MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2151, 16 May 1895, Page 20

MINING.

THE WEFK'S BIISIffG NEWS. British capital (writes our Auckland corrtspocdent) ia at last fairly passing iv to the Thames goldfiY-ld*, atd the W&ihi miue, with its steady rtmnuerative yields, ha* gaiut-d a name (o conjure wifch in op"n"ng the j_.ockrts of the timid but bleated British iuveetcr. The work of flowing mines and syndicating them goes merrily on, and it is to be hoped tbab the British cnpitaliafc will be rewarded for his enterprise. At the Th&met as eisewhero there has been the usunl proportion of blauk3 to prizes, end the uccertaiuty of gold miniug has been only equalled by the glorious uncertainty of law. The following items are from the Tuapeka Times -.—Sluicing operations at Messrs Edie and Kirl Patrick's Undaunted claim, Horseshoe Bei.d, have been suspended for some time owing to a landslip which occurred on the line of the waterrace. The extent of the slip may be imagined by the fact that it destroyed fully 100 ft of the race, and that the surface area of the Blip covers about four acres. At present openings may be seen on the hillside, whence the Blip came, from' sft to 15ft in depth. A tunnel to carry the water is being made which, when competed, will be about 200 ft in length, and should well serve the purpose fer which it is intended. The work is being carried on from each end, and is principally through solid rock and slatey clay, the latter being timbered. It is expected to be finished in about four weeks' time, when the work at the claim will be at once resumed. After that no d.-übt eveu> thing will run smoo 1 uly and amends will be made for the enforced idleness to which the proprietors have bee- subjected in the woi king of the claim.— Greenfield, as a gcldfield, appears to have dropped suddenly and signally out of the region of conjecture. We hear next, to nothing of it now It occupies but a veiy incocs'derable sVare of attention among miners and others to whom the advent of a new gol field is a matter of very gett concern. A few days ago we were informed by au experienced miner, who was himsvlf among the first anivals on the ground, that the field would never perrnaneiitly employ any lurge number of miners. An uneasy Bpirit, be said, had alrealy Bet iv amoug those on the ground. He hai himself ce-paired of doiug any good there, and he left. A score of otherd, nearly oil of them old miners, bad done the tauie. They were replaced by others, but none came to stay, and the number of men on the ground has daily been gtowiug smaller. At preterit the ruth —if it msy be so described— is ovei, has completely collaps-d, aud is not likely, utder present circumstance.", to attra t ruiich attention again. The unanimous opinion of exp-riencfed miners who have giveu the ground a thorough trial is that men— and particularly those living out of the district—should not trouble furtlier about it. Scarcity of water and the conditions imposed by the ownw of the proper y they look upon as the cbuf difficulties in the way. Had the whole of the gpld-beaiiDg ground been procl>v)iiic<i by the Government men would, however, make small wages ; but under pr.*st nt conditions this i 3 iinposVible, and " the game is not wOith the candle. When the reef was first discovered on Balruddery, the discoverer tojk a sample piece of the ■tone to a settler, who cruthed it and found that it was pretty rich in golJ. He asked the discoverer to bring more so that a proper test of its value might be made. A few pounds we ght were brought, but tdii was not sufficient for the purpoie, and eventually 101b were obtained and tested, and with this a« a basis it was estimated that the reef would give 2toz to the ton. If a reef giving half this value in gold lies undeveloped on Elderslie or Balruddery, a huge fortune is within reach of someone We (North Otago Times) can only hope the news is true. The Cromweil Argus reports :— " The Cromwell tributera brought down a c<tko of 2220z last week, which for 16 weeks' work of eight men, less 15 per cent, tribute to the company, is not bad. It is repoited, too, that Arthur and Abelstead have found the old Reliance reef at Bendigo, and that it is 2ft thick from wall to wall. With two parties on the Carrick, tho M'Cabes aud Lawrences, making— well, good wages on their reefs, and perhaps a little bit ■ ver, with Quartz Reef Point giving one party, Hayes and Cb^proan, £10 per week clear of ex'e, and auother, Tillman and Partridge, 40oz for eight weeks' work, and the prospect of several dredges on our two rivera before long, not to speak of the possibilities of Boundary Creek— aud, by the way, a 2oz nugget from Nevis— the outlook is not by any means bad." An Auckland telegram says that Mr A. H. "Wad file, late diamond drill expert at the Grand Junction mine, Waihi, has discovered a well defined reef in th« Uriwera country, between Kuatoki and Galatea, In good eandstone country. Specimens have been sent to the Government for fcssay. Au Auckland telegram states that a commisBion has been appointed to take evidence here as to the validity or otherwise of the M'AithurForrest gold-?aviDg patents. The evidence of the witnethes so far c-xamined goes to show ihat cyanide was uted for extraction of gold from quartz matrix prior to the issue of patents to M'Arthur and Forrest on November 28, 1883. The Oamaru Mail Bttvtes that Mr S»ejmour, who baa just returned from a fortnight's inspection of Balruddery, Fays that a very large area of the estate is auriferous, and that two or three hundred «uen could make a living there were it not that

