MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2202, 14 May 1896, Page 18

MINING.

THE OTAGO GOLDMELDS.

DHEIR" PAST HISTORY, THEIR PRESENT POSITION, AND THEIR FUrURE PROSPECTS.

(By Ova Special Commissioner.)

no. v. THE VALLEY OF THE CLUTHA. Hercules No. 2 Company. When this company first commenced operations gome very rich' ground was worked, and large returns were the rule. Bub during recent years the contrary has been the case, and the record has beon far from brilliant. The property was purchased by Messr* Ewing and fit'Connochie, of St. Bithans, in 1892, and lince then a very Targe area of ground both on the river flat and on the high terrace of Hcroales FUt has been worked. This work was undertaken principally for protpeotiog purposes, in order to put to a practical test a theory held by Mr Ewing that *n old river bed existed at the b*ok of the flat, and would be found somewhere in tkab direction. The .old river bed was ultimately diacovered, bub at the point touched it was not found to contain payable gold, and work was accordingly discontinued. From the experience g&iued as a result of this prospecting work, it is. now held that tho original cou:se of the river ran only for ' a short distance into the flat and then swept off "again to the other side of the valley, about a dozen chains below the point where the best of the gold has been found. The total quantity of gold obtained from the mine during the three years it was worked by Messrs Ewing and M'Connochie was £44-79, and the loss suitained for that period by those gentlemen was £670 4s 2d. This loss ban scarcely be regarded as heavy when the period over which it extended is taken into account, and aim the fact that the work occupying the attention of the owners during the gteatsr part of the time consisted principally of prospecting. At the came time, had the ground worked been of the game structure a1)a 1 ) tbat of the Uuitid Hercules Company near tho river, or that now being operated on by the Amalgamated Company, it would, beyond doubt, have paid handsomely. The enormous number and greab size of the stones met with rendered such a result impossible. The property during the past two or three months has been worked on tribute, pending the arrival of the proprietors at a deoision as to their next course of acton. I may addythat the labours of the tributers hava not met with much reward. United Hbbcules. This property, which adjoins the Hercules £To. 2, bad a brief but a brilliant season of prosperity following the formation of the company. In the 18 months following that event £20,C00 worth of gold was takeu out. of the claim, and a sum of £10,000 was distributed in 'dividends. But soon' after that its sun went down, the yield of gold steadily declined, »nd eventually ran out to vanishing point. Ihen financial troubles arose, the company became embarrassed, and, after an unavailing Btruggle agiinst the inevitable, the directors threw up the sponge, and the mine was let on tribute. The tributers, like the company, weie also the victims of adverse 'circumstances, and the property is now under offer to Mtssrs Kitcbing and Co., who are endeavouring to float a company in London to work some ground near Dumbarton Rock. Their purpose is to obtain control of the Hercules water^ rights, and take tbe water to the ground they contemplate working at Dumbarton Rock, four miles further down the river. The Hercules Company hold the firet rights of water from the Teviofe river, from wbioh there is an unfailing water supply. This portion of the property is certainly of great value, as by extend ng the water race it will command any ground on either side v of the river along the valley for a considerable distance, with a head that can be utilised for either motive power to work dredges or for carrying on hydraulic sluicing and elevating operations. Whether Messrß Hitching succeed or' not in their undertaking, it is clear that the future of the Teviot water, now used on Hercules Flat, Ban enly be profitably employed further flown the Clutha river, A water race to carry winter streams might be constructed for something like £6000, and the united plant would command the whole of Anderson's Fl**, which contains 3000 ac.es of Crown lauds and m isb include within its area many old beds of the river. No water for hydraulic elevating purpos'-a has yet been brought to bear on this fiat, which ia bejbnd question rich in alluvial deposits, and offers a splendid field for investment. • ■ Other Claims, I have already made reference to some I round at Dumbarton Rook, in which Mr J. F. KitchiDg and others are interested, It is iitu* ated about two miles below, the United Hercules

