THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 17

THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

THEIR PAST HISTORY, THEIR PRESENT, POSITION, AND THEIR FUTURE PROSPECTS. , (By Oub Special .Commissioner.)no. xii. - THE LEVIATHAN MINE, SKIPPERS y" . POINT. . Under ciroumstance3 favourable^ its development I believe the Leviathan is destined in a future not very remote to bring baok much of the quartz mining fame that belonged to this district at an earlier period. The mine has already, under such conditions as are usually associated with early and unassisted effort), i given proof of such productive powers a* ■ may fairly entitle the owners to look forward to tfc* future with confidence,

It is now about three years ago since the reef was discovered by Messrs M'Pherson and Filipino while prospecting in the neighbourhood. Through the enterprise of Mrs Silk they were able to make the requisite preparations for taking some stone and putting the value of the reef to a definite teit. From 15 tons of stone which they had crashed at the battery of the Gallant Tipperary, they obtained a yield of 250z of gold, and from a further crashing some months later the returns totalled l£:z to the ton. Subsequently they drove numerous crdsscutf, and sank shafts, whicS led to the, discovery the gold rah much deeper than they had at 'first .expected., ' A battery wasjoon after erected, and has been running, evejfiince with most satisfactory results to the owners of the property. The lease consists of a total area of •70 acres, arid measures are at present being taken in. London to convert the property into a • company possessing the necessary capital for its development on a large scale. Two other lodes, proved to ba payable, have since been discovered in the vicinity of the Leviathan. These are known as the Fiery Cross and Young Amerioan. Trial crushings of stone taken from both of those have given respectively 15djrt and lOdwt to th 9 ton. The owners are at present only working the Leviathan. The lode in the reef runs east and j west, and they .have already proved it to a depth of 100 ft from the sutfaca. It contains three or four different kinds of gold, all carrying downward* as far as they have been proved. The average width of stone in the lode is about 2ft, and during the season they have crushed upwards of 250 tons, which h&ve given a yield of 150:z of gold. The concentrates from this stone have not yet been treated, but so far they have- proved to be very rich, and will add considerably to the yield just mentioned. One as>ay of the pure pyrites gave 28oz to the ton ; but as, generally speaking, these tests made by the assayists seldom run into more than half the figures given, the result in this case would mean about 14oz to the 'ton. The battery consists of eight heads of stampers, driven by a 3ft Pelton wheel^-ihe gold-zaving appliances being two blanket tables and two quicksilver tables. They nse only ft small quantity of water, and their race is enly 'about 30 chains long. At the time of my visit to the mine fchay wore engaged sinking a shaft on some very good stone, and it is expected that this adit level choald come .upon the shoot from which they took their previous crushing. Thig adit will give them about 200 ft of backs. One very important advantage in connection with the working of the mine is that there is a tupply of timber close at band sufficient to last for the next two or three .years. Another of even greater importance is that they will not require to ate very much* timber "owing to the ground being strobjfand good throughout. At present the mine is being worked under many disadvantages arising principally from an absence of the necessary capital required in an enterprise of this .kind. Their- working facilities are few, and not at all up to the 'Standard demanded by the necessities of the work. They are deficient/in tramway*, and it would ba possible for them to h&ve 800 ft of backs with 600 ft of ah adit tunnel. Had they suoh facilities as these it wonld mean some years' unimpeded wotk straight ahead. . THE CRYSTAL MINE. The Crystal is situated about half a mile further up the creek from the Leviathan, and consists of nine acres' of ground. The discoverers of the reef hive made arrangementswith a Dunedin syndicate by whioh the latter, on. condition of undertaking a thorough prospect of the mine-, will receive twothirds of the property, the original prospectors, retaining the remaining one-third as their share. Through the assistance of the syndicate referred to some 70 tons of stone have been taken out of the mine and treated at the Leviathan battery quite lately. The treatment of the et:tne, though not completed, had gone about half an ounce to the. ton, but this will, of course, be increased materially after' the concentrates, have been treated. The lode runs about due east and west, whilst the underlie, dips to the' north. The direction of the other discovered lodes . in the neighbourhood is about south-east and northwest, and are therefore crossed by the Crystal-, at a somewhat sharp angle. The reef is situated iv slip or broken country, and, so far, they have not been able to ranch the solid part of it. 1 A contract was recently let for driving a lower level adit, of 3ioffc, which, when completed, should give 100 ft of backs, aud enable them to get down on to the lodo. Sawyers' Gully, where the raef is situated, is known to have been very rich in alluvial gold o? a rough, nuggety character, which, it is concluded, came out of the reefs in the vicinity. Subsequent prospecting proved the correctness of this theory just as the still later and more systematic development of the mine has fully justified all the early hope 3of the owners.

