THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 18

THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS.

Considerable interest is being taken in the Auckland district in a new process of treating quartz, wbich the New Zealand Crown Mines Company, Karangahake, has adopted with great success. The process is the discovery of Mr Daw, r leading mine manager in the district, and experiments which he has made at Xarangahake, with the aid of a five-s tarn per battery, have proved that it is particularly suited to the treatment of the peculiar class of ore mined there. The quartz put through the Waihi Company's mill is roasted in a kiln before it is sent to the stampers, and after being (.'round into a powder is treated by the cyanide. With Mr Daw's method the quartz is crushed wet, a solution of cyanide being placed in the stamper I oxes, and he claims that he is able to put through twice as much in a given time as it is possibl* to treat at the Waihi Company's battery, and at the same time obtain a greater percentage of gold. The Crown Company is erecting a battery of 40 stampers to use the new ■nroces*, which is also about to be adopted ty the Waihi Company. " Some time ago an effort was made locally (fays the Oamaru Mail) to form a syndicate to exploit ground at Coolgardie. and Mr Cwig, one time of Gtepopo, was selected to represent the syndicate on the field of operations. The matter, however, unfortunately for the local speculators, fell through. Mr Craig appears to have got on to something good, judging from the following extract from the Norseman M'ner: — " The Albeniarle property, which consists of 12 acres and lies three miles. south-east of the Lady Mary, belongs to a party of four— viz , Mes«ri Craig, Carson, Roberts, and Wrs M'Fadyen. It has only recently come into the possession of the present owners, having been abandoned by the original owner?. Such is the irony of fate. Mr Craig's party found five shafts on the property, the deepest down over 100 ft, and three distinct reefs. From three of the shafts stone waa broken and sent to the battery (2*2 tons), with good results, and it ha 3 been of such an extraordinary nature that work will be pushed on at once, and more stone broken by Mr JBevilaqua. After such a result the proprietors of the mine would be acting very weakly if they did not push on development?. Such results are phenomenal and deserve special record. Nearly soz to the ton must leave a good deal for developmentnl work, and if a further such crushing be recorded very shortly, as there seems every likelyhood of its being, the Albemarle must count amongst the wonders of the West." The Bald Hill Flat correspondent of the Mount Benger Mail reports:— "Mr Frank Gray's leef never 1 joked better, the prospector having come on a new strike of stone, very solid, and which prospects well. The stone is easily got, there is a good width of it, and it is worth £4 a ton. I should say in the near future the claim is likely to be a hive of induetiy, as I hear the syndicate who are supposed to be treating for it would put on a large number of men at once if they could get timber."

The Waikaia correspondent of the Mataura Ensipn writes :—" The Scrubby Terrac; waterrace is now completed, and work in the various claims will shortly begin. The Argyle Company has begun operations in the new claim on the Winding Creek flat The promoters are very s»nguine, and as thoroughly competent men are at the head of affuhv, success is likely to attend their deserving efforts."