MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1934, 19 March 1891, Page 12

MINING.

DEEDGINCr UPON THE SHOTOYER BIYEE. (By Qtjb Bpbciai. Rbpobtbb,) thb talisman dbbcge. Although this dredge bas recently stopped work*, after a good deal of well directed prospering, a short retrospect of the doings of the oompany will not be out of place. The ground operated upon was aud still is held in good repute' by many miners, who worked upon it in tbe early days of the rush to Tucker Beach', as the locality has been known since gold was found there. Of all the dredges started there is perhapa none in which local man took a greater interest, expressing their confidence in the affair to tbe extent of considerable investment. In addition to this, with tbe exception of tbe Sew Hoy Co.'s dredges, no other has done more ot better work for the time since the dredge has been afloat. It seems now', however, that the ground has been pretty well worked, and then reworked by tbe Chinamen, and that there is too much stuff on the claim to make its treatment with the present appliances a paying concern, so that after all the Talisman , Oompany has only fallen into tbe same mistake ; that most of the dredging undertakings started ' in this distrlot have done— namely, going to work with a machine that was not oaloula'.ed to go to the required depth, and with gold-saving apparatus that was not adapted to the nature of the gold or the quantity of the stuff to be treated. With suoh defeots nothing else than failure need have been anticipated from the beginning, nor was it difficult to foresee the course which mattets are now taking. In the Talisman claim it is well known there is little solid or new ground left, and the success of the present venture depended from the beginning upon the efficiency of the machinery to lift a given quantity of wash aud upou tbe gold-saving apparatus to arrest 'the fine gold. On the nor'-western bank of the river a fairly rich lead of gold was worked in the early days of the district ; while a wide beach flanks the opposite side of the river, in which gold iv lesser quantity was pretty widely and fairly disseminated. Both deposits have been reworked by Chinese after tbe cream was taken off by tbe European miners ; so that the leavings are probably not very valuable, and it requires, as stated, extra strong machinery and extra effective means for catohiog tbe gold. Tbe locale of tbe olaim is in a wide basin, into which the Shotover river flows through a narrow rooky gorge, making its exit through another gorge equally narrow. Tbe basin during the repeated floods which have swept the Sbotover has been filled up with tailings and silt to a depth of from 15ft to 20ft, so that the bed rock of the river is probably from 25ft to 30ft below tbe present water level. This Is certainly a drawback to the successful working of the claim. However, with a more powerful machine and a thoroughly good and efficient goldsaving plaut there should be still a prosperous future before the Talisman Oompany. THE SEW HOY OOMPANY. This company, which was tbe pioneer of the present dredging boom, has now three dredges at work, and a long stretch of the Shotover river to operate upon, iucluding all the famous ground In tbe neighbourhood of Arthur's Point, whioh belonged to the best that was worked upou the Shotover river, and the returns obtained for the past two or three years' workings of the old dredge have demonstrated that the new aod solid portions of the ground are of exceeding richness, while the old and worked out can be made to pay, with good and careful management, more thau the working expenses amount to. Here at this part of the Shotover success no longer depends upon the five gold, for tbe region of the Shotover gold commences at Arthur's Point, and the anxious care necessary to success iv all tbe claims below this ceasee, affording the additional advantage of allowing a greater quantity of stuff beiug rushed through than can be permitted where the gold is excessively fine. TBS MANAGEMENT OF THE DREDGES is evidently in good hands, and less is heard of breakages and consequent stoppages from this claim than from most others. Uf the three dredges afloat, the little or old dredge, on account of her light draught Is doing good prospecting work, whioh is followed up by the bigger dredges, and In this manner one or more of the machines are constantly kept working onpaying.gri'und. In ordinary summer seasons at the Shotover. wherever the river splits up into more ourretits than one, there is some difficulty in the free working of the dredges on account of the shallowneas of tho water. So that, protptcting Is best done in the spring and summer of the yew, and I bellav^ aome veiy satisfactory work has been done in this respect during the past favourable season. TPJIE iJONTE OUIIISTO Hydraulic Jet, Tunnelling, and Dredging Company are engoged in a very interesting, if not entirely novel, mode of working tbe auriferous river wash of our streams. The principle adopted by this company OQUilijs. of a