TINKERS.

Matakanui, or Tinkers, the name by which it Is more widely known, is probably the richest field for its size in the colony. Even now the area of its rich auriferous deposits is not yet defined, and seems largely dependent on the available water supply on the field. There is apparently a run of the old quartz-gravel drift, or what is known as granite-wash, making along the foot oi the range and extending almost to Clyde. This run of wash is confined to a comparatively narrow compass, and lies at a considerable angle against the Maori bottom on the side next the fiat, dipping on the other side at a corresponding angle underneath the schist rook in the main range. The bottom of this quartz washdrift has, I believe, not yet been reaohed. A shaft put. Sown some years ago, near the boundary of the Mountain Race Company's claim to a depth of 240 ft ,' showed that the whole of this waehdrift contains sufficient gold to pay for working by hydraulic sluicing. An idea of the value of miniog property on this field may ba obtained from the fact that a few years ago a small water race, about two miles in length, with the first right of seven sluice heads of water out of Thomson's creek, vm sold for £11,000; This

was purchased by the Undaunted Company. This company laab year, for about eight or nine months' work, obtained 7900z of gold, and during the present year they have taken out of the boxes over 600oz, The annual expenditure on fcho claim is something like £1100 or £1200. The Matakanui Company are working 10 acres of ground and v bring. their water from Lander Creek, a distance of 14 miles. They work' one elevator and giro employment to seven men. The Uudaunted Company shares in the general disadvantage arising at Tinkers from a scarcity of water. An effort has been made to remedy this byputting the whole of the claims into one' company, but so far 'this 6chema\has not been successful, Were the whole of the claims to amalgamate there would 'be about 200 aores of ground to work under conditions much more favourable than those at present existing.. The Sugarpot; Company have sunk 248 ft on. a deep leatl, which averages about a, ckvn wide, in a formation' of co'arie clay and heavy granite wash. During the past seven years they have been engaged working two acres of ground, out of which they have taken 32000z of gold, working 'during that time about saven months in the year. Messrs Ewing and M'Oonnochie's claim, known as the" Matakanui claim, was taken up by those gentlemen in 1887 with a capital of £11,000. [ Fully half of the capital -invested in the pro- ! perty was spent in the construction of a water I race. The claim is provided- with' one of the best plants foL- hydraulic mining to be seen on the goldfields, but, like most of the other mining properties nb 'tinkers, it is handicapped with a very icafoquafce and uncertain wtter 6upply. The value of the gold extracted from the claim for the period beginning Ist July 1893 and ending 31st December 1895 was £4656 5s 9d, the profits for tie' SM&e period being £2261. Amalgamation at Tinkers.' " . .

