THE QUARTZ REEF AT THE ARROW.

Otago Witness, Issue 652, 28 May 1864, Page 10

THE QUARTZ REEF AT THE ARROW.

The following report of Mr Mining Surveyor Wright upon this reef has. been communicated by the courtesy of Mr Warden Broad : — Mining Survey Office, Qubehssdown, 10th May. Sub — In forwarding you the plan from my survey of land for the lease of the " Arrow Reef Company," I have the honor to report that the area there indicated is situated on the south- side of the Arrow River, below and about half-a-miie firon* the Arrow Camp ; the ground in the vicinity is flat, and offers no obstacle to approach by dray traffic, so that machinery can be easily brought upon the spot. The area surveyed is 400 yards by 200 yards, or 16a. 2r. 4p., as you will see by the plan, embracing the Airow River throughout its length, no portion of which or of the land applied for being occupied by any other than, the applicant. The bedrock is seen cropping out at intervals alone tfie apparent course of the lode, thus rendering it very/ improbable that any great depth of alluvial soil or drift will have to be removed in working The vein has been opened a distance of 50 feet or thereabouts,, but proved to upwards of 100 feet along its course. The work consists of an open cutting IS or 16 feet in depth ; a few feet below the cap being highly oxydised both in the quarts and the slate reef. The sides had from previous rains fallen.' io r so as to prevent, my forming a correct estimate of the thickness of the lode; it appears, however, to vary in some places, being about 2ft. 6in., and in one place about 9m. ; the side reef showing indications of its widening out. The accompanying sketch, taken from the eastern face,; shows the form of the vein, which is banded, seeming to dipt about 80 o N,j that ot the hanging wall about 65 ° , and the underlay about 75 ° in a dip nearly opposite to that of the vein. The casing next to the hanging yt all consists of a dark slate colored clay of & greasy nature, intermixed with broken slate and quartz, and varying in thickness

•with the vein itself, under which is a loose layer of quartz, varying from 9in. to lft. in thickness ; gold is not easily perceived in this, but I believe it would pay for crushing. Next is a band of clayey matter similar to the casing, under which i 3 the quartz itself, there is no casing on the underlay ; the quartz is, in the lower part of the cutting, of a dark slate colour, mixed with slate, contains a considerable quantity of iron pyrites, and is very hard and compact ; gold may be seen in fine particles all through it; the slate walls contain more silica than is usual with neighbouring rocks.

The method at present adopted to work the claim is of the most primitive kind ; the stone when raised is broken by hammers and afterwards crushed by a light spring hand stamper, which leaves a greater portion of the quartz about the size of gram, it is then run through a cradle and sluice box lined with blanketing, and every care taken to retain the gold ; the residue is afterwards well shaken with quicksilver; much of the gold, however, goes off with tailings, where it can plainly be seen ; a considerable quantity might, by a proper process of crushing, be saved.

I was induced to try the effect of roasting the mundic, so took about one-third of a cubic foot of quartz, adopting the same method of crushing, washing, and amalgamating, and partially roasting the residue, I obtained a prospect of 1$ dwt. ; I then roasted it again, when I obtained, together with the first, 2 dwts. 5 grs. of gold ; the refuse consisting of about 2 lbs. weight of oxyde of iron, resembling coffee in appearance, and a little sand, thus showing that a considerable quantity of gold is held back from amalgamation by the raundic and cannot be removed by ordinary means. This trial allows a rate of nearly 9 ounces to the ton, and had the quartz been reduced sufficiently fine to have allowed all the gold to be extracted, I have no doubt the yield would have exceeded the rate of 12 ounces to the ton at least. I regret I could not make a trial upon a larger scale, but as all the quartz raised appeared quite equal in quality to that experimented upon, I submit it may be taken as a criterion of the value of the reef.

The river running through the ground is not likely to be worked or used for any purpose, and will, therefore, be no obstacle to the lease being granted. I beg to suggest the advisability, in granting any lease in the district, of making Buch restrictions .as shall admit of races being cut through such areas. I have, &c, W. C. Wbight, Mining Surveyor. The Warden, Arrow District,

On receipt of the above being notified to them by the Secretary, the Provisional Committee of the Arrow Quartz Mining and Crushing Company held a meeting, at which it was decided that immediate steps should be taken for the issuing of the prospectus and putting in hand the preliminary measures for forming the Company. The only fear is that the vexatious delay experienced by applicants for leases in the district may nip in the bud a very promising undertaking. Why it should take six months to communicate with Auckland on so simple a matter aa a lease it is difficult to understand, but the fact is unhappily patent; the capper mine at Moke Creek being a notable example of how the best interests of the country are neglected by the insane policy of the redtapists who rule, unhappily, the destinies of the gold fields.