THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 16

THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS.

It is reported (s&ys the North Otego Times) tbat Mr George Dalgleish has discovered goldbearing reefs at T«pui, and w« learn that Mr Da^gldsh is erectiug a gold-savirg apparatus in that locality. We trust the project will be suc«ssful. "• j ' s Tho following items are by the Dunstan Time s Correspondents :— Alexandra : The Enterprise dredge has lost only about six weeks since the ■beginning of the year, which rt fleets great credit on the management of Mr S. Luke. The dredge is working as well as any of the other dredges on the river, and the shareholders ought to be proud 'to own such a good property. This company are about to put on another dredge, and we wi&h them eveiy success. Up till Juue last this coinpaoy was in debt, but since then they have paid two 18 dividends to the shareholders, and have a substantial reterve fund in hand. The return for last week was 20oz 15dwt 12gr.— The Manukerikia Company's current wheel dredge is working away eteadily at the half-mile beach below Alexandra. .The parties interested in this dredge are Messrs J. Steel, O Magnus, C. G. O. Leijon, J. M'George, A. M'George, and J. M'Kersey.— Plans aie in preI>ar*<ion for Messrs Loijou, Magnus, and Steel's , new steam dredge. Messrs Stevenson and Postlethwaite are preparing the plans, and the dredge is expected to be working in about four months' time. — The Butcher's Point claim, which unfortunately has not had the beat of luck tince it started some two years ago, has been idle now for some time, and is still unable to do any elevating until such time as the river goes down another two feet. The claim is supposed to be a very rich one, but it has not been properly proved yet. On account of not being able to elevate, the company las given the water to the men working in the claim until the river goes down. The men started «luiciug the high banks on Tuesday, and thty will- keep whatever, gold they- get. This will no doubt be much better than having the men idle, and'it is to be hoped they will be amply lewarded for their enterprise Springvale : Messrs Gartley washed up last week, after a six months" run, and the result i», I understand, very satisfactory. — Messrs ,NtcoUon and Co. are busy stripping again in the same run of ground from which they had such a good washing a week or so ago. — I hear of a party of two men getting a little gold in Young Hill Creek, near the Manuherikia Riyer.— Messrs Verroe and Son are still working in the same ground up Ohatto Creek. * I understand Mr Vercoe intends bringing water from one of the Chatto branches on to his claim, and has applied accoroingly.— Messrs Love and Allen are working in the came gully lower down, and are knocking out a " living wage." — Messrs Brown and Hutchinson, of Tiger Hill, have done a lot of prospecting in the vicinity of Chatto, but so far fcave dropped on nothing good. They deserve tetter luck, as they have done a lot of work, and I know that prospecting is a rather monotonous game.— l had an inteiview with one of the men working at German Gully, who reports very poorly of .the place. He fays that cut of 30 or 40 men only about two? re making anything at present.— Ciomwell : Mr Edward Murrell showed me a sample of gold taken from a dish of dirt from his claim at Quartz Reef Point, the gold being coarse, and about id wt in weight. This gentleman ha« beea very persevering, having tunnelled over 600 ft to get on the lead, and of that distance over 400 ft of eolid rock had to be gone through. This is itself a very expensive item, and it is to be hoped that tiandsome returns will follow the amount of time, labour, and capital expended on the claim, as Mr Murrell has been most enterprising in niiniDg matters in the past. Bannockburn : The sluicing claims are in full swing, with a good supply of water.— lt is reported that the Pipeclay Company will wash up a portion of their channel after Christmas. This will mean a month or five week*' stoppage of all the claims running into it, and will materially lessen the returns for this season. —Mr [M'George, county engineer, has completed a survey of an outlet for tailingß by means of a tunnel from Smith's Gully to the Kuwarau River, a distance of 77 chains, with a fall of 1 in 27, and an estimated cost of £14,000. •3/his may seem a large order, but when we consider that it means a new lease of life for the Bannockburn. and th»t when constructed it will require very little for maintenance, and enable some hundreds of acres of ground to be worked, the sum is not an extravagant one. It is fervently to ba hoped that the Government will see their way to go on with the work, as it means employment for the whole of our population for the next generation ; without it the district muet gradually die a natural death. — The quartz mills on the CarrJck are crushing away merrily, putting through a lot of stone. No doubt there will be :soine: $oine cakee ghaut Christmas time.— l he electric

dredge has been successfully taken up to Cornish Bench, and ia about to commence operations on what is supposed to be very rich ground— in fßct, in the early days this beach was proved to be rich. There is a fair prospect now of the enterprising owners getting some returns on this outlay. The journey was accomplished without a hitch, the rapid current, want of a dredgemaster, &c, notwithstanding.

