THE MINES STATEMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10171, 4 October 1894, Page 3

THE MINES STATEMENT.

(Fnou Otjtb Qwk Cqbbesfonken'O Wblmnston, October 3. From the Mipes sUteaeßt of the Hori, A. J. Cadman I take the following:— , MINERAL PRODUCTION.

It will be found tlat the quantity and value of gold and silver produced far the year ending the gist December 1893 was 259,8570z. of the 'value 01 J&I22.881, while 700,643 tons of other minerals (including 5317 tons of kauri gum), of the total value of jKSH9,7!t3, were alto produced for the Game period; as »gain«t 2fi1),1320z of cold and silver, of the value of £1)58,740, and 637,295 tans.of other minerals (including kauri gum) of a value of 4,1/W,sßff, produced for the previous year. Tho details of thfa quantities and values of the difforent laiqerjs exported for the ye»r are as follow* ;— Gold, 226.8110z, of the value of £913.138; silver; 65,0760z, of the value of £9743: pjitimony ore, 331 tops, of the value of •iio-ltff; manganese ore, 31!) tons, of the value of ;£oi3; raked mineral?, 37 tons, of the value of ;5658; coal, 60.15 C tons, of the value of £72,61)9; coke, 51 tons, of the value of £53; kauri guru, faif tons, of the value of £510,775; while the coal produced and consumed in the colony amounted to U22,4J2 tons, valued at £311,306, making a total value of all minerals of £1,822,674. The value of [mid and silver produced up to the end of 1893 was .E49,454;880,and the values of other mineral* and metalliferous ores, including kauri cum, are as follow :-'Copper, £17,886; chrome, £37,367; antimony, £49,507; manganese, £56.107; hematite, .£2-« i; mixed minerals, £70,H22; kauri euro, ' .£6,Bt>o,lS6;' coal exported, £659,882; coke ex;porte.d, ; £53,643; the value of coal raised and 'Consumed In the colony being £3,842,408, making a total value of £61,078,410.

The quantity of foreign coal imported for the year ending the 31st December 1893 was 117,444 tons, of the value of jeai.BSfl. Of this «)28 tons, of the value of £6460, was, however, again, gept put of the colony. The yield of gold for ths year ending the 31st March last shows an Increase over the

previous year of ]2,043f1Z, representing, a value '." of i!53,7M.v The total yiold last yeari accord-' ing to' the customs returns: of the -quantity entered for exportation, not including the gold manufactured into jewellery, «c.,' in the colony was 247.7&20Z, representing a value of JE9J0.240, While the yield for the former year amounted to 228,6590z, hnving a value of £917,467, The increased yield last year came frum the.Auckland and* Qtago districtßj being 11,3740z andr47Bloz . re«pectiyely, while the: JMarlborough district showad a decrease in the yield over-the.former yWar of 7S3oz, Nelson 6130z, and the Went Coast 270fioz, making 'the.total increase in'thevNortH Island and .Otago 16,15592 and the total dforei^o in the other districts 41120z. Of the gold Pfo- ' ducsd last year the Auckland district contributed E2,4280z, or 2178 per cent.: of the total yield; Marlhorough and Nelson, 4i410z, or I'SJ per cent. ; the West Coast, 98,9300z. or 4VM per cent.; and 0tag0,84,9050z, or3s'2Bpercent. ~--. ••■■■ , : .■■;■*' :'- .'-.. ' , ftUAKTZ WOBIUNGS., -'.'.' ■ - ',;.'

Tbo returns furnished by the proprietors of crushing mills, which will be fouud in detail fh pages !£f to 85 of the inspecting engineer's report on the goldfielde, will chow that this branch of guld mining is steadily progressing, and the yisld

