MINING NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13480, 3 July 1907, Page 5

MINING NEWS.

THAMES DEEP LEVELS'. [BY I'ELEGBAPH.— OWN COIUIESFONDKNT.] Thames, Tuesday. THE Thames County Council at its meeting yesterday received a letter from the secretary of the May. Queen Gold Mining Company to the effect, that the new company was prepared to proceed with the proposed scheme for the development of the deep levels, and asking for such monetary assistance as the Council could see its way to grant towards the proposed work. The Chairman of the Council (Mr. R. W. Bagnull) stated that he thought the object was a deserving one, and that the Council should do all, in their power to reasonably assist such a work, and pointed out that they had contributed extensively to the drainage works of the field in the past and were still doing so, rot only by contributing the sum of £150 per annum |to the Drainage Board in cash, but that they also supplied water to the Board free, which was a considerable item. Free water was also supplied to the Schools of: Mines. Several other members of the Coi,ncil spoke in favour of granting assistance to ; this work, and the matter was eventually referred to a committee of the whole Council. HAUPvAKI FREEHOLDS. j [IIY TKLKUEAVIt. —OWN UORRESI'ONDKXT.] 1 (.'OHOMANDEL, Tuesday. The repairs to the poppet, etc., at the Hsuraki Freeholds have been completed by Mr. J. .Bremner and stuff. Everything is now ready for the resumption of pumping operations and it is expected that a start will shortly be made. COPPER MINING IN AMERICA. It was the discovery of copper that gave to Montana the name of the Treasure State. The Butte Hill during the past 15 years has produced one-third of the copper supply of the world. Fifty millions of dollars annually has been the average output of this marvellous deposit of copper, which i lies within 600 acres of mountain—the area lot a good-sized farm. Nine hundred millions of dollars in 20 years is the official Government estimate of its product, Another hundred millions has doubtless failed of accounting, or has been lost to computation in the general riot of production. Inseparably linked with the discovery and I development of this treasure-trove of the hills is the name of Marcus Daly, one of the most, remarkable,men who ever came to the west. It 'was about. 1880 that Daly became interested in the Anaconda mine, which lay lower down than the Alice, and near the foot of the Butte Hill. He bought it for 30,000 dollars from Michael A. Hickey, who, with his brother, Edward, and Charles X. Lara bee, had located it on Government ground. Hickey gave his discovery the name Anaconda. When Daly bought the Anaconda it was a silver properly. But when Daly discovered that the Anaconda was a copper mine he believed that his theories of the Butte Hill were verified. He was convinced it was one of the greatest copper deposits in the world. In mining he was a genius. In his earlier career in Nevada he had studied rocks and soils, their forms and affinities, as men read books. He saw through the earth the dim signal-lights of the depths. Nearly everv mining engineer of note condemned the" Butte Hill, laughed at Daly, and called his theories absurd. Subsequently these authorities republished their text-books to meet the new geological conditions which the unlettered miner had disclosed to the world. The first move Daly made was to pull the pumps and close down the Anaconda. If this hill was the treasure-house he foresaw the race would be to the swift. Soon rumours were current that the Anaconda was a mare's nest and worthless. Daly's agents then bought up properties adjoining the mine for "a song, and Daly and his friends became the owners of practically all that part of the Butte Hill which they believed to be valuable, in the meantime business ill Butte was al a standstill.

| When Daly bad acquired the properties surrounding 'the Anaconda lie opened up jthe Butte Hill. One must have a vivid imagination to picture to himself the growth of finite from that time on during Marcus Daly's life. Fortunes were made and spent in a day. An army of men descended into the mines daily to strip them of their treasure: huge forests were despoiled of their timber to stull and shore up the excavations and protect the earth above—for these copper veins are often one hundred feet wide. Immense smokestacks

began to vomit their clouds of smudge from scores of furnaces scattered over the hillj the moan and dank of huge pumps could be heard in the depths, forcing the water to the surface; the pound of hammers and the steadv impact of drills sounded everywhere, while the earth trembled and bellowed with distant underground explosions. Great hollows, like cathedral naves, were scooped out, where the treasure had lain in the rock-ribbed earth. Horses and mules were blindfolded and lowered into the mineswhere their hides, like the gray beards of the old miners, soon took on the greenish colour of the copper which saturates everything below the surface. Jhe Butte Hill soon became a veritable under-