Company's claim, and is part of a flat which is I supposed to be the place where the river had I »t some remote period in its ch<?qu?red history bruken its present bounds and run close along i the sid« of the range, re-entering its preaeuc bed again near the mouth of tho Bangerbura creek. Seme proof of the correctness of this theory is afforded by the fact that there is comparatively little gold in the bed of the present course of the river betwoen the two points mentioned. There axe certainly dUt'nc'.ly go d grounds for regarding the claim to be oue of the richest in the district, the formation being so complete as to suggest the conclusion that it must, at one time have acted as a catchment basin in the old course of the primary river. In order to work the claioa it is proposed to bring the United Hercul«fi C !mpany's water on to the ground, providing « Iv-a d of about 600."t. The ground has never beon worked orring to the difficulty of obtaining '■ water, none being nearer than the Teviot river. If, as I have said, the old primary river bsd runs on the west side of Dumbarton Rock, through Mo* Flat, and thence out at the Bet<gerburn, a distance of betwe-ni five and six miles, there can be no question of the rich) 1 ess of the ground, and many generations must pay away before ib is worked out. That the o!d rivt-r bed does so run I am convinced, both , froia observation and independent inquiry from aatbvritatire sauries. It is rather unfortunate that a great part of the rUt h held in perpetuity, as with adequate provision for water there is remunerative employment for a large population for very many years. It is also a matter for regreb that it should be necessary to go outside of the colony to find capital to work sach ground. Another of those rich alluvial areas abounding in the T«viot district is Anderson's Flat, situated about four and a-balf miles from Roxburgh. The area of the flat ia about 3000 acres, all Crown land, ab«olu!«ly uufl>< for »ny purpose of cultivation, fib, .indead, only to put it through the elevator, and all, as far as proof has gone, more or less auriferous. This flat must contain mtuy old riverbeds, and would, I am convinced, give good returns for any capital invested. Messrs Pitchers and Kitto have taken up a claim ou the flab, to prospect which they have vainlj sought assistance from the Government and theTuapeka County Council. A tolerably I big overdraft prevents the latter body -from responding to the appeal, aud the Minister for Mines hedges himself round with conditions that cannot be complied with because of # the unresponsive attitude of bankrupt public bodies on the goldfields. Some prospecting in a small way and under hard and unfavourable conditions * has been tried, and the results have in every instance been highly oncounging I should expect with a hydraulic plant working on this claim to see a yield of 150oz a wtek. The ground consists of iron stone layers, os what is more commonly known as a beaoh layer. The bottom on an average would give 10ft of payable dirt, and the top hamper stuff would nob be deeper than 15 t — that is, 25fb to get to the bottom. This, generally speakiug, applies to the whole of the flat, which was racenbly visited by the Hon. Mr Cadman and Mining Inspeotor Gow, both of whom professed themselves as beiDg very favourably impressed with the appearance of the ground. The Teviot district is specially favoured in the possession of mtny such rich alluvial areas, but they, are &t present of litt'e value becnuse of the expense and difficulty of providing & water supply. Were it possible to work a tithe of the ground within a convenient distance of Roxburgh occupation would ba provided for a larger adult population than the entire district now numbers. Indeed, the more one sees of the country around here and of the clear indications pointing to the course of the river having undergone many changes, no doubb in great intervals of time, consfantly sluicing away the material brought down by landslips from the mountain*, the more impressed must he become of the vastness of tha rictus awaiting the enterprise and the industry of many succeeding generations. Roxburgh Amalgamated Company.. This company is indebted for its existenca to the c ffurts of the late Mr Vincent Pyke. Despite a liberal use of all the florid and figurative J r- sources of language, of which he was matter, the public for tome time fought Bby of it, and refused to be lured by what most people agreed to regard as the wiles of the charmer. No doubt there were many reasons for this, the principal one beiDg that confidence in the dißinterest-idness of company promoters had been violently shaken about that time and the public mind had not had time to recover its normal impressionable condition. Ultimately, and after a vain appeal to Melbourne financiers (then in a cautious and calculating mood) the public were Rgain approached, and both locally and in Danedin the response was satiV&ctory, In the Roxburgh district there are about 60 or 70 shareholders, and in Dubedin 140 The property was owned by a number of "• small parties by whom it was worked nndei** moat disadvantageous conditions. When the river was high they sluiced away the tap p;irt of the ground, and in the winter time, when the river was at a low level, they sunk and hauled out the stuff on tracks. This was nob a system of working condacive to either quick or large returns, and the troubles of the owners were further intensified by periodical water famines. Yet four of the six parties working claims on the flat refused to join in tbe amalgamation of the various properties. They stood out to the end, and are still working their claims, though with improved appliances, and they aviured me, being now in a position to judge, that the yeara that had passed since then had proved to their satisfaction the wisdom of the course they thought fib to follow The company have been about five years working the property, and during the greater part of that time the outlook could hardly be said to be inspiring, nor did there seem much promise of the glorious future sketched by the promoters ever appearing on the shareholders' horizon. Gradua'ly, however, the yields, which were uncertain and fluctuated bsneatb a low level, began to rise, and in a little time touched a dividend-paying altitude, when they still remain, I believe lam bat

