THE MACETOWN REEFS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1490, 5 June 1880, Page 10

THE MACETOWN REEFS.

(from oub own correspondent.)

As pach successive eeasm clones additioDa ■ roof is bein^ furnished of the value of these reefs, and the present one, which is just now about to end, has by far excelled all former ones in the actual yield of the precious metal. The total amount of gold obtained may be put 'lown at L2O 000, representing returns from four mine^ It ia true that about three-fourths of this is contributed by one mme — the famous Tipperary ; yet the 500oz taken out by the Gladstone represents a far more favourable re--nlt than any that has yet been attained at iSEacetown, or in fact in Otago. The Homeward Bound Company, which also H'lded a very fair quota to the grand total, ha,H progressed in a way that ia really surpris. ing, and rose itat-lf during the past seaoon, from almost hopelessly ruinous involvements, to the position of one of the most valuable properties on the field.

Connected with these successes is a circumH'ance which forces itpelf into prominent notice, and to which shareholders in quariz mines -vould do well to pay Home consideration. In all jthece owes tome shareholder who is interested in the success of his company, has made it his business to look after, if only periodically, the sfLirs of his company. Take tho Tipperary, which possesses in Mr H&zlett, of Dunedin, a gentleman not only watchful of his own interest, and cons'- quently of that of his company, but also an experienced miner, whose visits of inspection to the mine contribute so largely to the success it has attained, Of course I do not intend to intimate that tbe succe j s of tho Tipperary Company is due sole'y to such visits, but at the same time it cannot be denied that the satisfactory way in which the concern is being worked is mainly owing to Mr Eazlett's experienced supervision, mid that thereby he is rendering tbe shareholders in the Tipnerary an invaluable service. Further proof of the importance of a careful surveillance of miniDg companies by a shareholder is adduced by the Homeward-Bound Company. This mine, with an equally fair start as the Tipperary, was through incompetent management brought to the verge of ruin, when Mr M'Lean, a gentleman who holds a very large interest in the mine, took it upon himself to attend closely to its affairs. Almost from that very lime a change_ for the better took pl«ce, and an improvement in every branch of the business made itself felt. What makes this instance all the more striking is the ! fact that Mr M'Lean lays no claim to being a ! practical miner, yet hi* exertions completely retrieved the fortunes of his company. In the ! Gladstone Comnnny something very similar occurred, Mr Thomas Logan, who holds up. wards of a sixth share in the mine, attended at tke battery during the late crushing, and at- ■ tamed a most surprising result. Stone, very i little better in appearance than that which yielded scarcely loz to the ton, gave nearly 4oz. > Mr Thomas Logan, whose attainments as a quartz-miner are perhaps unrivalled in New Zealand, brought an extensive experience to bear, and though something good was expected, few were prepared to see him eclipse all former creshines on the field.

To still further strengthen my proposition, I KD&y illustrate it from tbe reverse sjde of the question, Let us take, for instance, the AU

Nations Company. Here is a mine containing &i leait two v/elUtlfofineti reefs, from which upwivda «f 500<'J5. was taken. A consideral h amoun tc f mouey was sunk iv this venture. A crupijing-uiaahino was erected, an expensive self-acting tramway laid, and other improvaE>anta effected ; yefc, for the want of some arrangement to complete negotiations for a low-level tunnel, costing less than L4OO, the director* allowed a whole season to pass by without doing anything, thereby inflicting a heavy loss upon the shareholders and tbe field. The All Nations mino, if properly taken in hand, would be second to none on the field, but if the directors neglect the business of the Company, and let meeting after meeting lapse for want of a quorum, nothing but disappointment aud loss can result.

