THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2199, 23 April 1896, Page 16

THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS.

News by a cutter from Preservation Inlet is to the effect that the quartz from the' Morning Star mine in turning out richer than any previou»ly crushed. . i The Clyde correspondent of the Cromwell Argus writes :— "The Gartleys are working with a splendid supply of water at their claim at Springvale. It is intended to have a wash-up j before winter sets in. Nicolaou and yarty had a good partial wash-up one day last week, and, it i is rumoured, the return is quite up to what wa3 j anticipated. Quartz-mining appears to be reyiv- I icg ou the Old Man Hangc. Mr Syases 1 perceive, has made applirai ion for a licensed holding near the site of White's euf Tht sluicing ptrations on the FiMiter Kiver must be on an extensive , scale, a3 I notice the water in the river i« much discoloured. The sc»ne of the late rush to this river is situated somewhere above the old Hawkesburn Station, and I have been told several parties are- doing fairly well there. The near approach of winter debars further prospecting paitie.i proceeding t© the locality, as the firg» fall ofsnjw ther^ drives the miners uwf-y lo vrarsuer - and safer clime'»." The Millet's Pint correspondent of the f'tiupeka Times sends the following items : — The Guldaii Treasure drodge v to be shifted to the lower end of the company's ground, with tha object of j following up a deep gutter which is known to exist well into mid-str«am. The high state of the river for some month* past prevented this being j •'.one sooner, but as it has been falling for some I time, with the prospect of its reaching a much lower # level as soon as the severe frosts set iv, a stnrt is at once to be made to carry out the inteution. Beforn the property passed into the hands of the present company the existence of this deep gutter was fully ;st*bli^Bed, although very little work was done al-ing its course by the dredge which Messrs Aitken and party had in- tfceir pooession. The gutter i» generally supposed to be rich ; ami if ODe can rely upoD all that is said, the Treasure sUould shortly have some sensational washing* up. Last week's eighteenpenDy dividend bus put the share- | holders in a very g> od humour. Home now plant is now on the ground for the Island Hl<>ck Ex- ! tended claim. Mr Mad-Jen is workiug away ' steadily, and I h^ar tha prospects are decidedly encouraging. In a wtek or two he should be in a position to gay whether the ground now being ! operated upon is any better than that worked on the upper side of the road. I understand that the ' dneciors have decided not to make any chatigs in th^ management of the mine— at least, not to long a* ■ Mr Maddeu conti--ues to give Buti.-,f ic'ion. Messrs SUort and Murray, who lU'quived Brazil- and party's dredge, have not met with any success at Bag Beach, and hiv« deter- j mined to remove tbe dredge to the mouth of ' tho Monzion Burn. The Golden Gate is said to be off the run of wash which gave such splendid I returns a few weeks ugo. The manager has been giving the ground running to the west side of the river a thorough trial, but so far has not fill len in | with anything worth speaking about Mr Lawson did not wash up last week. A quautity of timber for the pontoons of the Golden Link dredge is now on the graund. I hoar that M'Clelland and party at Hor«e<moe Beifl} have been doing very well lately. The Ettrick dredge ia slowly working her way up-stream for the scene of hor former operations, *tr Kitto, the manager, hns to keep all his wits about him iv the risky work in which he is vow engaged. Tho !«lat>d"Block Ci'iupany arc reported to be doing very well just n-iw 'Jhe New Zealand Miuiug Journal gives tha j following particulars of the B*rewood lode :— I -"This lode is situated about 35 miles from Dunedin, on the Otago Ceutral railway. It traverses, in a north-westerly direction, a xilateau I through which the Taieri River (probably assisted [ by glacial action) has cut a gorge seveial hundred feet deep The general direction of the reef and the river gorge are similar, but owing to the windings of tbe utream the line oE reef interstcts the river bed at three different places, while in others a distance ot I^OOuft separates them. The facilities for wo-kiug the lode by means -of low-level adits are therefore obvious. The rock in which the reef occurs is the ordinary mica schist of the Wanaka formation, foliated with quartz, and lying in an almost horizontal position The lode, which is a true fis.ure vein, inteiseots the country jock Mid dips to the Dorth-'eaet at an average angle of 50deg On the uouth-weat side of tha river gorge, where the principal work ha* been done, the natural drainage of the country ia across the strike of the lode iv th-i direction of its dip, and, as the hanging wall is solid and well | defined, the reef intercepts a great quantity of i water, and consequently makes mining fiom shafts (the only m ithod hillierlo adopted) a very expensive one, as the cost of pumping is gxeat. Thi matrix of the lode is quartz, containing a qu-nhty of sclue ite or tung&t-itc of li:n«-, whilst T'ld i; HI i= .s, .ni.TiHf) witti aiienii-Ai and irun pvute., aud a tiar.e of antimony. For the lirst 100't in depth the oxidised poitionof the lode ia comparatively free millii.g ; below this the ore. though yielding its gold fieely to the cyanide or washoe processes, is .not bo amenable to the ordinary method of amalgumti-m fco far attention lias oaly been pud to the one line of lode, though, as there is no definite footwall, and stiingeis of quirt 2 »ppaar ou the footWAll sid-i in -ill the workiiißs, it is probilile , bodies of ore exist between thk Hue and a-uothsr parallel line which ia known to exist about two and a-half chainß to the south-we^t, it is a well-

