OUR GOIDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13006, 25 October 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

OUR GOIDFIELDS.

SUMMARY. The gold returns for the past three weeks from the Auckland district mines amount to £79,814 17s, which is well up tc the excellent average maintained of late. Of this, £78,521 16* lid comes from the Ohinemuri district, the Waihi mine, the output from which has been steadily increasing, contributing £58,240. The gold exported, from the colony for nine months of the present year totalled 395,1300z, valued at £1,592,203, an increase of £47,000 compared with the corresponding nine months of 1904. Development works are being pushed on at the Waihi Grand Junction mine, in anticipation of the completion of the company's new crushing plant during the early part of next year. Driving on the footwall of No. 2 lode in the No. 3 level is being steadily proceeded with, and the size and value of the lode is considered to be highly satisfactory. At intervals of 80ft the width of the lode is tested, and a junction is made by putting in a rise with the'winze sunk from the upper or No. 2 level. In the Lamf level the reef has been traversed for some little distance into the Waihi Extended property. In the present level (No. 3) .hey have reached a point to within. about 300 ft of the Extended boundary, the value of the reef up to this point varying from £3 to £7. The No. 1 lode is also being driven on at this level. The Tairua Broken Hills mine, which has ranked among our bullion-producing properties, but has not contributed largely to the gold output of late, looks like entering on a fresh era of activity, encouraging development works having been in progress of late. Some time ago a shaft, was put down from the. battery low level, and an air-compressing plant was erected for winding and pumping. Then about 200 ft along the level to tin south of the shaft a winze was sunk, and was found to carry rich ore the whole way, but the water coming in, work had to be discontinued. In view of this it was decided to work from the bottom of the shaft, and drive on the reef formation towards the winze. The drive is now in about 50ft, and the stone being broken out from the face shows gold at each breaking down. This work given a large area of virgin ground to be sloped, and with every prospect of good results. As soon as the necessary work of effecting a connection between the. drive from the main shaft at the. No. 6 level of the Waiotahi mine and the drive from the. crosscut coming in from the Kuraniu-Cale-donian mine is completed, which should be in the course of a day or two, a vigorous development policy will he pursued. Driving eastward at the Nos. 4, 5, and 6 levels will he proceeded with, and a greatly increased output of ore may be looked forward to. The indications at the low level (No. 6) are, most encouraging, and everything points to the rich ore met with in the levels above carrying down, a small quantity of picked stone having -been secured from a. stringer at these workings. The developments in the Waiotahi mine look like giving a fresh lease of life to the gold mining industry on the-Thames field, and on several of the properties adjoining and in close proximity to the Waiotahi development operations ore now being more vigorously prosecuted than has been the case for some years past, in some instances with good prospects of meeting with payable returns. The properties being exploited include the Kuranui-Caledonian, New Saxon. May Queen, Old Alburnia, Victoria., May Queen Extended, Eclipse, Moanataiari, Vanguard, and Occidental. Mr. H. H. Adams, who is interested in several mining properties, has purchased the Fame and Fortune and Nonpareil mines at the Thames. It is his intention to amalgamate these two properties, which are adjoining, and to form a strong company to work them from the Alburnia main tunnel, which runs parallel to the boundary. A crosscut from this tunnel will cut the main, reefs running through the ground at a depth of several hundred feet below any previous workings. The improved outlook has also led to the flotation of other companies on the local market during the past few weeks, including the New Dart, Champion, and New Sylvia companies. The directors of the May Queen Extended Gold Mining Company visited the mine at the Thames recently,' and made an exhaustive examination of the workings. They found that the country encasing No. 4 reef was of the best, description, and therefore decided to continue operations on that reef, and have it thoroughly tested. Arrangements were made for securing estimates of the cost of unwatering the level below the adit level, and for sinking the shaft a further 100 ft, with the object of getting under the run of gold which was left at the No. 1 level below the adit. In. the winze sunk at this point five loads were secured from the Adelaide reef, which was about Sin wide in the winze, and the return was 15oz lldwt, valued at £3 per oz. The shareholders may be rewarded at any time by a good run of gold. The operations of the Coromandel Big Reefs Prospecting Association are being followed with considerable interest, as in the event of the trial parcels of ore being taken from various points on the line of reef proving payable we may look forward to a fresh period of activity in the mining industry in the Coromandel district. _ A trial parcel of over 100 tons of ore lias just been put through Scotty's battery, on behalf of the association. The object was to ascertain whether it would pay to treat the whole material without sorting. Exceptional natural facilities are afforded for breaking and transporting the ore cheaply on a big scale, seeing that it can be mined oil the open-cut system, and carried to the battery bv a self-acting aerial tramway. The ore was taken from an extensive formation on the hangingwall side of the big reef, composed of sandstone, with interlacing stringers of quartz. It was found to be wry soft, and in crushing produced 50 per cent, of slimes. Strict attention was paid to the taking of regular samples during the crushing, and the assays of these pu ved the average value of the ore treated to be lis 4d pel ton. The gold is nearly all in. a very tine state of subdivision, and the values were found in the tailings and -.limes, the latter being the more valuable. Only 16 per cent, could be saved by amalgamation. The tailings and slimes could, on a large scale, be, profitably treated by (in cyanide process, and an extraction of 90 per cent, of the gold reckoned upon. The ore is practically unlimited, and can be crushed by heavy stampers at the rate of five tons per stamper per day. Prospecting on the line of reef is being carried on, ant' further crushings are to be taken out. The Mining Act Amendment Bill was reported upon by the Goldtield* and Mines Committee in Parliament a, few days ago. The' measure has undergone considerable alteration at the hands of the committee, but the majority of the proposed changes are of a minor character. The power to 1 orrow money from the Government for mining purposes, which was conferred in companies alone by the original Bill, is proposed to be extended to individuals. It is also proposed to give mine managers the right of appeal to the District Court, in regard to the cancellation of their certificates, and to give power to the land boards to waive residence on lease granted under the Mining District Land Occupation Act, 1894.