expressing the sentiments of the shareholders 1 in stating that the results obtained within the last few years, and, as a consequence, the presaut flourishing condition of the company, are very largely due to the system of working introduced by Mr William Peters daring the period of his management. The discovery was made after operations had begun that the water supply at tho disposal of the company was quite inadequate to meeb th« rle nands made upon it, And there w«ro iv ounsequ uc» long and frequent stpp- , pages. In 1893, for instance, the losi of time from this cause was 59 dayi. The capacity of the* dutn At Dismal Swamp was not eufficient for storage purposes, and it wa6 accordingly .deeded to raise the walls by sft or 6:"t, which gires »n ample supply in all seasons. Since ' coinmoucing operations the company have taken 8885oz 14dwt l^r of gold out of the mine, equal in value to £31,303 17s 3d. The total expenditure sinca registration ha 3 been £37,335. It must be remembered, however, that it is only within the last few years that the mine has begun to pay, while the heavy expenditure for maintenance and wage 3 has varied bat little— if at aalial — ia either good or ba>i season*. In 1895 the returns from the proper ty wer<s 235'Juz 2dwt 22gr, of tha value of £9169 14? 9d. The rb'tarns for the present I year, I have reason to believe, will exceed those of lasb year by a very large amount, and the shareholders may wir.b. confidence look forward to a | correspondingly large dividend. For the first six mouths of the present financial year tat gold taken from the mine represents £6707. A comparison between this and the eu<n represented by the yield for tho whole of the previous "year will be more than a 12£ per cent, dividend, which was the figure for 1895. The amount . expended ia carrying on operations duiing last year was £^325, showing a profit on the year's transactions of £4844 14s 9d. A cotnpamoa of the gold obtained during the years 1893 and 1894 shows that gold to the value of £3428 14s 7d was obtained last year in excess of that of the preoeding year. The improved value of jthe ground and an uninterrupted water supply, and, of coarse, competent management, are the factors that have combined to produce this very ' satisfactory result. In addition to the claims acquired by the company, they also took up the ground on the flat between these claims and the foot of tho range, Which gave them about 160 acres of a special claim. Duricgthe last two years the company have beon t<rating purely virgin ground, and of this thej have enough to occupy thorn and their successors far into the dim-and distant future. In working; this ground they have- first to strip off from 20ft; to 25ft of pare ?and, which they run clean into the liver, before coming to fche gold beiring wash. They have then to removo ham 20(b to 40ft of dirfe containing gold ip varying degrees, after which they are upoa the bottom. It has been found that the run of gold which the company have been on next to the river is net at all either so regular or of such good quality *s the second run that goes through the middle of tha flat. This Ut'er is generally admitted to be one of the be>t runs of gold tbat has ever bean opened up ia the Roxburgh district. Th ; s second run has given as much as sdwt of gold to a tin dish of dire taken at random, and indications are not wanting to prove that it had once been an old river bed. The third run of gold under the foot of the hill akutiHg the fkt has not yet b3en properly tssted, but so far as ifc has been openod up the gold is found ta be equal in every retpect to the second or middle load referred to. The f aco of the workings varies from 80ft to 100 ft. The bottom in ordinary slate rock and is found to be very difficult and troublesome to ckan up At the time of my vkifc there were four elevators at work. No. 2 elevato: wa3 lifting out of the old riverbed — taking up the bjttotn of the old river — and dwchnrging the tailings into a second lift The second lift discharged them into a third lift, from which they were run right into the river. No. 3 elevator was employed cleaving a piece of bottom ia the third ran of gold right in under ' the range or next the Teviot creek. It takes about 45 heads of water to lwep al! t".i-f d'- vators working, and the working prepare ou the gauge pointed to 2101b to the square inch. _.■ The proapeoba of the mine are most encouraging, and the shareholders have reason to congratulate themselves on the possession of such a property. It has paid something like 15 per cant, during the last two years, in addition to the aoaount expended on the r*i*ing of the dam walls. This present year I thould expect to see a dividend of something like 20 per cant, paid away. The mine can only be said to be now properly opened up, there being a face of dirt about half a mile long exposed to view, into any part of the whole extent of which tin elevator can be put with tho certainty that the work done will ba dividend paying. They had been woiking No. 3 run 1 of gold on a false bottom unfit a week previous to my visit, when they got on the m\in bottom and found that it, like the false bottom, was carrying good gold. There are 30 men employed in the mine, the wages for labour running from 7s to 9s a day, the monthly expenditure for wages being about £300. The company's dam at Dismal Swamp is constructed of a masonry wall 23ft in height, with a large by-wash on one side, and has two iron pipes through the masonry at the bottom < of the dam to draw off the water. Thete pipes' are 24in in diameter, and are fitted with sluice* gates, or top valves. The water stored in the dam is drawn off through these pipes and allowed to flow down the bad of the river, where it is again picked up and led into a conduit, which is about two miles in length. The dam walls were at first built to a height of 17ft, but it was. found th*t the supply of water, equal to 30 sluiceheads, flowing continuously for 96 days was not sufficient. The walls were then raised another 7ft, at a cost of about £1000. The company now command a' good water supply at all s sasons of the year. It is worth noting that every foot the dam wall is raised forces the water back a mile on the fUt, and this add* hugely to the volume of water impounded. . The expenditure by the company on the dam up to the present \ cannot to far short of £4049. Tha company '

