MINING NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13699, 16 March 1908, Page 3

MINING NEWS.

♦ ' , > v ;.: MAY QUEEN.' [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN" CORRESPONDENT.] Thames, Saturday. Good progress is being made with the sinking of the Queen of Beauty shaft in the May; Queen mine, which is going down at the average rate of about 9ft per week- A - distance of 47ft has- been sunk since this work was commenced, and the shaft is now down a total depth of 874 ft, leaving a further distance of 126 ft to sink to reach the depth to which it is intended to continue, viz., 1000 ft. The country existing at the bottom of the shaft is still of a good description. The southern drive on the main reef at No. 11 level is being continued, but as yet there is no material change in the appearance of the lode, which is of a heavily mineralised nature. On . the northern drive some little difficulty has been experienced latterly on account of the lightness of the air, and it has been found necessary to put in an air blast-. This work has been in progress during last week and is now completed, with the result that there is now a good current of air in the face, which will enable better progress to be made in the future. This drive lias been taken a total distance of 135 ft, and another 200 ft should intersect the No. 4 lode in the May Queen section. Good prospects are still being met with on the footwall branch leader. The winze from No. 5 level is down a total depth of 79ft, or within 10ft of the back of No. 6 level, and the leader at the bottom looks as well as ever, showing gold freely at each breaking down. The drive on the.leader from the crosscut at No. 6 level towards the winze is being continued, and here , the leader also looks well, and another week or two should complete the connection with the bottom of the winze, so as to enable stoping operations on. the block between the two levels to be carried on. There is no doubt that the block will be a highly payable one. SAXON. [BY TEI EGR\PIt. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Thames, Saturday. The only works in progiess in the Saxon mine at present are the stoping operations on the No. 2 Cardigan lode above the No. 4 level. Three stopes are now in hand, and the prospects so far met with are encouraging, the lode appearing to improve in quality upwards. Some good dabs of gold have been met with in the ore broken during the last few days. MAY QUEEN EXTENDED. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Thames, Saturday. In the intermediate level in the May Queen Extended mine what appears to be the Rocky Point reef has been intersected after driving a' distance of 365 ft. This lode, which is from lOin to 12in in thickness, is being driven on eastwards towards the point where it should junction with the Adelaide reef, a distance of about 120 ft. from where it was cut. About. 18ft has now been driven, and for the whole distance the quartz broken has • shown, good strong dabs of gold, appearing to be still improving as the drive advances. This morning a small cross stringer was passed through, from which ; about lib of nice picked stone was selected. The drive will open up a largesized block for stoping, as the lode is in.tact, to the surface—a height of 160 ft. In the adit level Hansen's winze has been sunk to a. depth of 65ft, tho lode being about IBin thick, and composed of well-mineralised quartz. Preparations arc now in hand for opening out from the bottom of tho winze, from •which it is intended to drive a posse ufc to intersect the No.- 2 lode* ■