The mine owners at Tinkers have for gomet'me past been seriously considering the advisability of amalgamating their properties and working them under one company. The necessity of such & coursa has been forced on.them because of the long periods of compulsory idleness experienced owing to insufficient water supply. It may be safely said' that between dry weather and frost work cannot be carried on on an average more than half the .year. This drawback is experienced in common by all the claims in the district, and the interests of the clum ' I owners imperatively demand such % change as will provide a larger and more constant water supply. The construction of a dam at Thompson's Gorge— Thompson's being the ottttk from which the water used is chiefly drawnabove the heads of the races would regulate the water .supply by providing storage for flood water, which goto to waste in frosty weather as well us daring stoppages on Sundays and holidays and the time devoted to walking up. An arrangement working outsnch «Bults would probably mean the doubling of i the water supply of tfee district. Surveys have, i I understand* been made which show that a dam bank 100 ft high constructed below the junction of the right and left hand branch ' would store 88$ millions of cubio feeb of water — equal to a supply of 25 Government heads for 4-1 dsys ' of 24 hoars each, A ' dam bank 150 ft high at the same place would store 294-^f .millions of cubic feet — equal to 25 Government heads for 133 days. The estimated cost of the former is set down at £7000, and of the latter at £17,000. The method of construction proposed by Mr Ewing to impart strength and stability to the work, to give it the power of resisting floods and render it proof against percolation, has been vary carefully thought out, and should fulfil all the conditions aimed at. The idea is to construct a water race at a high level, capable of giving a a pressure of 600 ft At the dam. site, a first-class hydraulic mining plant to be at the swne time I provided. The mountain side above the dam wall would be mined and sluiced by powerful jets, the fine matter being retained in the centre of the dam wall and the rocks and stones trollied and trucked to the front and back of the wall. A rook tunnel would be first out to form an outlet for the creek water daring the bourse of construction, as well a» for the par- . po3e of regal&ting the supply as soon as the dam '■ was ready for use as such. This, method of construction, besides giving extt'a strength, over .that usually attained in such work, would also have, the important, advantage of cheapness to recommend it. The heights, of the proposed dam wall would be unusually great, but the gorge is very narrow, not more than two chains wide at the bottom, while the sides rite at an angle of one in. two. The matter to be sluiced would be rock, but it contains soft veins, and the pressure indicated would be quite sufficient to undermine and thoroughly disintegrate it. Ifc is probable that the construction of this dam would long since have been undertaken were it not for the impossibility of agreement between the holders of water rights on the subjeot of the relative benefits to bo derived from the work. An attempt was recently made to unite the various mining companies at Matakanui into one concern. Previous to my visit to the place Mr T. J. M'Kerrow, of the firm 6f Hamilton and M'Kerrow, sharebrokers, Dunedin, had been endeavouring, with the help of some of the leading property owners, to form a company with a capital 0f .£50, 000 to buy out the existing companies, paying half cash and half in paid-up shares/ All of the mine owners appeared to be reconciled to this arrangement, but the difficulty was to sgree as to comparative values. Ultimately, after all the companies save one had agreed to sell, the new company to have a capital of £50,000, negotiations were abruptly broken off through one company wanting £2000 more than the others thought it entitled to. It is, however, possible that something may yebbe done towards arriving at a basis of agreement. i The advantages to be gained by uniting all the properties in one company would certainly be very great, not the least being that the construction of the dam could at once be undertaken. Five separate managements and stiffs of hands would also be replaced by a single management and * comprehensive^ economical, and efficient system of working. A sufficient stream of water would, in addition, be commanded icitead of the useless driblets now used by some of the parties, Xbe wbolt of the work in the