ground city. " . { Even the waste of, these mines was precious. "Jim" Led ford was a luckless character, who had run the gamut of western experiences. He finally settled down with, his wife in a little cabin on the outskirts! of Butte. Up above, on the high hill behind his home', the great, engines of the Anaconda mine throbbed ceaselessly and, whirled the ore up from its depths at railroad speed. The water from the mine found a fresh outlet above Ledford's cabin and ran down, making a gully through Ins backyard. Ledford's yard contained a pile of tin cans and iron rubbish, and through these fragments the water from the Anaconda seeped. One morning Ledford found a slushy deposit of pure copper where the. worthless tin cans had been before. | An assay of the stuff showed 98 per cent. I copper. Ledford kept his secret to liim-j self and secured from the Anaconda. Coin-, pany a written lease for one year of all! the water flowing from the Anaconda, mine. I I'or a dozen years it had been flowing on] its course unvexed to the sea, wasting its millions. Ledford then ransacked Butte and adjacent towns for tin cans and old metal of all descriptions, dammed up the! stream with square boxes filled with this litter, and netted 100,000 dollars before his lease had expired. Scattered over the Butte Hill now are numbers of precipitating plants where every conceivable form of scrap-iron is piled mountain-high, waiting to be fed to the copper water. The metal simply extracts the copper, leaving the water to flow on in its poverty. The metallic rubbish is consumed in the process.

MINE MANAGERS' REPORTS. Tairna Broken Hills (June 26): Good headway is now being made with the rise. ;i distance of 26 ft having been risen for the week, making the tot;i! height 162 ft. The reef has been a little smaller during the past week, but the ore is still of a (rood payable ipniiity. The drive eastward (crosscut) on' Seaver's lender has been ■advanced 20ft: total. 56ft. A reef formation, about 18in wide, has been passed through in this crosscut, and although not payable where rut there is cveiy possibility of an improvement when driven on, as it carries a fair prospect of gold. The main low level crosscut has been extended 16ft: total. 2?3ft. Waihi Extended (.Tunc 29): During the past week the drive in the N'o. 4 level has been advanced 17ft. At 234 ft from the shaft a crosscut proved the lode to be over 12ft wide. Driving has been continued and the lode at present gives promise of "further improvement. A few more feet will take us under No. 1 winze, when rising will bo put in hand in order to make a connection. Watchman (.lime 29): The low level crosscut towards the Windfall reef has been extended 18ft for the week, making a total of 146 ft from the turn-off, or 330 ft from the entrance. The. face of the crosscut is now approaching the reef at a depth of 120 ft lower than the outcrop, where the reef shows a width of 10ft. and gives fair prospects by dish. White sandstone country, interlaced with" silica veins, is now coming in oi the right hand side of tin? level, and I take it, to be the reef channel. A further distance of 30ft should see the reef in hand. Trafalgar (June 29): Fair progress has been: made with driving on the Nelson reef. The country in the drive going north l«w been very hard and tho reef has heen disturbed, but has shown coarse .sold in the quartz on several occasions. I am of opinion that in more congenial country an improvement in quantity and value will take place. The reef in the drive, going south has, owing to its proximity to the clay slide, split into a number of small veins, | but has recently made into a compact body of well-mineralised' quartz, about Iff wide, from; which fair prospects of sold can be obtained from j the dish. The level is 40ft long, and, as the face .at present is about directly under the winze coming down from the ripper level, good! ore may be obtained at this point at any time ] in the future. i Waihi Gladstone (Juno 29): The crosscut has been extended 27ft,. making a total length of 227 ft from the shaft. A leader. Sin wide, of no value, was cut at 218 ft, but we have not yet met with the No. 1 reef. Judging by the country and the- dip of. the stringers we have lately intersected, I have altered my opinion about the position of • this .reef, and 1 think we may I/fire another 20ft to crosscut before meeting with it. ... Scandinavian (June 29) The drive in the low level has been advanced Bft for the week. The slow progress is owing to coming across a hard bar. In the top level there is a hard bar about 40ft from the reef, so I take this to mean that we are near the reef in Hie low level.

Rising Sim (June 29): The drive on the reef going north from the bottom of the winze is now in a. distance of oft. The reef still maintains its values and colours of gold can be seen throughout the ore. During the week I have bad two men driving and prospecting on what I believe to be the cap of the reef that lias been cut in the surface drive a considerable distance north of the main workings. 1 intend trying to pickup the reef still further north by means of trenches as soon'as the weather will permit. Kirikiri (June 28): The south intermediate drive lint been extended 6ft: total, 2.lft. The size of the reef is Ift thick, mid when breaking down colours of gold were freely seen. The north intermediate drive has also been extended 4ft : total, 20ft. The size of tho reef is loin thick. and when breaking down colours and dabs of gold were freely seen. The. country is getting more favourable for gold. The ore passing through the battery is shaping very well. Jn the south drive the reef is making again in the face and is allowing some nice' blotches of gold. It is about 18in thick in the face. 'Die north intermediate is also improving. Colours and dabs of gold are more freely seen. The ore passing through is shaping very well, and the actual crushing- on the good ore was 20 hours. The amalgam trom plates amounts to l&ioz and from bcrdans 2o::. The amount of ore passed through will not be more than 6i tons. the amount o; amalgam from the berdans is very small, which, shows that the gold is not coming down in the tailings.