A correspondent at the Wilson River goldfield sends the Waitnea Plains Review the following items : — The terrace claims, ©f which there are two, which have been opened at Te Whara Beach are giving fair promise, good prospects being obtained after the faces w«-re worked tack to the soft wash. There is a hard cemented crust of a few yards in thickness on the who'e of the face in which no gold can be found. Neither of the parties bave washed up yet, but they can get pieces up to idwt in the dish pro.-jitcts. Should these two claims prove payable it will cause many more claims to be opened of the same kind, as there is a body of wash about a mile long facing the beach, with some good creeks running through it. — Some attention, too, is being paid, to the ground at Gulchay's Head. Several paities have started in North Creek, adjoining block I, and they have got some gold — pieces of 3dwt and 4dwt— high up in the wash, not on the bottom, as is usual with the heavier gold. — A party have taken up a four-acre claim at Moonlight, Coal Island, and intend to wash away the terrace. The water has been brought on, and it only remainsMo get some preliminary work through, when operations will be commenced. Judging from prospects obtained, and the fact that very heavy gold has been taken from the creeks running through the terraces, this claim should be a goo tone. Nuggets weighing lOoz and as high as 17oz weie found in the creek bottom. — Payne and Wilson's claim is worked out at last. They bave separated, and are prospecting. This claim has been in constant operation ever since gold was first discovered. It was the first cliim worked on Coal Island, and has constantly yielded good returns. — Wilson River proper is almost deserted, and unless some vigorous proapecting is done in that direction and new ground due ivered, there will soon be no one left there. It was to this part ot the digging* that the Government cut and formed a track costing about £2000, and it is never used now. — The reefs are not doing great things yet, but the Golden Site has taken another »purt with a small quantity of stone going about 6oz to the ton, obtained from just under the river bed ; it is difficult, to work on account of the water. However, such slone shows that there may be a bright futurs in store for this mine yet. — The Morning Star has been working on poor stone for a week or two, but have some good stone in sight— sufficient to last them for a year. — A^ Cuttle Cove and Crayfish Island diivingis being pushed steadily ahead. Some specimens from Cuttle Cove really look splendid, the stone being spotted through and through with gold. The leader on which the drive is being taken is about ISm wide, and carries gold all through.

The following Bannockburn notes are by the local correspondent of the Cromwell Argus :—": — " A week ago Mr M'George surveyed a new route for Smith's Creek channel, commencing just below Macandrew Bridge and terminating at the foot of Smith's Creek. The distance is about threequarteis of a mile in a straight line, and it will be a tunnel neaijy all the way. Most of it is through lock, which though rather expensive to cut at first, will soon save itself, aB it will not want lroking after the same as a built raco. It is to be ho^td it will be soon proceeded with, as it is reproductive work opening up a large extent of country.— l hear the dredce is going up the river above Pipeclay to Cornish Beach. What seems to be wanted in connection with this dredge is a good practical dredgeroaster with expeiience. This company docs not believe in local talent, as they import all their workmen, with the exception of one, who does odd jobs, &c — Sluicing, Ac, is in full- swing. There is plenty of water for everyone, and is likely to be until after Christmas, when there will be a break, as the Pipeclay channel is going to be washed up, which will probably take live or six weeks." We (Cromwell Argus) saw yesterday a sample 'of coarse gold, showing Jdwt to the dish, taken from Messrs E. and H. Murrell's claim at Quartz Reef Point. We are glad to hear that there is every indication of the claim opening out to good payable ground. An " expert correspondent " of the Statist, writing fiom Buluwayo, giveß some U3eful information about the mining prospects of Rhodesia. After referring in detail to seveial of the properties, he says :— "The many hundred shafts of 30ft to 60ft and over sunk on all the different goldfields in Kbodesia, and in the great majority of, cases cutting reefs with gold in them, prove tnat the natives or people who have worked the Outcrops certainly (from whatever reason they discontinued working ia depth) have not worked out the payable reefs ; and the fact of these shafts proving reefs', though only to euch a slight depth over the whole country, shows what future may be expeoted," because if only a very small proportion of these reefs turn out payable mine", it will still be an enormous gold-producing territoL>:-" _. . .....__._.