The above-quoted cases illustrate the way how to do and how not to do it. The sooner those who enter ml© mining speculation begin to lock upon it as a business which requires v.i if clo-i» attention, the better for p.U concerned, It is not enough to pay calls and growl. Every shareholder in a mining company undt-rcakes a duty beyond the monetary obligation he enters into : he take 3 a part in the development of the natural resources of the Colony, and iv laying the foundation of what promises to become an important and valuable indu-try. There is nothing that repays investment in a more lavish manner than a wellconducted payable mine. Such a concern means the actual creation of wealth in a far more complete sense of the term than any other undertaking whatever. Mining shaiehoklers havo to a very large extent the prosperity of the ventures in which they interest themselves under their control.

Some agitation to establish a Mining Board has lately been set on foot, which, when accomplished, cannot but be productive of an immense amount of good. A Mining Board for Otago, iv wnicn the commercial interest is represented, to rneut in Dunedin say every other month, would bring the speculator and the miner into close communion, the result of which, is may be fairly argued, would lead to their mutual benefit. There are, of course, many other advantages to be gained from the establishment of a Wining Board for Otago; but to go into the subject fully is beyond the scape of my present article. As a few particulars of the principal claims on the field will be welcomed by those interested, I append the following notices :— THE TIPPERAEY COMPANY. This mine has up to the present maintained tbe first position on Hie field ; and from the manner in which its affairs are conducted, and to judge by the appearance of the reef, it is likdly to continue in it. The cake of 4170z which was turned out last week would have been of much larger proportions had not the continuous wet weather made the road to the mill impassable. About 200 tons was at grans, but for the above-stated reason could not he brought under the stamp3rs. Work in the mine will be continued ail winter, und, should the weather permit of it, crushing operations will be resumed at once. Tho reef continues of a uniform thickness and richness wherever it is tapped, and may safely be classed as one of the most permanent in any part of the world. The mine is in thorough good [working order, and capable of putting out payable quartz in quantities commensurate to the crushing power of the Company. THE GLADSTONE COMPANY fully maintains its refutation as the richest reef on the field. Taking the total crußbings since itR commencement, we find that 304 toup of quartz gave So3oz of gold— or an average of about 2 z 14dwt to the ton. Better results have been obtained from trial crushings at Macetown, but I question whether a higher average for a similar quantity has been reached by any other mine in Ocago. Pending some alterations iv tha mine, work has been suspended for a few days', but is now again resumed, ?.nd will be continued throughout the winter. The reef is about four feet wide, the whole of which is put through the mill. A report, emanating from a Queenstown correspondent of an upcountry paper, stated tbat the recent crushiog of 93 tons of stone, giving a cake of 3670z lOdwt, was assorted. This statement {i utterly without foundation, and I am able to give it the most unqualified refutation. The cake, after clearing off all liabilities of the Company, including a small bank overdraft, will give the shareholders a dividend of Is 6d per 12,000 th share. The reef in the mine is of a permanent nature, and promises to continue the high rate of yield per ton for which the Gladstone Company stands unrivalled. THE MARYBOROUGH COMPANY. On account of the recent rainy weather the crushing of the stone at graes from this mine is aleo interrupted, with a prejudicial effect on the result. However, what has been put through the mill has sufficiently proved the payability of the mine when all the arrangements for its being economically worked shall have been completed. Bayond this fact the crushing from this claim cannot be pronounced as satis factory. Perhaps the expectations of the shareholders were unduly excited, but -whether this be s) or not, there is no reason for despairing of attaining much better results in the yield of gold than the late crushing gave. It is to be considered in the first place that the stuff put through the mill was mixed with a great deal of mullock, as every particle brokeD from the facH of the tunnel was put into the paddock and from there passed through the batteryboxes. Another thing which detracted from the value of the crushing was thai; the loads, which were counted as tons, as is now believed, fell f«r below tha standard. To Ruch an extent wa*s tbi* the case that at one time there was some chance of consulting judicial opinion on thu matter. Although a portion of the stone averaged only lOdwt to the ton, the bst quantity put through gave l^oz for the same quantity. It willlims be seen that the average yield from this mine comes quite up to that of the field, and from which the Tipperary Company has managed to declare such highly-satis-factory dividends. THE HOMEWARD BOUND COMPANY. As i lready stated, a lemarkable improvement La 5 taken place in the affairs of this Company during the past season. The Home-ward-Bnund shows a splendid reef, the permanency of whica is altogether beyond question, as it haß already be<m traced for a distance of two miles by the Ladye Fayre and Gladstone Companies, both being situated on the Home-word-Bound lode. The main want of this Com) any, viz., ample crushing power, is about to be supplied. Up to the present this has consisted of only one battery of five heads, to which another five-head battery has lately been added, and I am informed that the directors contemplate the erection of a new water whaal 50 feet in diameter, and of two additional batteries as soon as the spring sets in. With such an increase to the crushing power of the Company it requires no prophet to predict a prosperous future for its operations. The Homeward - Bound has in its position an advantage over most companies at I Macetown. The quartz from this mine can be I delivered at the stamper- boxes at about 5a per t)u, and the present appliances are capable of conveying 40 tons of stone in a day of eigth hours. The supply of quaitz in the mine is practically unlimited, and alj that ia required