increasing. As the quartzworkings laay bo termed "tho permanent gold producing mines " of the colony, it is gratifying to find the yield of gold increasing from this source. Tbe returns referred, to show that ia tha Auckland • district 80,916 tons of quartz were crushed and 18,900 tons of tailings treated. which gave 54,3850z of gold aud 81,3890 a of bullion, representing .an estimated value 'of JE21P.651. This would be equivalent to about E5,2020z gold. The average value of the gold found in the Middle Island is about £3 19s per ez. In the Nelson district 4561 toas of Quartz yielded 9140z of gold/having an estimated va|a<S of £3610. On the West Coast 45,090 tons'of quartz yielded 5573ioznf gold, representing an estimated value of £22,015, making' a total of KiS, 190 tons of quartz and tailings crushed, -which - vixlded 12ff,2330z, of an npprexirnate value of £359,490, as against £320,28:3 for the previous year, This Bhows,that about 37J per cent, of the value of the gold obtained last year came from auriferous lodes. In connectionwith quartz workingn, I may observe that the improvements in the appliances for recovering the gold from the ctuahiid pulp have had a treat doal to do with the increased yield from the North Island last year. In some cases nearly aa much gold has been recovered from the tailings as from the crushed ore after passing through the ordinary process of gold saving. This is entirely due to the introduction of tha cyanide Vrocees. '■•■■' '■'■■- :■■ ;.- ' ; AURIFEROUS CENTRAL OTAOO. There hae been laid befoie Parliament a series of exhaustive and valuable reports upon tho olaer auriferous drifts of Central Otago, by Alexander M'Kay, F.G S., mining geologist. The reportsare admirably illustrated with a geological map of the Otage EoldtMe's and sheets of sketch sections. Mr M'Kuy concludes his report as follows:—"A perusal of the faregoing parts of this report will snow that, with respect to the elder breccia conglomerate' b«ds, thesr are not confined to the aeighbourbood of Gal riel's Gully, Weutberdtones, ana Waitahuna; that they may be looked for and prove aurifereus alone the lower hill slopes to tbe smith-east along the borders of the Toliomairiro jiliin, and over parts of the Rdtanßat* coalfield where the lower beds of the cretaceous tertiary series are exposed. Also, as has been shown' there is alarne development of the same beds in. the Horse Range from the downs on toe southwest side of the range to south peak north-east of the gorge of Trotter s Creek. The tame beds also appear in Mount Vulcan on tbe north side of the Shag river at its mouth. At Blue Spur, WVatberstones, and Waitahuna the beds are known to bs aurifereuß, and also in the Horse Range. They should be prospected1 wherever prospect Lug can lie carried on at a moderate cost, since it ran hardly be that the three localities which have been ■worked are the only placeß where theeo beds are auriferous. With respect to the older qns.rtz drifts, they have been the great source from which gold •was set free to enrich the more modern gravels at a great number of places on the Otago gold-, fields. An endeavour has been made to make it clear that these beds have not their auriferous parts arranged lite leads along an old river bed, nor in fan-shaped deposits such as might have accumulated at the mouths of rivers or lesser Btreams falling into a lake. It has been show D that the gold is found in a particular stratum or strata, which, as in the case of the Maerewhenua goldfields, extends over its entire area, or the gold may be more concentrated in particular area? of lesser extent, but still in every case it has to be considered that we are dealing with a gold-bearing stratum which has to be prospected after the manner of a coal seam. When the beds are tilted so aa to etand at considerable er high angles and are Dot overlain by younger depositu, tliey can be easily prospected by trenching along the surface of the ground; aadeven when tha dip is at moderate angles, as in Ihe Mserew&enua golflfieldF, the outcrop of the auriferous stratum is usually easily to be found. Further prospecting fhould be carried on in theso beds in the hilly country between Pigroert and Hyde at Hamiltons, under the basaltic sheet, and along the line of outcropping drifts to the Sowburn, and along the difterent lines that appear round the borders of the Maniototo Basin, Idaburn, and Poolburn Valleys, and in the Manuherikia Valley, and ■wherever the beds are met with eaßt of the Molyneux river. The newer quartz drifts and breccia conglomerates of "inkurtf, Urvbread, and sosr-e other places along the south-east base of the Duastan mountains should be further proflpected in the same way. The great difficulty in

the way of tho further development of alluvial mininir in Otagq is the scarcity of water and the difiiculty of b.inciuftan abundant supply ou to :aay paces wheie hyilrai\lic sluicinc could be carried on.prontably. The measure of the'water available i.«, tbeie'nre, that which wu.it determine tho rate of prorfriss and liioiia« of Ihis form of B»ld mining In iha diatriot examined at Fullerton's, Hyde, Hamlltonß,Bhcks.No. 3St. Buthans, and several other places, very rich driving ground was met with in the quartz drifts, bat it was never apparently rightly understood under what cqnditions the gold stratum had been deposited, and as a consequenoa 'prospecting by shafts in the deeper ground was usually adopt« 3 when the stratum might huve been followed at the surfoce. It is hoped that this report has thrown some light on the subject, and th»t_ future prospecting will be carried on for driving or sluicing ground, not by the costly method of deep shaft sinking, but hy followioc the outcrop of the auriferous gravels where these have been- proved, and by trenches cut across the belt of drift country where the gold-b«»ring stratum has 'not beep determiued. Of the newer quartz drifts and breccia conglomerate? on Oriffel face, O»rJrona Vallty, much cannolsas yet be said, but it is a field that is very well worth prokp-otina, siuce it may prove to be continuously auriferous from opposite the Cardrona township: to the mouth of the valley near Mount B»rker. Of tho newer miocone or older pliocene conglomerates, locally known as 'maEri bottom,'these' may not at luiny places be rich in gold, but they are at the present time being worketi at several placw, notably ifi Bwitzer», and indicate a source of gold that is pmctically inexhaustible: - 'The old high lovel lake terr*c«s at the Grown terrace, Arrowtown,' '.Frenchman')), and Midrun, in the Upper Olutba Valley, show that at siinilarleyelß sit otherlopali ties like de(,o,its of an auriferous character may be'fonntK.'" ,' ' ■ V ; ;' ■ ■ : ■ ;■