have tiro and a-quarter miles of Hunting, with boxes 3ft by 2ft. This brings the water into the penstock. The latter is made of kauri timber l£in in thickness, tongued and grooved, and is 10ft squere. The pipe 3 leading out of the penstock are 22iu in diameter, made of shest-iron, having the longitudinal ssams double-riveted and the circular seams »iogleriveted. The lower pipes .are 18in in diameter, and are similarly constructed. The gold is swed with steel bottom* in the boxes, coco rout mitting being, placed underneath. These steel bottoms are found to be much better than iron v ones, and are not more thau £1 a ton dearer in price. The experience of the manager is that they ate worth double 'the money which iron bottoms for gold-saving purposes cost. NEIGHBOURING CLAIMS. ** Lying farther back on the fl*t is Loudan and party's claim. The party consists of four men, and they have been working their present ground for the last 28 years. They have a good supply of water, which they get from the Teviot creek, and are running their stuff through boxes. But the ground is getting too deep for this method of working, and they intend eventually to provide theaasilve* with an elevating plant. The bottom, which is principally rook, is 75ffc from the aurfaca, and, if one may jud<e from appearances as ! well as remits, the conclusion is inevitable that the ground is 'an old river bed. Before .the Roxburgh Amalgamated was floated this party ware making from £70 to £80 per< week. They refus»d to agree to the scheme of amalgamation un'e« as the price of their claim they received £6000, half in cash and half in shares. The claim is at present paying well, giving a return of something like from £10 to £12 a man weekly. For about £3000 they could provide J>hemsilves with a very serviceable hydraulic plant, which would enable them to shift three or four times the amount of stuff they are no w treating with much less labour and infinitely batter effect. Campbell and party are working a holdiag of four acres on the flat. Thay are also » survival of the pre-ama'gaoaatiou days, having refused to be absorbed by the amalgamated company unless they reoived £1800 caih and 2000 paid-up shares. At that time they were making something in the near vicinity of £20 a man per week. They are now earning £6 or £7 a week per man. They alao contemplate tho erection of a hydraulic plant ,to work their deep ground. . • (To ht continued.)