NOTES FOR THE WEEK. The Mines. NOTES FOR THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, 25 December 1880, Page 11

NOTES FOR THE WEEK.

The Mines.

The return from the top plates of the Golden ileece Extended Company, Reef ton, for last week ia 2510z of amalgam from 138 tons ot atone. The Ne. 4 level still carries three feet of a lode.

Mr J. 11,I 1 , Watson received a telegram from Reaflon on Friday, stating that the return from the United Alpine Company was 300oz. of amalgam from 160 tons of quartz.

The yield from the United Alpine Company, Lyell, for the week was 300 iz amalgam from 160 tons of quartz. The Keep-ie-Dark Company, Reef ton, for 10 days, 2390z 15dwt amalgam from 240 tons of quartz from the top plates only.

An extraordinary meeting of shareholders o£ the Caledonian Goldmining Company, Macetown, was held on Monday at the office of Mr Andrew Hamilton, the legal manager of tha Company, when the appointment of directors was confirmed. The Company have made a call of threepence per share for the purpose o£ driving a tunnel at a low level to strike the reef, which has been traced all along the Com* pany's ground. This property is next to the Geraldine claim, which adjoins the Tipperary^ and is about 700 ft in length. The Companj expect to strike the reef in a short time, whe v a trial crushing will ba made afc the Public Battery, Macetown.

The Arrowtown correbpondent of the Cromwell Argus writes :— " With the increasing heat of summer, life begins to be infused into the Macotown reefs. The Maryborough Company are calling for tenders to lay down a tram. "?ay from the mine to their battery. The Premies is also calling for tenders for sinking its shaft to the required depth, and the All Natian3 and Victor Emmanuel Companies are dealing with the question of reorganisation. The mines that have been in fall work hitherto continue to progress favourably, but nothing in the shape of a cake will be heard of till Christmas."

The Queenstown correspondent of the same paper writes :— " The new machinery got from Melbourne by the Phoenix Company to save gold from tailings haa not turned oufc so successfully as anticipated, and now the mine I hear, is to be let on tribute. It is a great pity that the result of Mr Bullen's experiment was not more successful, for other parties were waiting the result to go and do likewise. The Mount Anrnm Company will have a washing-up about Christmas, and from appearances it ■will be a good one. The crushing > from the Invincible Company, at the head of tins Lake, is considered satisfactory, aad the talk now is of putting up machinery. A reef claim has been taken up in Butcher's Gully Upper Shotover, at a place where the oldest inhabitant always knew there was a good paying reef, but was too lazy to go and work it. The sluicing claims keep about the same. The holidays will take place shortly, when we expect to see a number of miners down inu town to enjoy themselves."

Mr Thomas Hunter received a telegram, oa Saturday from Reef ton Btating that the crashing from the Keep-it-Dark Company's miae for 10 days realised 2390z 15dwt amalgam from 240» tons quartz.

Saturday's Tuapeka Times says :— ." All themines at the Blue Spur are in full swing 1 excepting the North of Ireland Company's Work has not been resumed in this claim since the big law case, in which thay were mulcted to the tune of about L7OO, The whole of theclaim has now passed into the hands of the two gentlemen who preYtously held the largest | interest— viz., Messes Grieve and Hinds • and I it is doubtful whether they will resume work ire line, mine uatil their case of encroachment j against fche Great Extended Company, which |we are given to understand will coma on shortly, is settled. Hales and Hinde's battery adjoins the Nelson Company's. We havenothing further to say about this wonderful claim than this : it continues to yield its fabulour returns. The Blue Spur and Gabriel's. Criilly Tailings Company have accomplished an enormous amount of work of one sort ana? another since they commenced operations some time ago. Sluicing on a small scale by one of the plans to be employed will be started in tha comse of a week or two. The means employed for raising the stuff is altogether new in the Otago goldfields, and the result is looked for with no small degree of interest by the mining