to make the Company a success is ample crushing apparatus, and tho treatment of large quantities of stone with judgment and care. THE LADYE FAYRE CO. The prospects of this Company are also improving. Some fairly- pa yable stone ha 3 lately beon struck, which there is every probability is tho same shoot from which the trial crushing of last year, yielding 3az par ton, was obtained. It is proposed to continue work all winter, if tbe weather permits, and make preparations for the systematic working of the claim next spring. THE VICTOR EMMANUEL COMPANY. It were better for the field if the energy with which this Company has gone to work were initiated by the holders of those claims which have lain dormant since the day they were pegged off. Several crushings from the Victor nave yielded about loz per ton, but owing to the narrowness of the reef and the hardness of the adjacent rock, this was found not payable. To still further prospect the reef, a contract was let for driving 100 feet on Iho reef. This has now been completed, and the Company has been so far rewarded that a reef several feet in width, carrying gold, has bean met with. It will be tested by a crushing next spring. THE NORTH TIPPERARY COMPANY. The North Tipperary aho succeeded in striking the continuation of the Tipperary reef, which at the point where it was intercepted is about 10 feet wide. As timber is required for the prosecution of the work, and as the late rain destroyed the approaches to the claim, operations had to be suspended. THE MAIN LODE COMPANY. A somewhat desperate experiment, to brave tbe rigour of the Macetown climate at an elevation of 4000 feet above sea level, is being made by Mr Thomas Harvey, the working manager. Every provision against Arctic hardships has been made, and should success attend the attempt no more need ba said about the drawback to the development of the Macetown reefs on account of the climate. The manager ia going on with a low-level tunnel, but the chances are that no news will reach the outer world until the snow disappears. THE PREMIER CLAIM. This claim furnishes au instance of what may be accomplished by private enterprise. A tunnel of nearly 200 feet ba3 been driven into the solid rock, at a cost of little over LI per j foot. That such results can be obtained at Macetown, where little so prospecting has been done on account of its anticipated expensiveness, should go a long way towards the removal of this popular delusion. Although the reef has not been struck in the Premier tunnel, the progress made with the work is in every way satisfactory. '4 CONOLUDINa BEMARKS. Satisfactory as the past season has been in the actual yibid of gold, it has also proved the true character of the field. The work done, and tbe gold returned for the labour expended, whilst it shows that the reefs must be classed as poor— the average yield of the field being about loz per ton— also undeniably demonstrates that they are payable and permanent. At one time a statement made that they were poor might have had a prejudicial effect upon the reefs ; now, however, the truth may be openly proclaimed, and from it arguments drawn of the most reassuring and favourable nature. If the Macetown reefs do not rival those of the Thames, or Printz's, of Longwood, they may safely be pronounced permanent and sure outlets for investments, yielding to the speculator a high rate of interest on the money invested, | and giving regular employment to a large number of men at a satisfactory wage. That Macetown scrip will ever run up fco giddy heights in the share market is not likely, but it may be stated with equal confidence that the Macetown mines will never suffer such lamentable and headlong collapses as have been so discouraging a feature in mining history. The fact that the Macetown reefs are, comparatively speaking, poor and safe imbues them with an element of security that will go far to attract to them an amount of attention which richer mines nowadays fail to command. Although these reefs are in a fair way of progress, and have given promise of proving a valuable addition to the wealth of the Colony, they are far from having reached the position they are destined to fill. The management^ of the mines, and the plans and systems on which they