rook adit connecting with a shaft upon a bank of the Shotover river. By keeping all the works In the solid rook as much as potsible it is calculated to [ avoid the influx of water to any damaging extent. and where the gold it confined to the bed rook, so that no great depth of the wash requires to be removed, there is a probability of sucoe6B for this scheme. To make it all the more safe and practicable the wash in the Shotover river is iv some parts covered with a layer of siliceous cement, totally impervious to water and not easily broken. Wherever this is met with the* plan of undermining the river may be carried on with impunity, and would furnish a cheap mode of obtaining the gold. The correct levels and bearings are of course easily ascertained by borings and measurements, so that the whole work can be laid oft before a commencement is made, and the chances of success may be demonstrated by plain arithmetic. Besides the river bed there is a large landslip covering a known lead of gold, a very great part of which U still untouobed. This slip is also to be worked by a rook shaft and rock adit, and the underground water to be removed along with the debris and waahdirt by the hydraulic jet lift, wbloh, where pressure is obtainable, is the cheapest and most efficacious method of removing water from mines. In bulk. It is far superior to pumping in the ordinary way, and is cheaper than any other means. In addition to these works the company are building a dredge to work upon another portion of the river. The dredge is now nearlng completion, and no doubt will be soon at work. The portion of the river which this company's claim includes is known to be very rich, and a very considerable proportion Is entirely unworked, so that if the company are successful with their works as planned, they are likely to be well repaid for their outlay. THE UPPER SHOTOVER DBEDGKS have much to eommeno them. They will be able to dredge off the main bottom. The river for the most part runs in one well-confined stream ; the gold, though there is a goodly quantity of fine gold also, is mostly coarse, and easily saved ; and above all, the dredges will be independent of steam power, which in all dredges entails t«o heavy an outlay, eleotrioity being employed as motive power Instead. Two companies ure abjut to begin work in earnest. Of these TQK SAHDHHiL OOMPAST has made a start upon ground that bas formerly yielded very good returns when worked by a spoon dredge of very primitive construction. So rich indeed were some of the crevioes that the party— a private one — procured a complete diver's outfit, and several intrepid amphibia made bold attempts to get at the sunken treasure, but without success, the current of the river being too strong for them to maintain an upright position, much less to allow of their carrying on the necessary operations In lifting the'gold. As the river is too narrow to be turned the goldis still there, and if the buokets can be made to clean out the crevices there is a very handsome pile in prospect for the shareholders. The dredge now at work ought soon to be able to set at rest the vexed question of bow much of the gold can be lifted and what the cost of winning it will be. This oompany is almost indepentf Mtof gold-saving apparatus, as the gold maybe desci .•• d as nuggetty, and there is little doubt but that ing nity will find a way of getting at it, and make tht »• ncern a success. THK UPPER SHOTOVBR DREDGING COMPANY joins the Sandhill Co. on its upper boundary. Portions of this claim have also been prospected by spoon dredges and found to be very rich, and, in addition. It was partly worked by paddocking in the primitive style— that is, by the longhandled shovel and wheelbarrow systems, and if the gold obtained did not reach the sensational stage is was found evenly and richly distributed over a wide surface. The ground presents no particular difficulties to its being successfully worked, and with electricity for motive power should pay yery handsome returns for a very long period. In this claim the coarse and the fine gold meet, and both are often found the one overlying the other, the coarse gold upon the beach rock and the fine in layers in the deposits about it, so that for permanenoe there is probably no niine in this district to equal this one. The, wash is not of a particularly stoney or tight nature, nor is the current so strong > as to threaten the safety of the dredge even in time of a flood. Most miners who know this ground speak < favourably of the chances of the company's success.

Important Mmmg 1 Case.

Ebeftox, March 12. An interesting point has been raised in the District Court in winding up the Golden Hill Company. It j appears that a call was made by the directors, a number of whom bad vacated office by non-payment of calls. Anumberoftheshareholdersalsodidnotpay this call, and their shares became forfeited. It was now oontended by some of the contributors that the call was invalid, therefore the shares were not forfeited. It transpired during the hearing that the names of these holders of so-called forfeited shares had not been removed from the register until after the wlnd-ing-up order was made. Judge Broad ordered the liquidator to prepare fresh lists, and said that the names of all persons who were on the register at the date of lodging the petition must appear as contributors, or it must be shown why they should be taken, off. The decision affects a large number of persons, who fancied that they had escaped contributions, and the eventual outcome of the cases is looked for with muoh interest. The judge adjourned the further hearing of the case until next sitting.