MINING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10595, 12 September 1896, Page 6

MINING.

• ' NOTES FROM LYELL.

(From Our Own Corespondent.) 1 Lyell, September 11. The manager of the Lyell Creek Company reports as follows :—"The north drive has extended a further distance of 7ft, making tbe total length of driving ,43ft. The driving at present is Bft wide, all clean stone, and very hard. There ia no change inthe quality of the fctone." , The master of the Cocksparrow dredge reports for tbe week as follows:—"We started dredging on Monday last, after putting in the driving wheel and pinion. ■' Our return is 38oz 17dwt 12gr of amalgam for 100 hours' dredging. iTliis is from the mats. I .will clean down the boxes and wash up oh Monday next"

NOTBS PROM AUCKLAND.

1 Auckland, September 11. More business was tiansacte^ori 'Change to-day in consequonce' of holders evincing a disposition to meet buyers in the matter of prices. The following are the quotations for shares in leading mines on the Auckland share market :—

City.of Auckland 2s 2d\ Gelden Opportunity sd, Hazelbank 4s 5d.. Kuraka Queen 4d. Lone Hand 10u, May Queen 10s 3d, Moanataiari Extended 6d, Monnataiari North' (id, Alburnia ss, New Wh.nu Brt. Tararua Cre^k Bd, Ajax 4Jd, Golden Link Is 4ri, Juno iljd, Jupiter pa tfd, Maori Dre»m Is sd, Central 3s sd, Day Dawn. 3d, Golden Giant sd, Huana'ls 4d. Komati 74. Mungakara United Is, Siarinerle, Oceania Is Id, Ohineiuuri tid, Queen of W»ihi Is 6d, Rothschild sd, Russell lid, Stanley lid, Sterling Sd. Teutonic 5Jd, Victor ss, Waihi Dredging 3d, Waihi South- ]s7d, Waitekauri No. '2s 7d, Wealth of Nations M, Woodstock 51s 6d, Young New Zealand Is 3d, .Prince of Wale* Bd, Rising Sun 7rt, Crowu Imperial 7d, Buffalo 7d, Bunker's Hill 7s 7d, Coromandel Freehold Is 3d, Kureka sd, Great Kapanga Is Id, Hauraki South ls'7d, Pigmy sd, Progress Castle Rock Is 3d, Criterion Is 2d. ■ /

NOTES FROM WAKATIPU.

• (Fjiom Our Own Correspondent.) Arrowtown, September s.—The recently published report of the .Dunedin Miners'.Association (iocs not disclose a flourishing state of affairs, Those who have an intimate acquaintance with the existing conditionsof whit may be. called "individual laming" will not be surprised at the result, which in point of fact could not have been much different under the existing circumstances. Tlis originators and. workers in the mavenpent have the satisfaction of knowing that they did all that could be'done upon the ba«is of opsrations which they sketched out as the field of their laboiirs. Nevertheless it would be a pity to allow the-lessons the movement conveys to vanish unimproved. The ■ first and plainest of these lessons is. that Ihe easily obtainable.gold which may be made " tucker" yielding is gone., In this Ol;ago is not singular. In' California, Victoria — in fact in every country where alluvial gold has heen mined—the case is the same. It is iv the very nature of the distribution of gold that the easiest obtainable should be found and picked up first. This, however, does not say that all the 'alluvial gold has been, exhausted and that there ia no use to continue the. search. Yet this istne conclusion that many arrive at who (jive theaub.ject only superficial thought. There are upon a'l the goldlields of Otago many chances of rich rewards, but they are surrounded with difficulties and, it must not be left out of the consideration, with risks few miners are in a position to face. .This remark does not apply to freehold property, but to Crown lands accessible to the miner. This brings us to the secoud lesson, which' clearly points to the combination of working miners and contributing shareholders participating in the profits. This is not by any rue*ns a new idea, the only surprise being that the system has not yielded more general and better satisfaction to all concerned. It is in this direction lhat a revival in mining may be looked for in spite of the many disappointments the system bristlet with. - t THE ACHIM.ES OOLDFIELDS COMPANY. A start has been made at crushing in this mine with the full power of 30 heads'of stamper< driven by direct water power applied to a Pelton wheel. Everything is working with perfect satisfaction, and as most of the recently-undertaken works are 'bow completed their effects upon the prospects of the mine may. be put before ihe public, more especially so as an exposition of what has been accomplished will serve to illustrate an element 'of success that, so far as Otago it concerned, has been far too much neglected. . Mr Freil Evans, the general director of the company, believes in contract. work where it is applicable, and a long expsrience supports the soundness of his judgment on this point. Stone is being raised from No. 4 level by underhand (.toping at 10s per ton. Underhand stopiug has to be resorted to temporaiily : b»cau*e No. 5 level (or the new level) is not yet sufficiently advanced to afford room for v large number of men to be employed at back or overhand stopiog. So soon as this shall be the case the stone can be raised at Ss per ton. The face of- No. 5 levnl is being pushed ahead with all possible speed, being kept going night aad day at a cost of 10s per foot for driving. ■ . No. 2 level, crosscut making for the Promised Land lode, is close upon.cutting the lode. There is a large amount of stone on this lode easily available fiom the adit level to No. 4 level. There is also a large stope at the adit level under tbeold Phcenixdr Scandinavian iuns of gold, which so far have not been met with in the deep ground of the present mine. , ," This Titumt of the lodes and works in toe mine conveys an idea of its capabilities, and the masterful way iv which they are turned to account reflects great credit upon the manager. It is estimated that the yield of gold will range from lOdwt to 20dwt per top, and as the 3800 tons already treated under the old system cost £3700 for niiuing and milling, or lesa than .£1 per ton, it will be seen that even the lowest estimate leavts a. high perceutase of profit over and above working expenses. It cannot at the present date be paid' by how much the recently-effected improvements will teduca this coßt ot £\ per ton for tniniug mid milling the quartz, and it must also be borne in mi»d that the high race from the left hand branch of the Shotover to work thn new pumps is not yet completed, and that until it is brought to bear the present expensive method of working must keep up the cost to near its present rate, but whon once the high race is finished it is safe to say that the cost of working the mine will be materially reduced. The battery in its present state is estimated to treat 40 tons of stone per day—an autput that is not equalled by many mines in New Zealand. . ■>■

