MINING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4174, 5 July 1875, Page 2

MINING.

We cannot report much activity in mining for the past month. The follow*ing will give a good idea 6f what has been done, since our last summary:— ■ Our "Arroyv correspondent iuforrns' vis that the Arrow River United Company' started their new turbine (Leffel's) on the 14th ult It worked highly satisfactorily. - It is a great improvement; upon .the oMone. The. pumps made 20 lifts pep minute, with only half the supply of available water. With considerably/, more water, under the old system, the pumps only made 10 lifts per minute. From the perusal of a letter from Orpnxr well, kindly placed at our disposal by a gentleman in .town, we learn that ,tha. prospects of the Heart of Oak Company are brightening up. The * contractor thinks that there is.every probability of getting the reef at present being worked by the Star of the East Company, which, by the way, is now turhiDg out exceedingly good stone. The letter goes onto say that the shareholders have good faith, in the mine, but that they know a certain amount of outlay must be incurred befora it is possible to reach the reef. It issug-

TBoue-l that by next spring the Cromwell district, bo far aa reefing ia concerned, ■will be in a very favourable position, as 'there are several reefs now getting good atone, but the crushing will not take place tUT the spring. The half-yearly meeting of shareholders in ! the Lucknow Gold Mining Company was held in the office of Messrs M'Landress, Hepburn, and -Co., Manse Sltreet.f on Friday, the 18th ult. The directors' report, showed satisfactory progress, the tunnel workings being much enhanced through the acquisition by the Company of the whole. When last worked, this reef waß six feet in thickness, yielding half an ounce to the ton, and the lode was dipping towards the Xucknow. The mining manager's report also spoke. of the exceedingly good prospects of the Company. There is now an ample supply of water for mining purposes all over the goldfields. Although the falls, of snow have ■been heavy the frost has continued to be light, consequently—except in very exposed places—mining operations can be carried on briskly: At DryWead, Messrs Cfreenbank and Co. are enabled to use at one time 40 sluice-heads, of-water. This Company employ four jets, at a pressure «f about 120 ft. perpendicular, and employ 4500 ft. of iron piping. About ten heads of •water pass through the jets, the remaining thirty heads being used as flushing water. The Company are enabled to sluice away, or rather dissolve, about one acre of ground per month, at an average of 18ft. in depth. The Welshman's party, Holland and Co , at the same place, are doing remarkably •well. Their last washing up, which took place a fortnight since, realised £14 per week a man. The sluicing claims at Tinkers have a full .supply; of water. "'Blue Duck Company" wi}l soon have Ilieir. second jet of water, at a pressure of liOft;, into operation. The Company s Tbrope'rty is, without a doubt, one of the Jricheat sluicing claims in Otago, and al- \ though it is only workable six months .out xfi. the year, the profits .amount to something like 100 per cent, upon the capital employed. The very general fall of ram and anow, coupled with the mildness of the season, promises to prove it a very profitable one for hydraulic mining. The Lucknow Company, Bendigo, have commenced opening up their new reef, the top of which ■ wa% struck in their tunnel during Mr Ulrich's visit in January last. Mrßasanko, the manager, informs us that the stone shows.gold freely. Communication having been established between the tunnel and the old workings, there is now plenty of st-jhe to crush. In all probability the Company will increase the power of their crushing plant, and substitute one of Leffel's turbine wheels in the place of the one already in use. Slrßasanko wa3 much pleased with the ■working of the Leffel's turbine just erected by Messrs Sparrow and Co. for the United Arrow Company, A/row Flat. Our Arrowtown correspondent writes -on the 21st ult.—" Messrs Southberg and Olson, of the New Year's. Gift Eeef, Skippers, furnished a crushing last week of 170 tons, which yielded 1270z lOdyvt. The work of getting the stone and passing it through the machine was all performed "by three men in sixteen weeks. After payment of all expenses, the dividend was equal to £9 per week a. man. The Phoenix Tribntora have come on some very good stone. After getting out about 100 tons of six or seven dwt. to the ton stuff, a leader of about a foot thick came in from the hanging wall, when gold Bhowed in considerable quantities. Some of the specimens, if taken by themselves, anight yield 40 or 50 ounces to the ton, "but, taking the reef as it is, and it. is quite probable that the present find is the same shoot ©f gold as the old Scandinavian Company lost, it should yield an average of eight ounces to the ton. , It has always i>een thought that when the gold was first lost in this claim that it ran off into the hanging wall, but succeeding managers elected to search for it in the foot wall, and consequently never found it. The present lucky find is only an accident. It will be absurd to form any very sanguine ©pinion of the ultimate yield, as the Scandinavian is only a block reef, its structure rapidly alternating between 1 nuariz and mullock ; still there is every probability that the present shoot ;of atone may yield many hundred ounces of gold. The tributors expect to be able to liave their machinery ready for crushing in the course of a fortnight: The reef is ■between six and seven feet in thickness, xuns eaat and west, and; underlays to the north at an angle some thing, like 70 degrees, with a tendency \o a more vertical position—a very good sign, go far as experience teaches. The tribute is 15 per cent, to the owners of the mine—the Messrs Bnllen. The owners' agent is Mr 3T. W.- Evans, late manager of the once famous fehotover Terrace Co.