known fact that in all the creeks which have been worked for olluvial gold the lead w^is followed up to this second line of reef, but not beyond it, and gold found up to that point, and recently gold has been found in the lode itself. Tue cost of fuel and the limited amount of capital invested iv the principal reason why the Held has not been more successfully wo ked. With low-level adits from the river gorge, or with machinery worked" by power transmitted from the river, which, with its large body of water and rapid flow, offer* every facility for the generation of electro motive power, there is no reason why the field should not bec-'ina a permanent and remunerative one." The heavy charge of roburite fired at the Con-B'-pluUted Company's mine, Blue Spur, Hat Wednesdiy afternoon (says Saturday's Tuapeka Xim-.s) was completely successful, bringing down cement sufficient for thre* months' sluicing, and, at the Ba'tne time, shaking the ground arouud the charge tuunel for nearly a chain It will also have the effect of causing large quantities of cement". to come down a^ soon as the present face has been sluiced away. The shot tva- fired el"ctrictlly by Mrs Guw 1 in. the presance of a number , of epectato s, who watched the proceedings J throughout with the .liveliest^ interest. Tbe weight of roburite fired was 16501b, the cst of . which, along wir.h the .work entailed ia getting ! everything iv readiue3s, is estimated al £ICO It may be added that the heijrht of tlie.f.ca of cement above the charge tunnel was 133 ft This is how the cm rent issue of Vie fiOiul n Mining Wo Id talks of the ll.uidt, .S.uitli Africa, district: — "At a time of depression like the presont, it may be v eful I) rec<ll what tho lUndt has done. Its mine* have produced since 1887, when the first crushing took plact», B,SOh,OOOjz, valued at j 30,800,(100. The annual aveiape production for tin- last two jsar*. may be taken roughly at over 2,000,0900?/, valued at nearly £8,0110.000, but tin- is nothing to what will take place, if Wr are allowed to work ia psaci and under n-rmil condition^, in the near future. Already we may expect an increase of ihp stamping power by 226) stamps, uud tbi> is not including the 100 stamps apiece which it is believed the Crowu, LingUa^ta, Jumpers, Robinson, Nourse, aiid Rose Deep 3 will shortly er ct, which will add 600 more All theie stamp: are of the heavier pattern, capble of crushing A\ tou» a day ; in fact, all anticipation* leid to the belief that in five or six years' time 7000 to 8000 diamps should be crushing- 1 000 01)0 ton-i a luoii'll pivrlucirig . 4C0,0000z to 50i> OOfio/, „ 5,000,00'^0z to (J OW.OiO^z per annum, and levins a Vhluo i>f between 0')0 and £.0 003,000 pei annum "- The Dunstan Times leports :— Mr A. MThevsou, of the Bald Hill Flat claim,' fiu<she>l cleaning up the pa<ldcck \\t had been eng»yed upon for »me ti.ne in the eaily p*rt of last week, obtainirg " ar- exc j ,l«nt return of the precious metil Mr M PbTson has been work ins wi'h a very pior supply of water for .'om.' time past. — Hyde aiid party obtained 16 >z l»»t ' week —The MesM's Gartley, at .Spring vale, ! had a partial wash-up last \yipek, and were I very well satisfied indeed with the rasulfc.— Several Alexandra residents visited th- Nevis district the othdv day, and all speak iv the j highest terms of praite of the licluieis of the i ground. One of the visitors who has hai agivat I de.il of «X]>svience in mining matters fctp/e- tb.»t tbe Nevis gr -und is as ff"od drerfging frmufd a3 ho • as ever keen, and he feels &ure it will pay well for dredging. Coil is to be had <Mi l>-tk sides of the river. He says* the d pth of the' river will run from about 10ft to 18fn, and the bottom is soft and vcy similar to the M«ljuaux river. It is und-rstaqd several dredge- \v'H be plaofid on the Nevis river immediately a tor the coming winter. The Inttngahiu Herald states thai, th- f !1 >v,ing sums wero puid throu,«h Mr Mills on h- 7fch aa deposit* upon the purchase of mi nine prop.rtios, with the right of exercising the 'ption iu> to the end of \iay 1896 :— llevival (formerly lnWinan) ; £800, Carbine - I A Blenheim telegram &t*tes that tbe W*ka- , marina Gorge claim, which attracted public ( ' attention for many years, is now in a flourishing , position and shareholders are in a fail w<iy of gettius some return for the vast am unt of ; dpi al expended upon it. The claim is nnw dry, and a, large paddock is being rapidly tekeu out. The winding gea>-, c»pahle of lifting over 200 tons per day, is a decided succets, and sluicing operations are being a tively c*rried out. It i< a>iticipated that the fine gold which will be found , throughout the shingle will more than pay the i working oxpensos. In the cour<e of a week or ao ' the boxes are to be «a<h.;d up, when result of an , cn^ouraiing riAtuie are expected. ' The Millei's Fiat corrcj^pondent of tho Tv ipuka Times c >nfirm« the report that t.he Goldci Unte ' Company's dredge has struck payable gold on the west side of.the river at the mouth of the island Block creek. ; '•he manager of the Australian Tiu, BKe Tier (Pat mania), riports under date April :? :— " KngioS and boilers and Frue vanners all in position; making connection.-; and fitting up shifting and driving ge^r. Kain >till Imlds elf." Mr Reeves rcporc3 a return from tht- Enierpriaa dredge, Alexandra, of 17oz 7dwt for last week'd wo>k. The secretary of the Duuedin Gold Dredging Company (Limited) received the following tele- , gram from the dredgu miater on Saturd-y -.— j "Dredging six days for 17"z erold." j The Secretary of the Otas;o Gold Dred^iiu Com- . pany (l.imite"d) r» ports 13oa l'idwt of gold for I la»t week's dredging. Mr Thomas Callcnder iepirt~> 560z 9dwt 12gr letortedsold from the Snv Hoy Big Beach Gold Mining ,, Company (Limited) for past wpek from two dredges. No. 2 dredge stopped on Friday owing to accident to the pump