwt of retorted gold, valued at £22 12*. Another party crushed 8 tons for a return of £103 10s. NEW CHELMSFORD G.M. CO. The New Chelmsford Gold .Mining Company have crushed 100 tons of ore, and treated 80 tons of tailings, for a return of bullion valued at £158 lis lOd. ■