a n m"nitv Good '(n>c m-- f-orn th-i Kichm n Hil. rvnup-iiiy'sc aim, Wiisahw.si. The ba't-ry j- 1 • <c put on f ill time, and, judging bj t,i .cturn <>b'a ; ne'l fr '»n i-ona* diys' crn-:i- a lately, i<- i-< calcilat-d thai, a yield of fr m 70 to ICO z .f g,,U V er w-ek "will be unearthed. This is very enconraging, and should stimulate other claimoA'ners who are on tbe came run to recommence prospecting. From Blacks there is but little to report No wash-ups jist now, although at Tinkers and Drybread tbe claims are looking very go d."

The Waikaia correspondent of the Tapanni Courier wri f es : — A tnnnel is being driven at a low level in Bastings' freehold claim so as to carry off the water and allow tha buckets of the new machine to go down ecme 20 feet deeper on to the main bottom. This work will be completed in abi nt a fortnight. Some of the top gravel lias been manipulated by the machine, and yielded abiut £00 for teujdays' work. Only two men are required to regulate it — one io keep the hose on the iace *ud the other to keep the boxe3 clear.

From tV.o pamr: paper wo learn that at tbe Waipori Company's antitno'iy ir.ins Me^rs Tyson and party have struck th^ reef iv another shaft west from their old workings. It looks welL

The Blacks correspondent of the Mount Ida Chronicle writes : — *" Mining rcaHerß s.s a rule nre dull ; in faist, i.e3rly the whol^ cf the population have L-ng since turned tfit-ir attention to pomething more pf-rmanpnt. There ate n. few claims at work in ib> flat, but not making a pile. Tne name may be said for German Hill, but on the wei-t side of tha Manuherikia River things wear a different aspect At Drybread I Lear that Gtetnbauk and Co. are ou v*-ry good gold, and I hope wl en they wash up they will get plenty of the precious metal, as I do not tuink they have bad too much of it for the last year or two. Rowlands »nd party are doing very well, as usual, ar,d I hear that Wise ia doing exceedingly well at Tinkers. There »t6 no wavh nps just yer, but I hsarthat AHlor snd Martin are ou splenriid g"ld. The Undaunted are also on good gold. The Mountain Company are working away with a will at thbir tunnel, which ia v-ry hard. When this tunnel is completed it will give them a lot more fall, which will enable them to work their claim to tnore advantaeethan formerly. Reid and party, Huddlenton, Grey, and parly, and Sammon are all working away, and all on good gold. At Devonshire there are but a few parties at work, but they are all making wages." It is stated (says the Mount Ida Chronicle) that one of the largest washing that have ever taken place in the district will shortly be made in Mepsrs Hushes and Morgan's claim, "Vinegar Hill, St. Bathans. This has always been known as an exceptionally good one, but this year the prospects it has yielded surpass anything previously obtained. The Lake County correspondent of the Dunsfcau Timea writes : — " In mining matters at Macttown there 13 not much to report. The Tipper*ry, Homeward-Bound, and Gladstone are busy crushing, and preparing for their Christmas cakeß. The Maryborough have called for tenders for tha construction of a tramway, but it cannot be constructed within the time aliowed. Some Dunedin visitor* made an inspection of the mines here during last week, and expressed themselves as being highly pleased with the prospects of the place. A dray road to Macetown would prove an immense advantage, aod strangers only exprebe lost in wonder how sr.ch an important adjunct to so promising a field of mining enterprise has not been nude long since." West Coast Mining. {from our own correspondent ) Gkeymouth, December 16' b. Since my last Guiumunittatioii rain in very considerable qaan'ity has fallen almost oon-tjji-nously in i>ll parts of the Coast, 'hereby enabling sluicing parties to have an unceasing time cf work, and I trust, everywhere, a vro fi a !e tp mn at tfapi- Christinas washing. Slnicing bri p now th* leading means of prccurinj? gold all over the various Coast fields, and our water-sheds having a very Fcant and narrow range, a nearly continuous rainfall would be reg.ui-i'e in o r der to support in respectable comfort a much larger mining population than we have at present Miners, however, as a general rule, a>e not in any way celebrated for foresight in the carrying out by every available .means their important industry, and a large number of sluicers may be found many weeks daring the year, md every year, to use their own expression, " waitiner for water " and next door to doing nothing. Now there r.<>ed be no occasion for thi?. There is not a goidfield on all the Coast wherein may not be found naturally formed ba«os of considerable area, and which might with Soconsiderable outlay of work be formed into r«aarvoirs for storage of water. This has been seen to in yearß past by & go d many mic-era, especially iv the New Kiver and Marsdan districts, where t«n years ago reservoirs were first; started If the Blnicere' spare kw*r« were generally devoted to sncU a purpose, great good <woulA epeedily result to themselves ia the shape •of an increase in their gold roiurna, end it would create an impetus to the further settling t •down of many hundreds of extra hands on the j various sluicing grounds. There is a larjfe ex I tent of auriferous territory on the West Coast ■only available for wholesale elnicing, bat the aupply of water muet of necessity be large to enable "be el nicer to make a respectable and constant living out of the same

