MINING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8456, 1 April 1889, Page 2

MINING.

NOTES FROM REEFTON. (Fbom Oub Own Correspondent.)

Reefton, March 31. ' AJ The following are the battery returns for the, iS; past week:—Keep-it-Dark, 6600z amalgam from1 ?/'" 144 tons; Globe, 4340z amalgam from 125 tons ; "TfJJ^ Sir Francis Drake, 7£oz amalgam for the week • *"/ Big River Extended, 2620z amalgam from 90 -^'V tons; Reform, 260z gold from 56 tons of stone. .-*"*"

Golden Treasure.—The mine manager reports:—"Duriug the month we have repaired the old Band of Hope winze a distance of 200 ft. We have also cleared out a small tunnel driven by the old company *to the north of the winze 40f fc. On the 14th we opened out on the back of the tunnel mentioned above, and have driven the leading stope a distance of. 40ft. We have also opened out No. 2 stope, which ha - been driven 18ft. The reef continues the same size as when I last reported on ifc. Gold shows freely in the stone. During the week we have sent 12 tons to the battery. We have altogether broken between 40 and 50 tons. . We intend to start crushing on Monday next."

Big Kiver Extended.—The mine manager reports : —" From 90 tons of stone crushed I got from the top plates 2500z 13dwt and from the berdans 12oz amalgam. The stone is making in the stopes, coming south over the level reef 3ft thick. I intend starting three shifts extending the level north on Monday morning. We hava been timbering up the main level this week. I will keep the battery going full time nexfc week if possible. We had two stoppages this week through the old belting breaking. The new one will be on next week." "

Globe.—The mine manager reports:—"During the month ihe west reef has been timbered up to the face. The reef is sft in width, with very good gold in it.* As soon as the drive is in far enough we will start stoping. There is a nice little reef in the bottom level No. 2 going east. It is 4ft in the face, and has the appearauce of making larger as it goes up. In No. 1 level the reef is 4ffc 6in, and opening on the hanging wall. The length driven on the reef is 168 ft. The stopes are all looking well. Tha battery returns for the month (four weeks) give 3340z of retorted gold from 615 tons. Several days' crushing were lost owing to delay in fixing the new rope on the aerial tram line."_

Venus Extended.—The mine manager reports:—" During the week the intermediate has been driven t, making the distance north of the main winze 148 ft. The reef is 4f fc thick at present, showing gold. The rise was holed to the intermediate yesterday, and we will finish timbering in to-day."

Gallant.—The mine manager reports that he has cut through the reef, and the width of stone in the bottom of the winze is 3ffc.

Progress.—-The mine manager reports that the contractors sunk 13ffc in the winze during the week, and that the foot wall mis. gone square With the stone, and the gold is quite as good as ever it was in the winze.

Keep-ifc-Dark.—The general cleaning up took placo to-day, the five "weeks' crushing yielding 6240z of retorted gold from 868 tons. The directors willmeefc on Monday next for the purpose of declaring the usual dividend.

Sir Francis Drake,—The battery returns for the past week show a slight improvement. The manager reports that there is no change in the appearance of fche mine.

Scotia.—The level has now been driven to within 16f fc 'of the bottom of the winze, and the connection should therefore be*, made within the next fortnight.

Inkerman.—The mine manager reports: " The contractors started work on the 4th inst., and have driven the levels north andsouth from the shaft a distance of 89ft. The stone for the distance has not had a break in it, and will average 18in wide and showing good gold. The total distance driven on stone is 105 ft. In the south end" the stone is over 3ft wide, and appears to be making wider. The winze has been sunk 22ft, aud there is stone all across one end and along the north side of the winze. I bored a hole in from the side 3ft deep, and ifc was nofc through the stone. I got a splendid prospect from the borings. 1* think the stone wiil be all over the bottom of the winze in a shift or two. We will have the aerial tram in working order about Wednesday next." Reform.—The return of 260z of gold from 56 tons from the crushing nofc beiug payable, work has been discontinued for the present.

WAKATIPU MINING NOTES.

(Fbom Oue Own Coeeespondent.) ' - Aeeow, March 30. . Mr Sew Hoy's dredge at Arthur's Point. Shotover, obtained £40 on Thursday last for one day's dredging. There has been some excitement among the men working the dredge, in consequence of which, according to latest accounts, the batch has been sacked.

A GOLD SAVING MACHINE. (Peb United Peess Association.)

on, +_- i *xv Wellington, March 31. lhe trial of the gola saving machine iuvented by Mr R. E. Evenden was made yesterday alternoon, at which there was a large attendance, including Sir Wm. Fitzherbert, Speaker of the Legislative Council, and Mr Reeves, M.H.R. for Inangahua. The machine is a very ingenious application of diggers' panning out process on a large scale, and is well adapted for the extraction of fine gold from sand such as. is found on the West Coast of the South Island. The trial

was a very successful one, but the actual result will not be knewn for a few days, as an analysis is to be made t>f some of the same stuff as was iPnt-fchnauißk., and also .of the tailings.