wAini. [FROM 003, OWN correspondent.] London, February 7 On' the reported striking of an entirely new reef in the Waihi mine, the shares ' of this company experienced a big jump a few days ago, the quotation leaping lip 7-16 in one day, finishing at 9.. Some of the financial critics have had some pleasant things to note about the company. Thus:—"During the past year (remarks the Financial Times) the output of the Waihi Gold .Mining Company has shown a steady, if not very great, expansion. Increase in output, however, is not the cause of the sharp spurt which has recently taken place in .the price of the shares. The movement is based oil the remarkable developments reported in respect of the Edward reef at the No. 8 level. Developments at other }wints do not disclose any very striking feature, but, it is not surprising that such widths and values as indicated on the Edward reef at the No. 8 (the deepest) level in the • mine should have inspired speculative enthusiasm." Another writer observes: —"The Waihi Cold Mining Company has been one of the most successful gold mining ventures known to this market.. Formed in 1887 it has been a steady dividend-payer singe 1893, and has returned the original capital to its shareholders many times over. The equipment is most- extensive, the aggregate mills exceeding 300 stamps, while a large, number of tube mills are in use. During the week the £1 shares of the company have risen, about £1, to £9 per share, and the reason for this strong movement is stated to be, favourable developments at, depth. It is understood that- in the Bth level, the lowest level in the mine, a crosscut recently driven shows that the reef has widened out to about 65ft, and at this point it has an average value of £11 per ton. The width seems almost extravagant to those working in other fields, but the reef on the property has given some very wid« bodies of ore in the past, so that it is not so unusual in its case. Still, if the widtl and value are maintained for any important depth, the discovery will be one o! the most valuable made in the mine." ' * MAGNET. * ' [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN' CORRESPONDENT.i Thames, Saturday. The drive on the main reef in the - .Magnet mine is being continued, and has been driven a distance of 56ft north from the crosscut. The lode is about 15in in thickness in the face, and a few colours of gold have been seen through the . quartz broken. The rise on the junction " is also in hand, and is now up a-distance ; of 30ft. There is a good strong body of quartz in the back of the rise about 3ft in thickness, composed of well-mineralised quartz, but no gold has yet, been seen ir it. .THAMES. .. J [BY TELEGRAPH.OWN" CORRESPONDENT.] * Thames, Saturday. The main crosscut in the Thames min« • \ is being continued, and is still passing through hard blue rock. In the western v drive on the Shamrock reef the lode has ; become much smaller in the face, and is * not looking so well. The winze sunk on No. 1 lode has been carried down;. a I depth of 18ft, and the quartz broken * down with a rather disappointing result, * as though gold was seen for some little distance below the level it did not appear to continue down to the bottom of the . winze, and as the water became difficultto contend with the winze has been dis- •- j ; continued. TALISMAN CONSOLIDATED. Following is the official report for th»fortnight ending February 8, upon operations in the' Talisman mine:—No. 10 level:' The values from No. 1 Bonanza block stopes average £1 Is, and from No. 2 Bonanza block stopes the values average £3 Is 6d. No. 11 level: South drive (east vein) Advanced 17ft; total 1062 ft"; "" width of eoa£ 30m;*; average of as- ..— says/"' 10s lid.' No. 11 rise—Advanced - total 62ft; width of reef, ~*" w 3iserage of assays, Is 6d; . oonc, 18m; - r'';■{s —Advanced 20ft; tonected. No. 13 vrtciSsw aq- . a ' e of tal, 52ft-; width of reei, <u^S--,„^^f. Th - assays, £6 10s; connected. \ Stop.,*:" , assays from No. 2 Bonanza block vi't average £3 4s 2d. No. 12 level: drive (off No. 3 —Started 75ffcv. west of main drive. Progress,-, 21ft, * reef; * wider than drive 'average of assays, 8s 9d. No. 13 rise—Advanced: 12ft; • total.. 188 ft; width of reef, 48in ; average of.as-/ save, £3 2s 9d. A Stoping— "assays£ from No. 1 south block stopes average £4 12s lOd, and the values from No. 2 Bod - ~ anza block stopes average £5 12s 4d. Their : leading stope off' No. 12 rise is now 1411t' south of starting point, and values for the period average £11 '19s for a- width of J" 66in. The stope off No. '7 rise (east vein);« • started 20ft above - the level, giyes values: 1 * which average £2'os 2d. No. 13. level: t»North drive (406 ft south) —Advanced 24ft; 1 total 56ft; width of reef, 18in; average offassays 10s. ,'No. 8 rise Advanced 13ft;. " total 161 ft; width of reef, 24in;- average"" of assays, £1 16s 9d. StopingThe aver- "- age of assays from stopes north of No. 1 north rise is 17s 6d. . . pv OTAGO DREDGING RETURNS. J* [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Duxedix, Sunday. '"■** The following dredging returns have been reported:—Golden Bed, 550z ldwt; Alexandra Eureka, 470z 3dwt; Electric *?• No. 2, 30oz • lOdwt; New • Roxburgh Jubilee, Z3dz 12dwt; Waikaka Queen, 260z lOdwt; Chicago, 19oz' 2dwt; Gold King, 13oz sdwt.