THE GOLDFIELDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13234, 20 July 1906, Page 3

THE GOLDFIELDS.

S WAIOTAHI,

COLOURS OF GOLD EAST AT So. 6

•- LEVEL.

PROPOSAL TO DIVIDE SHARES,

The mine manager, in reporting to the secretary of the, Waiotahi Gold Mining Company (Mr.-' G. ;S. Ivissling) by letter yesterday, says:—"At No. 6 level going east .on the m£ih reef .we have seen a few colours of gold, the reef at present being about 15in in width.'' In his last weekly report (published oil Tuesday) the.manager announced an improvement in the appearance of the reef, stating that the ore body, which was then in 235 ft from the crosscut, was showing a better class of mineral. The annual meeting of shareholders in the company will be held at the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, July 31,' at halfpast two p.m., and wjjl be followed by an extraordinary general- meeting, >at which the subjoined resolution "will-be submitted : —" That the directors be authorised, to divide each of the existing shades of 6sj on each of , which 5s is paid up, into four shares of. Is 6d each, on which shares , the sum of Is 3d shall be credited as paid/up." If this resolution . is carried : the shares, -which now number 60,000, will be increased to 240,000. . 7 " •• "%■ [by telegraph.—OWN correspondent.*] Thames, Thursday. . The main drive on the reef formation at No. 6 level ;of the Waiotahi mine, is still - being continued eastward. It would, however,' be more correct to say northward, as the present course of the reef at this end is nearly due north, it having gradually turned more to the left, until it is now running at. right angles to its original, course, and heading a little to the eastward of the Mary "Ann shaft, and a short crosscut will effect--; the connection between this level and ,the shaft. In the face of this drive a decided improvement has taken' place in the appearance. of the reef, . .The-- slide -r : which has been running along parallel with the reef on the footwall side for the last 100 ft (and which has caused the reef to be ; disturbed and pinched in small) has'now passed through the hangingwall, and' appears to be heading away and separating from the reef going .forward, and in .consequence the • reef is gradually opening out and becoming more defined, there being now from 2ft to 3ft of solid quartz in the face, carrying a good class of mineral, and a little gold has also been seen in it "yesterday and to-day, and ;it- is -probable that the reef will open out till more as it gets further away from 'the' slide., West-; ward of the crosscut the drive on the' main, reef.- is also being continued, and is now in a. distance of 145 ft. The reef in the face is about sft in width, which is all being saved for treatment at the battery, it being of a payable nature. In the Cure section the Cure reef has been driven on for a'distance of 83ft from, the crosscut westward, there being about 3ft of quartz still in the face, .which is of good quality, and is all being sent to the battery as crushing , dirt. Work in this - face is temporarily suspended to allow of. the leading stope being brought along to the face so -as to improve t.he air. The drive is also being timbered, as this stope advance. 1 ?, and the passes put in to prepare the block overhead for stoping operations. No. 5 level: The eastern- drive at this level, is now in a distance of 170 ft from No. ,1 winze. The reef is still divided in the face, the footwall portion being about 15ft in width, while the hangingwall portion jib only about Ift, and appears to be heading away more to the left. This face is producing a large amount of payable ore ,aw the whole of the quartz broken for the full 'width is being; sent -to . the battery. A large quantity of paying crushing dirt-is also being obtained from the'-stopes ahoye this level;, which are in full, work,'the' sfte of the reef^ftiying 5 - from 30ft'.-in the letting stope to 12ft in the highest or third stope, which continues to produce rich ore, and from which about 6ic\vt of picked stone have been obtained since the first of the month. The drive on the main reef westward from the - crosscut litis been driven a distance of about 50ft, and thej'.e are still about 12ft of quartz in the face, which is all being taken out. as crushing dirt, and is of a payable nature. live connection between this level and the Mary Ann shaft lias now been completed, and the chamber timbered up, and the work of sinking the shaft to connect, with Ao. b level, is being continued. No. 4 level: The drive eastward on the reef is still in progress, and is now in a- total distance ox 267 ft from the crosscut, the whole of winch distance has been driven oil: the reef, which has been of a payable nature , throughout and the block "between this and No. 3 level is available for sloping for that distance, and should prove payable. In. the lace at present the reef is somewhat pinched in, owing to the clay slide formation on the, hawingwall heading into the wef. In the, winze being sunk from this level to No. o a, laere ore body has been met with, vunch does not appear to come up as high as this level, and will probably prove to be the top of the large blow of quartz met with at No. 5 level. Above this level the stopes are still in progress, and, producing a large quantity of payable .ore, the reef .in the stopes, averaging about 12ft ..in thickness. Westward of the ci'osscut the main reel is be ill" taken down along the side of the driving, and opened out to provide for limbering, and when this is done it is intended to commence, to drive westward on the reef. , ' •: - - . .