With reference to prospecting associations, tw > or three are at present in existence in various parts of the Coast, without as yet any bereficiul result. They are supported by the miners and Imsinesg people in each locality, and are aided by grants of money from the general Govern ment and County Councils At B-irryville, prospecting still goes on in the large Flat, but no gold of a definite character has as yet been hit on. From the Terrace claims eeveral handeome parcels of gold have quite recently found rheir way to Greymouth 3 and notably one weighing 250 ounces.

A smali rush has set in to a Flat near Hughes' Farm, on_ the Teremakau below Kumara, and a considerable number of miners a^e now on the stroutd. The prospectors' tun awi is in about 40 feet, and from 30 to 40 shafts *re *being pot down. The gold is said to be a edleaiid. sample, eoire pieces weighiDga pennyweight. The discovery is of great importance, •aod, conatderiDg the highly auriferous character of the kgality, I trust the field will become A permanent one.

i'he sludge channel at Kumara ■mill be out of the contractor' ihtveds, a finely finished piece of work, in abont a f opfcujght. The weather is now .very fine, and will, J hope, keepeo duricg the approaching Christmas end .New Year holidays. The Thames' , "Mining mattera on the Lower Thames fjoldfield (writea our Auckland corrcapon dent) have not been to brisk daring the f past fortnight, owing to attention being so I much directed to the He Aroha. The f month's yield of cold is not quite 40C0oz * •Oa the new goidfield there xuuafc be now • quite 1000 man, and confidence is daily .increasing that it will prove remunerative,

a otne of the specimens wh'ch I b.3ve s»en from the proppecVirs' claim are very fine indeed The trial crushing of picked stone U=*ve lOr>z to the ton, of the value of over L 2 15a pr oz, which is in excess of Lower Tna'neß gold by 5s per oz. A better test will be the preliminary crushing of average stuff afc tbe Grahamatown batteries, and as this will shortly ba made, the public will not have long to wait for data on which to form thsir opinion on the merits of the prospectors' claim, if not of the yield. So far no attempt has been made to form bubble companies for the purpose of trafficking in scrip, probably because of tbe marked disinclination of the general public, after previous bitter experiences, to be again inoculated with the "yellow fever." Still, the new field ha 3 givdn an impetus to trade in various ways. New townships are beiDg laid nut, new steamers for the Thames River traffic is to be built, while the valuable e«'u(ntiorjal endowments of the 'Jhirres High School md other iustitutions will be brought into the market and utilised. Alrnady the difference is perceptible in the ttreets of Auckland, the loungers at street cirners and the surplus Übour at the wharvf s having drifted away to the new El Dorado ia Eearch of adventure or good Irck.