INTERCOLONIAL. VICTORIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 16

INTERCOLONIAL. VICTORIA.

Sandhurst.—For the week ending July 31 the aggregate gold yields amounted to 2800oz, and dividends were declared for a total of £3287 10s. Ballarat.—The Leaders correspondent says: — " The talent of the Majorca ring cleared out their stock last week, and gathered in their harvest, one of the crowd confessing to a profit of £5000 for the hot but brief struggle. It is not certain that the new prospectusing activity in the Chalk's neighbourhood is exhausted, but there is a lull just now, though the work done, following so closely upon the Midas revival and accompanied by new projects on or about the Sebastopol plateau, goes to show that we are equal to a good deal of exertion yet in the prospectusing line if there be the least wairant of provocation."—Apropos of quartz returns they are keeping the district yields from declining much. There is only 250z decline in the reported yields Jfor the first four weeks of the second half of the year as compared with the first four weeks of the first half, the totals being 11,2250z and 11,2000z, but the quartz total of the last turn is 48460z to 34290z of the first, and the good behaviour of the quartz mines generally has saved the district from feeling as much as would otherwise have been the case from the falling off in the alluvial winnings of the year so far. The half-yearly meetings have been and are now on, and the Reform Co's report illustrates the fact that a golden mine does not always pay. The company won £9660 worth of gold for the half-year, and spent £11,570 in getting it, the ordinary meeting of the company being followed by an' extraordinary one, which authorised the raising of £3000 on mortgage to furnish the sinews of more war wifch the uncerfcainties of the venture. Maryborough,—The Loddon Reef Company, Meereman, on the banks of the Loddon river, have struck what promises to be a rich gold bearing reef. This reef was worked some time ago, and yields ranging from 4oz to 15oz per ton were obtained. The reason for it being abandoned was that the reef was in priv.ie property, and the owner, Mr R. R. Ely, ejected the miners. When the mining on the Private Property Act came into operation the present company ap

