THE THAMES GOLDFIELD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1159, 14 February 1874, Page 10

THE THAMES GOLDFIELD.

We are very glad to receive such cheering assurances as those conveyed by telegram on Wednesday, of the late find in the Caledonian mine being other than superficial ; and also, that the find has been followed by another of greater importance in the drive going in towards Tookey's, at the4oo feet level of the United Pumping Association's shaft — which shaft, we may observe, is sunk in the Imperial Crown Company 's ground. As the name implies, the undertaking was co-operative, and, we may add, on the part of the Golden Crown, Caledonian, Imperial Crown, and Tookey Companies. Its object was to open out and test the deep ground of this part of the field, and to provide an outlet for the water from the above-named mines. A vast amount of time, labour, capital, and skill has been expended by the Association in the prosecution of this, by far the most important work of the many at the Thames. The shaft has been sunk through solid rock country— the trachyte formation of the district— to a depth of 400 feet, and when we add that the pump-lifts used are 25 inches in diameter, and the cylinder of the engine 82 inches in diameter ; and also that£6o, ooo have alreadybeen expended on the undertaking, our readers may form someidea of its magnitude. The main lode of the locality — the Caledonian — dips into Tookey's and the Imperial Crown, and from what we can gather from the telegram in Wednesday's issue, it has been cut in the drive put in for the Association's shaft, at a level of 400 feet from the brace of the shaft, or about 380 feet below sea level. The shaft was sunk at about 150 yards above high -water mark. The thickness of the reef is quoted at 3 feet, and where it is cut, must bo very close to the boundary of the Tookey mine. Two

.tests have been applied to the -lode — [viz., a bank or chemical teat, which | practically is valueless ; and secondly, the working test of the crushing machine, which, providing that the stone received fair play— in other words, that "salting" was not resorted to — may be accepted as a conclusive evidence of its value, or rather of the value of that part of the reef from which it was taken. At first sight the return of the machine test, £oz. to the ton, may seem poor, but considered relatively with the depth gained, and with the fact of the absolute barrenness of the lode on the same line of overlie at 200 ft. higher up, it becomes invested with an importance far in excess of its absolute value. Moreover, where the lode has been cut must be on the extreme western edge of the line of the shot of gola that traverses the reef, aud therefore very much richer return? may be looked for when the lode is opened out and followed to the eastward, across the line of the shot Great importance is to be attached to this find, for it demonstrates beyond dispute that gold in paying quantity does exist at a great depth in the Thames district. The account given of the Caledonian mine is also good, the workmen being still on gold, whilst the specimens yielded at the rate of nearly 1 oz. of gold to the pound weight of stone. We are inclined to take a very hopeful view of the future of the Thames field, but at the same time we would warn goldminers that it is a place where individual enterprise unbacked by capital is absolutely thrown away. The results we have commented on above have been won by only the united efforts of capi • tal and labour, and the introduction of very high class mining skill. The mining community proper of the Thames consists of two classes —capitalists and labourers — and we can very plainly see that this distinction will become more and more strongly defined as the development of the deep ground progresses. Mines once well known and often quoted, will lose their individuality in I the co-operative sjhemes, which must be resorted to if the ground is to be worked properly, and that means the fusion of the interests of existing Companies to provide the necessary capital for sinking deep shafts, and driving long tunnels, through i intensely hard country, and also to provide the latest and most approved and therefore j expensive appliances used in the extraction |of gold from its matrix. These facts are j incontrovertible, and wjll, we linpe, be duly i appreciated and considered by the miners of this Province, who may also take heart from the success achieved by their Thames brethren. If gold lies so deep at the Thames, it may be confidently looked for at similar depths here, notwithstanding that the reef systems of the two places are so very different. There the lodes lie in trap formation — here in the primitive slates, schistose, and I sand stones ; and hence our country resembles Victoria, wkere gold has been tra-ced 1000 feet deep in the lodes. We should like to see a little more enterprise expended upon the development of the reefing resources of I this Province ; and we daresay that as capital increases, a fair shave of it will be diverted into mining channels, to foster undertakings that promise permanent good results.