The Blacks correspondent of the Mount Ida Chronicle writes :—": — " In mining mattprs we are all very busy with an overflowing supply of water, and if we do not get plenty of told this year it will not be for the want of water. Messrs Nicholson and party, at Springvale, had their first wash up last week for 4500z, which is very good for the time they have been mining. This is new ground altogether, between one and two miles on the Clyde tide of Springvole proper, on the claim known as 'Allan's.' Mr Nicholson has constructed a branch race to a claim at the Springs about three miles north of Clyde, owned by Smith Bros. This is also a new ground, and the prospects are good ; there is no doubt there is plenty of gold if there were plenty of water to work the ground. A party from Alexandra have marked out and applied for a dredging claim commencing at O'Connell's Bridge and extending up behind the township. 1 suppose they are of opinion tbat the pieseiit course of the river is not the original one, whirh no doubt is correct. In fact, since I came to the district the river has shifted west considerably, and is now encroaching on the main roail."

We understand the " Gold King" amalgamator working on the Kaitsngata Beach is giving the utmost satisfaction in handling the heavy iron sand. The party using the machine write :— " If there is gold in the stuff put through the ' King ' saves every speck of it ; besidea, wo are picking up with the machine mercury lost by parties formerly using plates here. The machine is easy to work, and does all that is claimed for it." At the last meeting of the Lowburn branch of the Confederated Miners' Association the secretary was instructed to ask the Miller's Flat Association to prospect the land in the vicinity of the Frnidburn (Beaumont station), and that in case payable gold was found the union would be asked to assist in getting the land resumed for mining purposes.— Tuapeka Times A cablegram has been received from London stating that the sale of the Alpha mine, Waitekauri, is absolutely completed. Mr John Huxley and other vendors of the Londonderry mine, who are claiming to recover £30.000 deposited with the Union ltank from Earl Fiußall, alle«e that thty are entitled, as vendors, of the Loud.on.d,erry mine, to the money

deposite-d in the bank in their namo3 as part of tho purchase money. Our Reef ion correspondent telegraphs :—": — " The Big Kiver return is 3340z amalgam from 100 tons (top plate 3)." Mr Thomas Callender reports : " 260z 17d\vfc 17gr gold from the Matakitaki Gold Dredging Company (Limited) for 114 houis 1 dredging ; btopped by flood 16 hours." Mr J*bez Burton reports, : "The Ettrick dredge washed up for the week 270z gold, and the I Roxburgh dredge BJoz gold." The secretary of the Dunedin Gold Dredging Company (Limited) leceived the following telegram from the dredge master on Saturday :— '" Washed up for 13oz gold. The Upper Wuipori Alluvial Gold Dredging Company (Limited) obtained from No. 1 Dredge lloz lOdwt 12gr of gold for 133 hours' dredging last week. Mr Thomas Callender reports 3ioz 19d\vt 12gr retorted gold from the Sew Hoy Big Beidi Gold Mining Company (LiiniteJ) for the past week. The secretary of the Utago Gold Dredging Company (Limited) reports 29ioz of gold for last week's dredging. Mr Reeves reports a return from the Enterprise dredge, Alexandra, of 16oz 3dwt 12«r gold for last week's work — 128 hours' dredging. Mr Jabez Mutton leporti that the Roxburgh Gold Steam Di edging Company waahed-up on Saturday for 2!tjoz gold. Mr Burton also reports that the Ettrick Gold Steam Dredging Company washed-up 13oz gold on Saturday. The river is still too high to bottom the btst, ground.