claims on an average could then be dona at half the present cost on BUch a capital as i £50,000, and big. -dividends might fas made., for,' the next half centmy, as the known, auriferous ground;, will lasb at least that time.' At present; some of the Matakanui claims are paying, while there . are also others of them that are not certainly paying*; Those .holding the best ground as well as the best water supply are now farthest* behind, as good ground <is worthless without water, whilst water, however plentiful,, is powerless to assist in extracting gold from barren ground. ST. BATHANS. This district has long been famous for its rich deposits of auriferous qutrlz drift. These drifts, though -they have never yet been bottomed, continue year after joar to yield gold in very large quantities. They are stated ' by competent authorities to have been tilted up from their original bedding, which must have been it one time in position. The whole series, it. is thought, including the sandstones of the Maori bottom, must have been thrown into such a position and given their present' varying dip by some tremendous agency.' Throughout the whole of the Manuherikia valley the' gold-bearing deposits are composed either of this drift formation or else deposits that owe their gold to it. The white drift valleys cross all the runs along the basex>f the mountain ranges, but this drift formation; is older than the ranges themselves, whose upheaval hts, raited it into all sorts o? positioni oq the fbotHhilli and terraces along their baije. It rests, at. «1L angles up te .vertical, and ' in some cases appears to have been overturned and now forms .steep faces in tbisloossformation. Morethtii once ■the whole i'*brio has been threatened with 'destruction fn many places,, and much ingenuity has to, oa exercised 'in some of the claims in;th6 SK' Btthans district to prevent disastrous consequences. The extraordinary richness of this formation has for . a loog time and from a very early period received generous, illustration in the returns from the Ktldare Hill mine, the property of Mr John Ewing." More than 30 years ago the first prospectors were here making from £12 to £15' a man weekly by sinking on the layer, hauling the ° dirt to the surface by hand, and then carting it -(o the water. From the time the hill was first worked up to the present day it is calculated that there must) have been over a ton weight of. gold extracted from the layer. The drift. formation in the- claim consists of alternate seams of gravel, sand, and clay, dipping at an angle of 45deg, the coarsest gravel 'carrying most gold, and* judging from what has bceb done up to the present, another 50 years will not see ifc exhausted. Hydraulic sluicing operations" are conducted on an exceptionally large scale, and, it, may be also added, under exceptional difficulties, in Mr Swing's elevating claim. Indeed, it- ia probable that the gold, would have remained in the heart of the reef for another generation or more were it not for the special knowledge, the resourcefulness and steadfastness of purpose* with which Me Ewing approached the gigantic undertaking. In going into this enterprise, Mr Ewing was advised by his friends against taking a risk of such magnitude and warned of the' certainty of failure. , But, as is' characteristically hit habit;," he consulted his own Judgment, followed out his reidves, w«nt unflinchingly through with the work, and ultimately cama out successful. In this claim there are ,at present two hydraulic lifts employed, the upper' being 92ft aud the lower one 30f t. Preparations are being made for eiuking 30ft more., which will give the lower lift a depth of 60ft, or a total of 152 ft. Tho ground operated upon is of a .candy,, loose nature, and' the influx of drainage water increases 'considerably as the mine deepens. This deposit was discovered' ia 1863, and worked first by- open cuttings, and, as it got deeper, by shafts and drives, until the water rendered hand .working impossible? Whips and whins worked by, . horse labour were then resorted to, but in a few yews these too had to be abandoned owing to the increasing presence of waiter. About 22 years ago the gronnd oame into the hands of Mr Ewing by purchase from the iniall holders among whom the ground was split up. Mr Ewing at once put on efficient plant, and has since C3ntinued to work the mine with most satisfactory results. The profits for the three years ending December 1895' were £7883 6s sd, the total gold produced during the same period being £11,333 7s lOd. The capital invested in the mine is represented by £4500. . v ' The old workings at Cambrians are now being developed in a systematic manner by Mr Ewing, and the results have amply justified expectations. The total value of the gold obtained for the 18 months during which work was earned on up to January last was £2385 10i lid, and the net profit £1216 4i sd. The total oapital invested is £1725. The claim was old, abandoned ground, and was locally regarded as worthless. This was the opinion of the old miners in the district, and they confidently prophesied failure for the enterprise, the figures just given riwj? how these predictions were fulfilled. ~* . ' .-• ' \ > Anpbher of Mr. Ewing's; mining properties, known as the Cambrian miners situated about three miles from Vinegar 'Hill, and was taken up about .two yeara ago. This claim was acquired in order that a large water race purohased some time previously by Mr Swing might be profitably utilised. This race was brought at a low level from the Dunstan creek, and, as it did not command Vinegar Hill mine, the water was sold to small parties of miners at a cheap rate. But as the reveauo derived from this source scarcely paid the cost of maintenance, he decided to use the water himself. Work is carried on in the Cambrian mine on two. faces. The deeper of the two is being lifted 54ft, and another— sooyds distant on the hill— is worked from the open face. The first is only workable with a full stream, but the second can be worked when the water supply falls to its lowest, as it had done, at the time of my visit. It was then running at only aTbout four heads. When it gets so low a* this it is stored in a dam daring the night ; But when the supply is full, work is carried on during the whole 24 hours from both places. The number of men employed varies from six, ■ whoa the water supply >> small, to 14 when the supply is full. The returns from this mine are intermittent. They, depena very much upon the season's, rainfall. The oapital invested is about £7000, and the profit's for the three yean 1893, 1894, and 1895 have bean £3815 6s Bd. The mine, has been worked foe the past 16 years and with good results during the whole of that time. The holding is a special claim of 100 acres. Another of Mr Swing's mining properties is the well known Vinegar Hill Hydraulic claim. The stuff is being lifted. Wife onto the top, and the. auriferous formation wilt ere long render much deeper elevating necessary. The main pipe line is 2000 ft long, and tha branches are upwards of 3000 ft of lain and 15m pipes i the smaller branches consist of 3000fb more of 7in and llin pipes. The race » constructed to catch all the water in the creeks for a distance of aix miles, and the available supply of water U, generally speaking, well qp to th» roquirementi of the olaim.