THE NENTHORN REEFS. {(Feok Ous Own Ooeebspondent.)

The Mjuery of " What is being'doae st Nenthornf'.has frequently of late* feet my long tears. I now propose to answer it. Had I not •been absenfcfor some tlixtb on business it is provable .there would.Wb been no necessity for such an inquiry, git avant. Matters are going on, as expressed in that familiar phrase, "as well as can ba expected"; and what more so'uld a>e wished for.? AU the claims— i:b/, licensed holdings—which seems to me to be only a .euphemistic title fer gold rmfiihg leases-applied •foe -on the field, were granted at Macraes ,Bn Wednesday lKs* U? Warden Wood, and •all the claimh-jMa-s are putting on two •men each te thoroughly test; their acqui-. sition. I lYelieve the Croesus Company,; which inches the Hibernian and Old Ireland,1 are ahovJo to place their properties on the anarkgfc thus: 100,000 shares of 10s eacb, of whic'n only 20,000 are offered to the public, and ■w^en 2s each has been paid up on that number the whole company are to "anSc up." lam not a sharebroker, and if my "phraseology is not ■quite technical I must stand excused. I can isafely predict, however, that such a contingency anst likely to arise, as I will presently show. "The company's property consists of three 80-acre ■leases in which gold , can be traced throughout ■the entree length. In the Crcesus and Hibernian, tfche reef bas been opened up for 15 chains, and in •every place tested the prospects are phenomenal. A <xmtracfc has been let 'to sink a shaft on the ■isjnndaries of the two above claims. It is now down 25ft. The reef is remarkably solid and in -character, and shows splendid •geld from trail to wall.the width being ia -jft> -place less than 2Jft. The company ha-re pur--ohased the battery (10 heads) oi fche iate Canada ■Reef Company, near Tokomairiro, and this will •be immediately removed and erected on the 2-Tenthorn creek, where tho company possess the water right; so I expect ere winter closes this ■enterprising company will have realised the cor•rectness of its title. Ashby and Co., adjoining *he above, are sinking a shaft, and aw bringing .splendid stone to grass daily. Still further -Tvest, on the same line, Kenny and Co. -ate-.sinking; they are down 25ft, and the gold .still continues as good ss formerly chronicled. • A newly "opened oisim adjoining the Break •o* Day, called the Zealandia, shows 6 j£ e n en t; gold,. This 4ae runs nearly paralhi". 'and about 3,5 chains "from the Crcesus line, with which it probably ultimately corirerge. The "Victoria a.few days ago 'despatched three tons •of stone to the Balkt'at School of Mines, Vic•torfa, to be tested, which fact does not reflect cauch credit on our very paternal Government which -professes to do so [much for the mining -industry. Sl'Millan and party, the prospectors •of Nea&orn, had a return of nearly 3oz per -ton from their second trial crushing at Siwraid and M'Queen's 'battery, -Dunedin. As -"tiftß parcel -of four tons >»as taken from two 'ihafts nearly 20 chains apart, it may be conceded that their prospects are good enough. . *3?his party-have not yet decided, I believe, what 'direction their future operations will take"; but ■Ai they sheald place their property on the market tb*. public will have a c_.-vu_e to go into <a real food spec. The Nasebyv' syndicate " are ; abost to erect a battery, and are now setting ~ottfc the course of their water race. A prospector, Mr M'Gfrsth, has been showing some splendid stone from a locality some distance .ifrom here. Particulars not yet disclosed, so I •can say nothing further about it at present. Mr Gordon, inspector of mines, was •*up _.cre_ a week ago, and was highly ■pleased_with the place, which he is reported to - daresaid "will be a second Thames," and he thinks a heavy-battery should atonce be erected, - »but whether he meant by Government or pri■■vate enterprise _ cannon precisely determine. Business seems to be lively, and most of the residents are settling down and making preparations for the winter campaign. I don't think that dread season to the miner can be very ,*evereat Nenthora judging from the splendid -sole of grass everywhere seen. The snow cannot lie very Song. The -Kenttiorn goldfield appears bow to be fairly launched, and with good guidance I see nothing to prevent it blos- , *oming into one of the very hest quartz mining .districts in New Zealand. -

The Dunstan Times understands the promoters, who have taken in hand the floating of the Tinkers mining properties into one consolidated company, are quietly but earnestly to that end. Mr Beal, mining engineer, has been on the spot obtaining all informatiou,_and Professor Black is expected to pay the Socality a visit immediately on his return from -ihe Tasmanian tin mines. ■