. WAIT AIA. RETURN OF 185oz. [BY TKLICGKAPIT. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Co «oMand el, Thursday. Mr. C. H. Bennett, manager of the Wattain gold mine, Kuaotunu, lodged in the Bank of New Zealand to-day- 119oz lOdwt of melted bullion from tailings treated by the cyanide, and 65,0z 6dwt melted bullion from the plates and bmlans. ; * WAIIII GRAND JUNCTION. [by TELEGRAPH.— CORRESPONDENT. ] Waihi, Thursday. A good deal of work is being done, in the wav of sinking winzes, etc., in the \\ aim Grand Junction, in order to establish connections at stated intervals apart between the Nos. 4 and 3 levels, and when all are completed they will provide a basis for sloping operations. The work of driving is still suspended, in view of the water difficulty. Already a large tonnage of ore lias been pa docked, it being estimated that about 4000 tons of low-grade stone is now awaiting transit to the battery, the management "having decided to put through tile lower grade ore for the initial run. -he battery, already described in the Herald, is practically complete, and is only waiting the arrival of the electrical hoist and aerial trams motor for the commencement of crushing operations. WAIHI EXTENDED. [BY telegraph.—own correspondent- ] Waihi, Thursday./ The Waihi Extended Company's property has just been visited by- three directors, Messrs. R. 0. : Hendv', - E. 'Baker, and Grange, who appeared to be pleased with the prospects of the mine. They were enabled to. pass through their own property into the Grand Junction by means of the connection recently established between the two mines'. . It is intended to sink the main shaft a further depth of about 150 ft; NEW MAY QUEEN. [BY , TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT-] . ■ . Thames. Thursday At No. 6 level in the New May Queen mine the- drive eastward on the north-west* lode has been resumed. The reef in the face of this drive is about 4ft in thickness, and is not of such a rubbly nature as it has been, the quartz now being harder, and a

little gold is seen through it, and the whole width of the drive is being taken out and sent to the battery for crashing dirt. The drive westward, on the iootwall branch leader is also being continued, which is not looking so well as it has done formerly, the ground being .of a coarser nature and the leader itself is smaller and does not show so much gold. This leader lias been driven on a distance of about 140 ft westward of the junction with the main lode, and until the last few days has shown gold freely for the whole distance, and yielded a fair amount of picked stone. Above the level stoping operations are being carried on .as usual, there being eight slopes in progress on the main No. 4 lode and four on the foot wall branch leaders, and a good supply of payable ore is being obtained from them with a. little picked stone from time to time, on which 22 head of stamper;-; are kept steadily employed for one shift per day. At No. 5 level the drive eastward on the No, 4 lode is in progress, and ft total distance of 80ft has been driven since this work was commenced. There is as vet no change in the lode, which is still soraewKat- split up into several ribs of quartz. Cleaning up and retorting at the battery for the month will take place on Saturday next, the 21st inst.

TALISMAN CONSOLIDATED. The following is the report of the Talisman Consolidated for the three weeks ending June 9, • 1906: — No. 10 level: South —Advanced, 42ft; total, 1711 ft: width of reef, 3ft; values average 7s 9d. At 1663 ft a . crosscut was driven to the east 22ft in country rock all 'the wav. From the same point a crosscut was driven'west. 37ft, cutting a : reef Bft 'in width, giving very low values. No. -8 crosscut—-Advanced, 30ft. "total, 128 ft; no . change. No.' 9 crosscut Advanced, 33ft ; total, "165 ft; no change. Stoping—The • average of values^from, the No. 1 Bonanza block stopss is £5 5s 4d and from the No. 2 Bonanza block fit opes- £3 3s 3d. No. 11 level:- Stoping—The values from slopes off No. 2: ;: rise " give an' average of £2 Is lOcl. Values from slopes off No. 5 rise average £4 8s 3d. ■' ■ ' , ; No. 12 level : .No. 3 crosscut—Advanced, 14ft; total, 89ft.— Passed- through reef formation into ordinary blue country; discontinued. At a point 76ft west of the main, drive, have started a drive to the south-; progress, 25ft; "The ground traversed shows the eame quartz formation found in crosscuts; values average ,3s 4d.. Sloping—The assays from No. 1. block north of shaft average £4 '2s 2d per ton. The. assays from No. 2 block north of shaft average. £1 0s Id per ton. The assays from .No,'.l'"-block south of shaft average £1 19s 7d per ton. The assays from No. 2 block south of shaft average £1 4s-9d per ton. No. .13 level; North drive—Advanced, 32ft; Intnl. 311 ft; width of reef, lift; average of values, 4.s Id. -South drive—Advanced, 3Sfr; total, 373 ft. Face in sottish blue country; no reef. No. 1 rise (north)— Advanced, 26ft; total, 141 ft; width of reef, 4ift; average of values, 14s 3d.

MINE MANAGERS' REPORTS. \ New Una (July 16): Fair progress is being made in advancing the drives on the line of reef at, the bottom of the winze, 30ft having been driven west and.26ft east. In the. former drive several feet of 1 the, reef have been stripped and left standing, as the break is near at hand. The quartz will not be broken down until the break is met with. In the east end the reef is divided into three ribs of kindly-looking, quartz, containing a. large percentage of mineral, while colours of gold are frequently seen. The battery is still engaged treating" the low-grade ore on hand and that being won from the east cud at the bottom of the winze.

Sunbeam (July 14): The 'men have been clean-" ing out and putting the rails down west of the flat.sheet. This will be completed in a day or two, and we will then cut out a chamber, where we will commence, to sink from to connect with the intermediate level. The reef in the western end is fully 3ft wide and looks very well. East of the flat-sheet I have only three. stopes manned this week, and from these we are getting good ore. The reef in the drive coming out from the airway still , looks very well and is providing a lot of crushing dirt. The average assay of the ore ; put through the mill this week has been £2 15s 4d, and from this forward the assays should be much better.

Wainiahgu (July 11): Good progress has again been made in driving the low level, which lias been extended 17ft for the week, making 1 a total on the reef of 119fr. In the north end of the drive the reef is still small, and the few shots opened in towards the fontsva.ll side have not, so far, disclosed anything of note. In the south drive face the lode, continues to look well, being from 3ft to 4ft in width, and small prospects of free gold can be obtained 4 by pounding and washing throughout the whole lode. •