MINING NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15821, 19 January 1915, Page 5

MINING NEWS.

WAIHI GRAND JUNCTION.

DEVELOPMENT OF LOW

LEVELS

PROGRESS OF OPERATIONS.

[nr TELEGRAPH.OWN" correspondent]

Waihi, Monday. Since the Herald representative's previous visit of inspection to the underground workings of the \Yuihi Grand Junction mine the development of the reef system at depth has been vigorously prosecuted.

On the Empire reef, at No. 7 level, , where the ore body is in three distinct branches, the first or hanguigwall branch, intersected at 118 ft south of the main , shaft, has been followed west for 380 ft, Of which 150 ft shows quart/. of good | value, the balance being low grade. Going east from the main south-east crosscut the branch has been driven upon for 160 ft, and good grade ore has been exposed over an average width of sft for the full distance. The second branch cut at 143 ft south of the shaft, and generally referred to as the Empire proper, has l>oen followed 260 ft west, and is carrying nice sulphide ore all tho way. Going east, the main Empire drive is out 350 ft from the south-east crosscut, and the footwall section has carried good ore all along, but for the last 100 ft driven tho quartz on tho hangingwall side of tho lode has been low grade. On the third Empire branch, known as the footwall leader, the drive west is out 280 ft from the south-east crosscut, and has exposed high-grade sulphides for the full distance over a width varying from 60ft to 12ft. The footwall leader going east junctions with the second or main Empire branch between 30ft and 4C't from the south-east crosscut. Driving both ways on the Royal Reef ! is in progress, about 40ft having been driven east and 50ft west. The face i shows 10ft of solid quartz, all of which ! is going to the wall, and on the western ' extension the lode carries good ore over i a narrow width up to the face, where the reef appears to have split. Cross- \ ] cutting has been commenced at this point to determine what has happened. At No. 6 level the drive east on the Empire I reef is out about 1450 ft from the southeast crosscut, and over 500 ft beyond the | belt of faulted country. The drive is following a lode 10ft wide in a good class | of country rock, but the quartz is of low i value. j The installation of the first unit of the j high lift Turbo-pumping plant in the main j shaft is now well advanced, and the j pump, which will lift upwards of 40,000 gallons of water hourly, throwing it I direct to the surface, should be in com- ' mission by the end of February. The I sinking of the shaft for an eighth level, j which has been considerably delayed by ' the accumulation of water through the '• stoppages of the Waihi Gold Mining Company's pumps, will then be resumed, and should go on without interruption. During the recent holiday period the milling plant underwent a thorough overhaul, and with 50 of the 60 available stamps in use quartz is being crushed at the rat© of 10 000 tons for the four weekly period. With the full complement of stamps falling, a further 2000 tons of ore could bo handled monthly, making a total of 12.000 tons. It is, therefore, not anticipated that any further expenditure for additions to the battery will be found necessary during the current year. OCCIDENTAL CONSOLIDATED. The ore broken in the stones on No. 2 reef, Occidental Consolidated mine, Thames, continued to prove very promising last week. The south stope over No. 5 level showed dabs if gold freely, and a few pieces of stone carrying "strong gold were picked out. Some nice gold was also seen in the ore below No. 5 level, and about 61b of picked stone were obtained from this place. Nice dabs of gold were showing in the stope on the Occidental reef.

MOUNT LYELL. The progress report of the work done at the Mount Lyell mine, Tasmania, for the month ended January 6, 1915. states that the main shaft was sunk to 73ft, below No. 8 level. At the North Mount Lyell mine, No. 2 engine winze was down to 91ft. below tho 1100 ft level. During the half-year, 2020 tons of blister copper •were consigned to the electrolytic refining and smelting works, Port Kembla, for refining.