The St. Bathans : Channel Company was formed in \IBB2 to construct a deep level channel, or tail race, to the workings in St. Batharjs baiin! Levels taken showed that a' channel a mile and m-haU long, with ft grade pf 1 in 100, would- tap the auriferous deposits in the various claims from 50ft to 70Ft under the then existing level of tail rants. Work- was commenced in- the year mentioned, and has been carried on without intermission since that time. The company has expended its capital of £3780 and a Government subsidy of £1000, in addition to £4000 the value of the gold won during the course^ of construction, At the preaeut time the company is about. £1000 iq debt. The channel is now constructed for over a mile, and partly constructed ever the remainder of the distance. All the stony top stratum along the whole course of the channel has been removed, and this will slowly lower the level through the clay formation, which alone remains. It will take several years before it it cut down to the levels intended ; but the heavy expense is now over,- and the benefits of tsonitructiotf are already beginning to accrue. Work was carried on in all tha claims during the course of construction, and tha ' bailings coming- from them have considerably retarded operations. An effort, I understand, is about to be made to induce the Government to subsidise the work yet remaining to be done, and, considering the importance of the undertaking and the general 'benefits it will confer on the miners of the district, it is quite possible the appeal will meet with s>> favourable - response. _ - Messrs Eagle and Gray have been working a - khree-acre extended claimjsituated between Mr ' Swing's Kild&re Hill claim and the United .M. ' and B. Company's claim for the last 33 years. Daring the most' of that time they haye 1 been getting very excellent' returns. The' claim, ''which is a white dri Ft formation, will take nucy years yet to work out, and but little labsur is required in its development. - The St. Bath»ns Water Race Company, adjoining the Scandinavian Company, at Surface Hill, has had a rather chequered career. It was constructed- 20 years ago by 12 v working men T their water race being 45 miles long. It took four years to ■ construct and three years more to provide themselves with a tail race. ' The company has scarcely paid ordinary miners' wages, some of the recent returns being exceedingly poor. Were it not that the enterprise has beeu worked on co-operative lines' it must have long since come to grief. The United M. and B. Water Race Company hold the lease adjoining the Scandinavian Com1 pany, at Surface Hil), aud another in the St. Bathans Basin, west from- Mr Swing's claim. The former bas produced a good - deal of gold ' during,, the past 20 years, but is now almost ' worked out. The company was unfortunate 'enough some eight years ago to purchaEe the adjoining property, whioh has not only not -paid dividends, but landed them in difficulties. Its holding has not been worked 'for a number of years pending the construction of a deep tail race by the Sfc, B&thaus Channel Company.-' Tho company's workings are now on the Surface Hill side., They bring in about 12 Government heads of water, which they -sell to miners at £2 per head for the day and £1 10s ■ for night water. By far the greater, profit is derived from, the sale of water,' the company's Dwn, holding tor long periods paying nothing, They have quite recently taken a dividend of ( £2per24obh Bhare,'beibg the firsb r during the past four years. 'Ihe^ company's shares ate at present being inquired after, and a large parcel recently changed hands ' for £16' each. The company hsve a considerable area of -ground itripped, and steady returns may be confidently looked forward-to for some years. Their water race is 20 miles loDg, and its construction cost - £12,000. . '^ I Messrs Hughes and Owen work a hydraulic eluioing claim on Vinegar Flat whioh has paid exceedingly well during the last 11 years out of *.. . 12» the average returns during that time being calculated- at £7 per week '• for . each man '.employed/ The- last year's operations have, ■ however, barely paid wages,- and the party have „ reeolv6d to wind up the" concern.- There are one or two other parties working in the vicinity with varying degrees of success, including the Eoncdinavian Water Race Company, who hold ■ ground on both sides of the cpuv that separates the Upper Manuherikia Valley from the DunBtan creek. The gold here- i» too fine and light to allow of it being properly saved, and even ' though it could be ttiere is not enough of it to pay.. There is aUo'a small private party (Messrs ' Hughes and Morgan) working- on the southern slopes of Vinegar Hill, *nd discharging their tailings down into Shepherd's creek. , They have been working this ground during the past 20 years, and' for the first half of that time it yielded on an average 500oz of gold, per annum to the labour of three -men. The returns then fell off, but for the last three years they have touched nearly as high a level &s they ever did; . > ' % ' i As may be inferred from the particulars I have given descriptive of the principal > mining enterprises conducted in the St. Bathans dis-trict,-the industry there is receiving a good deal of attention; and still provides occupation for a large number of tho population. Much, if not, indeed, the greatest part, of what has been dene iindis still doing, ilrsolely the work of one-man, - Mr John Ewing. He is, in fact, the embodiznent of almost the entire industrial force and vitality of the dfitriot ; and a noteworthy and almost uniform feature of his successes is that most of them have been made out of the waste »nd wreckage of the industry or created out of the mistakes and failures of less clear-headed, or discerning people. And yet all that'has been done is insignificant in its* range and dimensions when we consider the vastness -of the existing resources of the district ■ and the postibilities which a knowledge of its past history may reasonably claim for it in the future. There are. splendid proof.B of industry visible in many directions, but they are not ot the kind , that claim'euccess in these, modern days of goldmining. -And hence it is that the .history of mining in the district contains so many records- , of unßUCceßsful effort, -of nprewarded labour, , and.of ultimate failure. . A very large part of - the, Manuherikia Valley and nearly all the foot ■ hills where gold is likely to'be found in payable quantities still remain* in the hands of the prown, and care, should be taken that it is not permitted to jjass into private bands and beyond the reach of the-miner. (7b be confirmed.)