plied for tbe ground and about a fortnight since a lease was granted, a new shaft was put down, and at 18 feet a reef was struck 6 feet wide and apparently widening as it goes down. The company intend erecting a battery. The stone is calculated to yield 4oz to the ton. The Government boring is being pushed rapidly on at Chalk's No. I company. Total crushings in Victoria. — The quantity of quartz crushed last year, respecting which the mining registrars obtained information, was 843,197 tons 17cwt, the total yield from which was 423,J>310z 19dwt 14gr of gold, or an average of lOdwt l.lgr per ton for the whole colony. The highest average per ton from quartz was obtained in the Buckland division of the Beechworth district, namely, loz 19dwt 14.06gr, and the richest parcel of quartz raised at any mine in Victoria during the year was by Shaw and party, Havelock, in the Maryborough district, • the yield being 2950z from 8 tons 18cwt of stone, at the rate of 330z 2dwt 22.11gr per ton. Since the first publication of mineral statistics in this colony, particulars have been obtained respecting 21,774,827 tons scwt of quartz crushed, which yielded 11,474,5550z 6dwt 7gr of gold, being an average of lOdwt 12.48gr per ton. The yield from alluvial mines for 1885 was 281,8170z 17dwt 7gr, making the total yield from both quartz and alluvial 735,2180z, which was the smallest yield obtained in any year in the colony since 1852. The estimated average of gold produced per miner in Victoria since 1860 shows that the lowest average was in 1862, £67 14s 5.11 d, and ( the highest in 1885, £108 15s 9'lßd. NEW SOUTH WALES. Fairfield.— Our (Town and Country) Richmond River correspondent reports that good reports come from the Fairfield goldfield, where a battery capable of crushing 150 tons stone a week is'being erected. The yields from small crushings so far, by very indifferent appliances, have ranged from loz to 12oz per ton. At the ! present time there are some 300 men in the locality, many engaged prospecting, and several finds are reported. Interests in several claims have lately been sold at big figures, and it is confidently expected the field will prove in a few months to nearly approach the celebrated Mount Morgan — indeed the character of the gold-bearing conglomerate is said to closely resemble that of the latter. Diamond Drlling. — From a return laid upo,n the table of the Assembly, on the motion of Mr W. J. Fergusson,it appears that there are seven J Government diamond drills at present in use. The cost from July Ist, 1885, to June Ist of the present year was £7763 16s lOd, and the revenue received for the same period £7413 12s 7d. The drills are being worked at the following localities, namely : — Clarence Siding, Young, Wallsend,Bundanoon, Redhead, Ballimore, HoltSutherland Estate, and New Lambton. j Gold juul Antimony near Capertee. — The RazorWpk mine is now being worked by Oppenheimer and Co,, who have had the property since 1885. It was worked by other parties, who raised good ore, but had to drop the work, as they were unable to separate the gold from the antimony, which cannot be done by ordinary quicksilver amalgamation, and no one being then in Australia who could properly treat the ore. The mine was, however, never properly opened owing to want j of means. The present owners have shippped the best picked ore to Swansea and to Freiberg, with satisfactory results. They struck exceedingly rich gold shoot on April 20 last, averaging about 15oz gold per ton. Five tons (98 bags) of of this ore are now in transit, and it is- expected to give 20oz of gold per ton. The intention is to erect crushing and concentrating machinery on the mine to dress up and concentrate the poorer grade ores, of which there are considerable quantities at grass, for shipment. This is one of the instances which shows how necessary and beneficial would be a Government smelting works in this colony for treating the immense quantities of refractory ores found in N.S.W.— Town and Country. Silverton. — The last week's record of smelting at the Broken-hill is the highest yet recorded. From two 30-ton smelters running on unpicked ore about 43,0000z of silver were obtained, representing about £9000 value. The mine continues to look remarkably well. It is reported that the company is thinking of erecting refinery works at either Port Adelaide or Port Pirie in South Australia, to supply the Australian demand for lead, of which about 5000 tons are consumed annually. The Silver Age of July 14 states that the return at the Broken-hill smelting works from ore treated during the week ended the previous Thursday was 83 tons of bullion, carrying 43,9160z silver. This is by a long way the best record yet made by any silver mine in Australia, and it makes up the grand totals : — Total quantity of ore treated, 3016 tons; total yield in silver, 386,9490z ; total average per ton, 128§oz. The Sunny Corner S.M. Company reports for I week ended 24th ult. : Nos. 2 and 3 furnaces I ran the full week; Nos. 4 and 5 were shut down i for four and two days respectively, but are now ! in blast again, reducing 458 tons of ore and 30 tons of flue dust, which returned bullion valued at £3,703. The Silver Press states that figures derived from a reliable source show that the total cost of raising and treating 100 tons of ore will be about £300, whilst the value of the products obtained therefrom is calculated at £620. This is estimating the ore to contain 2dwt gold, 12oz silver, 5 per cent, of copper, 25 per cent, of lead, and 30 per cent, of zinc. Of the lead 80 per cent, is written off as lost, and of the zinc 50 per cent. This would tend to show that low grade ore can be worked at aprofit, whilst of course there is every probability of richer finds being made as the development of the mine proceeds. The Silver Age of July 31 says : — The week's yield at the Broken Hill smelting works will about equal that of last; week, viz., between 20,000 and 23,0000z. Watt's Gully Goldfield.— On Wednesday, July 28, a fine nugget weighing nearly 2oz was found in an abandoned claim at Watt's Gully, at a depth of 18in from the surface. Several nuggets have been found close by, and all on one ' side of a bar in the rock, no gold at all being found on the other side. TASMANIA. The amalgam from the crushing of 1652 tons quartz at the Tasmania battery yielded 22260z lOdwt gold, being an average of loz 6dwt 22fgr to the ton, the value being £8349 7s 6d. The company have now declared in 92 dividends a total of £417,000, being equal to £138 2s per share on the old issue, and making £8 0s 6d ! since the increase of the capital from 3000 to 30,000. The amalgam from 210 tons quartz crushed by the Florence Nightingale Company, yielded 6870z retorted gold, being an average of 3oz sdwt lOJgr to the ton. The value of the yield is £2576 ss. The monthly cleaning up of the Tasmania (Beaconsfield) gave evidence as to what this

grand mine is made of — in the shape of two cakes of gold weighing 2226§0z. ! The Florence Nightingale has oleared up for 6870z of gold from 214 tons of stone.