i Gratifying and reassuring as all this may ba from a shareholder'^' point of view,- if has, looked at in,a broad light, a wider and more important application. One of the reasons that quartz-mining iv New Zealand has lagged behind the performances in other mining districts is the high cost of raising and milling stone, and many ii promising mine has been wrecked on this and no other rock. Mr Evana, by coining as near to solving the problem as possible, has not only rendered mining a.service but has conferred a benefit upon the whole colony.' ' Nor was this achievement brought about by any fortuitous or especially favourable circumstances, for it can be easily imagined that Eullendalc, at the very head, of Skipper's Creek, does' not offer many, if any, facilities in the way of transit of heavy machinery and goods of any kind. What Mr Evans has achieved has been brought about by his energy and grasp of the subject he had to deal with, and from this we may. draw the inference that what has been attained at Bullendale may also be successfully undertaken elsewhere now that Mr Evans has shown the way how to do it, and that stone yielding sdwt to the ton can be made to pay in any part of New Zealand. , .' ' The discovery of a new lode even closer to Arrowtown than the Criterion ie, aa may easily be imagined, much discussed. The owners of the new lode are Messrs It. Payne, 0. Trainor, and J. Flsnnery. The lode runs parallel with the Criterion, and ao far an it has been laid bare about 2ft wide, some quite hapdsoroe specimens having been bliowu. The party is how busy developing theirfind.andafew.weeks will probably decide the value of the lode or otherwise. At the Crown Terrace what is known' as Cornish'a reef has been taken up afresh, and will very likely be subjected to a thorough trial.

The Alexandra Herald says there ia every instability of a boom taking place in mining in this district shortly, as several properties are now on the Home market, and. from latest advices it is almost definitely decided to take them over. In every case a good working capital is provided. The Roxburgh correspondent of the same paper writes :—" I he»r on good authority that an offer h«B been made by a'wealthy syndicate for the purchase of Messrs Parker and party's reef in Campboll's Gully. I also hear that the stone assayed ■went Coz to the ton. The Plcaiant Valley Company's claim, for some time en lease to a couple of eatoiprisiug minero, may yet h» ft good ep«c, Tbe

return for Jnly. wa» 390z, that for August being 340z gold. The lease expires in a couple of months, after which time the shareholder* will only be too glad to takft the claim over again, judging from tho prestnt prospects."

■ BUSINESS DONE. Sales. Sellers. Buyers. • ' . , , s. d. a. d. Comet .... , .... lOd, lOJd 0 10J , 0 10 Golden Point ... 2s Id, 2s Sd 2 3 2 2 May Queen Extended Is4d, Is 3d , 15 13 ifoanaUiari 15s 15 3 14 9 i'uru Consolidated ... 58,4d 5 8 5,4 Royal ... ... Is 6d. Is 7d 1 7 1'5 Sheridan 4s5d, 4s fill 4 7 4 5 Victoria " 3s 9d 3 10 3 S Big Reef la .Id 16 — MataReef... ...' ... ; 5Jd 0 8. 0 51 Aorere .„ Is-id 1 fi 13 Kapai-Verraont ...10s9d,10il0d 11 0 .10 10 Albert ' ... Is lid 2 2 1 10 Byron Bay • Is5d 16- 15 Grown . ... 50s> 52 6 47 6 Fiery Cross ... Is 2d, 3s Id 13 12 Grace Barling ... 4s 8d, 4s 6d 4 6 4 4 Heitmaa Freehold" .... 3fd 0 5 — Hercules ... ... ... la &1 . 1. 9 17 Imperial ... 2s fid 2 7.2 (i Ivanhoe ...' ... ... Is 7d 18 16 Komata Triumph ... Is 3d 1 5 1 2 Nonpariel... ■ ... 9Jd, lOJd 1-0 0 10J Vandora ... ... lid, Hid 0 Hi 0 11 l'orttea ... 2s 10.1 3 0 '29 Souvenir ; ... Is 3d 14 12 Sybil ... 8d 0 9 0 8J Talisman 18s 3d 18 fi 18 3 Talisman Extended ... 2s 8d 2 8 2 7 Waihi Consols In Id 12 10 "Waihi Extended ... Is Id 12- 10 Waihi Silverton... ...53j. fifis Efi 0 53 0 Wait.ikauri Prince lid, lljd 0 11 0 10 Waverley ... . ... 2a 4d, 2s Kd 2 10 ■ 2 7 Waibi Beef ... .,. Is 5d 1 6 13 Bay View ... 2s 2rt 2 3 2 2 Uukeof Argyle ... ,.. 10tl 0 11 — Four-iu-Hand ..-. ... 2s 7d 2 8 2 7 HauraUiNo.2 2a 9d. 2 10 2 8 Harbour View ... ... 7d 0 8 — Morning Star M>id 0 10* — Pride of Tokatea... .;. 2s 54 2 5 2 4 Pukewhau . ... ... lOd 0 11Welcome Find 4s Sd 4 9 4 7 Zealandia 2s 2 1 2 0