the water is scarce In the gullies, however, a b'mited number of men could always earn a few shillings a day by cradling. Mr Seymour considers that, if water n ere on the sp ._t, the field would be far preferable to that at Livingstone. But it is the repoited discovery of a rich reef by Mr Fuller that excites inteic-t in Balruddery. It i 3 stated by him tbat the leef is 3ft in depth, and that a quantity of stoDo that waa crushed by Mr Gardiner at Tapui yielded at the rate of 21oz to the tou. The reef is, if all be true we hear, uo casual and broken outcrop, for it was traced for a chain and a-hulf by prodding a crowbar into tho soil, (.ud at places where ib cropped out slightly Mr Fuller broke off the expoted quartz and covered up the places with Bcil. The DunsUn Times reports :—" The Undaunted Company's final lift was 90oz, making close on I SOOoz for the seas n. The directors of the company have voted a bouus of £10, to Mr Donelly the nunager. 'Ihe Manuherikia Gold Dredging Conjpaoy had a very haud.-ome wai-h up last week. At present Quayle'* claim at the Fourteen Mile, below Alexandra, is paying well ; they have been working there now over 25 years. There are also a lot of Chinamen cradling on the beaches Pacey and Fuller, at Macorburn, washed up on Wednesday, the return being li)oz 2Jdwt for five weeks. The Molyneux Hydraulic Company's claim is improving, the prospects being very good. Miners in the vicinity of German Gully are still pegging away. Some arc reported to he on fair gold, whilst others are prosp' ctiug about." An Auckland telegram states that the return of buUion from the Wuihi mine for the past month received shows that for the 28 days ending 4th May 2190 ton? of ore were crushed and tieatcd, yielding £75i0 worth of bullion, an aveiage of over £3 Su lOd per ton, which is an improvement upon the previous month. The total bullion produced by the ruiuo up to date reaches considerably over a ouarler of a million, tho exact figures being £2G9 614. There is no news yet of additional stampers having been Btcvled. Mr Thomas Callender received a telegram from tka Matikitaki Gold KietlgiDg Company (.Limited) intimating 12oz sdwt of gold for 76 hours' j dredging. Mr U. S. Reeves received the following telegram ] from the dredgouiaster of the Golden Bay dredge :— ' " Washed up 13oz s'lwt for 76 hours' work ; dredging stopped to alter boxes." Mr Reeves also report* a crushing by the Cromwell Company's tributers of 215 tons quartz, which yielded 2210z 9<hvt lOgr retorted gold. The secretary of the Dunedin Gold Dredging Company (Limited) received the following telegram from the dredgirnaster on Saturday :— "Washed up f>r 17oz gold." Dr Hyde's dredge obtained C2oz 14dwt 6gr of gold last we^k ; value, £211 Si lUd. The Upper Waipori Alluvial Gold Dredging Company (Limited) obtained from No. 1 dredge 230z lOdwt Ogr of gold for 135 hours' dredging last week. Mr Reeves reports a return from the Enterprise dredge, Alexandra, for the week ended the Hth inst., of 240z Bdwt of gald tor 135 hours' dredging. The Secretary of the Jutland Flat (Waipoii) Gold Mining Company (Limited) reports, for the week ending 11th iust , 2(loz 13d wt gold for Hi wages' time, 137 horn s' dredging.