have been worked, are of a crude description—that is, speaking generally, for of course there are exceptions. This remark applies especially to the manipulation of the quartz at the crushing-mills, and the planning of the sites of these mills, of which there are now five an the field. Nearly every one of these machines has been sunk into a hole, and discharges its tailings into the watercourses in which they are situated, ■without a chance of saving and treating them except at the ex pense of manual labour. It is perhaps only natural thatthosein charge of the mills maintain that no gold of any consequence is lost, but when it is considered that on other fields the goldsaving only begins at that poiat where at Macetown the tailings are run into the creeks as refuse, their assurance appears more con. spicuous than their judgment. Two causes— leaving, of course, careless manipulation and ignorant management, as_ well as defective apparatus, out of the question — lead to the loss of quartz gold. One of these is chemical impurities in the gold itself or in the quartz which contains it, and the other the mathematical construction of the particles into which the gold i* divided. Whilst the former of these causes may bo dismissed as having little or no locus standi, the latter concerns us more closely. Trie poid in the Macetown reefs is of the description of what miners call '• paint gold "— gold merely painted, as it were, on the cleavages of the quartz, and is therefore extremely attenuated. If the particles are placed under a microscope they will mostly be found to resemble fishsciles, so thin as to be semi-trans-parent, and many of which are saucer-shaped, as if especially constructed for floating. As the nature of the above stated causes of the loss of gold suggest their own proper remedy, the cure is easily effected ; yet all the gold saving apparatus employed a 6 Macetown consists of the old fashioned tables and blanketstrakes, so that it may be presumed, with a strong show of probability, that a considerable amount of gold has been and is being lost. The astonishing results which have be«n obtained by Messrs Denny and Roberts' Patent Grinder and Amalgamator have induced Mr Bullen, who has sunk more money in reefs than any other gentlamnn in New Zea land, to send his manager, Mr Fred. Evans, to Ballarat to study the new invention, and at the same time try a parcel of stone of two tons from the Phoenix [claim, Skippers, Upper Shotover, at the works of the patentee in Ballarat. The result is watched with a good deal of interest by local re«fers, and it is to be hoped that Mr Evans will make the result of his tour public as soon as he returns. The weight of the machine is 4 tons scwt, its heaviest casting weighs 14cwt, and the cost is L2OO. It ib claimed for this machine that 90 per cent, has been Bayed, proved by tests of fire assay. The extreme fineness of the gold has also done injury to the field in another respectnamely, it tended to raise expectation by a fictitious show, far beyond what facts warranted, leading many to erroneous estimates fis to the yield per ton,

In explanation of poor and disappointing cruahings, it is often stated that a lot of mullock had been put through the mill. This assertion is not, as h popularly supposed, a more shift, but an actual fact, proceeding partly also from the fineness of the gold, and partly from a desire to add to the width of the reaf by taking adjoining strata, which, though they belong to the reef, contain little or no gold. When gold is so fine 1 as is the case in most of the Macetown reefs, it becomes extremely difficult to say what stuff is payable and what is not, until it has been put to the test.

There is still much to learn, and still more to unlearn, at the Macetown reefs before they are thoroughly understood by those in charge. A ( prolonged visit from Professor Ulrich, a course of lectures delivered on the spot on the peculiarities of the reefs, and a geological survey of the Macetown ranges would well repay the expensas incurred. In the meantime we must be taught and guided by our own failures, however dearly bought the experience may be, and trust to our successes for tha liquidation of tho loss. Happily for us, the chances are on the side of success.