MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2272, 16 September 1897, Page 18

MINING.

!! t ~ , Mr Nevilla Sievwright, secretary of the Lioa Hock Gold Dredging Company (Limited), reports ..that the pontoons f the above dredge. on the .Manuherikia River are nearly completed, and ,that the launch will take place aboub the £oth inst. The dredge is being built for the company ,J>y day labour, Mr Robert Eitchie (of Port Chalmers) being foreman, and Mr C. B. RichardBon (of the Manorburn dredge) the superintendent. {The race aud dam are nearly complete, and the BRtttry aud other machinery details are well in

hand, and will be forwarded as soon as inspected by Mr Leslie Reynolds (the company's engineer). The company have been fortunate iv getting so much fine weather, and up to date there has been no hitch or delay in work on the claim or in transit of material.

A Greyniouth telegram says that the excitement about the Paparoa reefs is increasing, some magnificent stone being unearthed.

The prospectus .of the Matau Dredging Company (Limited) appears in this issue. Ihe company is divided into 70OO> shares of bleach, of which 800 (fully paid up) are allotted to the vendor, the remaining 6200 beiDg offered to the public. Mr P. M. Pink, who was last here some fe\v years back as chief officer of the American barqn'o Elinor Vernon, is at present on a visit-to Dunedin with a view of floating a syndicate to work claims at Coolgwdie, in which district he has been for some time past.

Mr A. Hamilton, secretary of the Dunedin Dredge Gold Mining Company, reports tho receipt of the following telegram :—" Shifted dredge Wednesday; no wash up this week." The Blacks correspondent of the Mount Ida Chronicle writej :— "The Eureka Company's prospecting shaft was duly fiaished, and as very favourable indications were m<st witb, it was decided at a general meeting of shareholders last Wednesday to follow up these indications. Men are now engaged folio -ving a small rich reef struck at 100 ft, with the object of fiudiDg the main lode. This lode is believed to be within a few feet of where the men are now at work. Every of this being so ia now apparent, according to expert opinion. I thinkthisieef will) iv time .prove a formidable. riv*l to the famous Morning Star at WiUon River, Southland. The shareholdeis deserve succesi for their untiring efforts to prove the value of their property." Mr W. H. Cutten, the well-kiown dredging engineer, ha*, according to the Mataura Ensign, been inspecting the property at Waimumu now beiog_ so thoroughly prospected by the Record Syndicate in order to determine the class of dredge most suitable for the work. At tbe time of his visit there was 100 much water in tho creek to allow of much prosp cting, but Mr Cutten gives his decided opinion that the wash is very good, and that no difficulty will be experienced in putting large quantities through the dredge. The miners employed are making good headway with their shafts.

Mr C. Bates, of Tliverton, who has just returaed from Fatupo, or Big lUver, called_ on us (Southland Times) the other day, and in the course of conversation commvmi ated a number of foots apd incidents interesting and valuable as information. He and his mate, D. Smith, left 'Big River with CoHcii?r and party, with whom they had been at work on the track, on Saturday, August 21, and reached Orepuki at noon the following Monday. Bates and his m«te were not originally of JLhe contract'party on the track; but had 'other business- in view in going along the" i south coast. Tl^ey left Riverton in Roderjque's "cutter on June-^O, and it took them seven days to make the po'mt where they desired to land, a spot known to a few explorers as the Knife and Steel. Willi a fair wind the run across Tewaswae Bay to thcjKuife and Steel— between Waitutu and Tatupo Rivera— usually occupies about six or seven hours. Their m&in- object was to do eomo prospecting,' having been round before and seen indications that satisfied them that the locality was deserving of more investigation as a gold-bearing district. They spent a fortnight at tha place they wished to exain'n* minutely, and then made their way to where Concher and his two companions were at work on the everlaud track and joined them, making the gang five. Tho sang kept together under very trying conditions until the track was finis-lied as f *r as tho contract covered— viz., to within 15 rniies of Wilson River. Rats swarmed in the vicinity of their camp, and ate up nearly all the tucker, the effect of short rations being shown on Mr B*tes, -who weighed 11.12 when he left Riverton and only 10.6 on. bis return. With. regard JqLgold, MrBates says it is found in every creek, and there are many of them, but as yet it has not been "struck rich." He and his mate have " spotted " a reef. It was to examine this more carefully that the made the second journey, and they intend returnifig in EUtnmer to work it. There is now 27 miles of tbe track cut, 10ft wide, with 15 miles to cut, and not the worst. Ou tbe Wairaurahiri, the first river of size encountered after leaving Mussel Beach, there is a Government boat. The next river is the Waitutu, about the same size as the furmer, two chains wide. They are both as rapid as the Wajau, aud are to be provided with suspension chains for crossing. Mr Bates, who is a carpenter, built a boat for the Waitutu of some planks picked up on the beach, but of course a boat at one side of a river is of no use to a man wanting to cross from the other until provision for hauling either way is furnished. Patupo (Big River) the track crosses close" to the beach, where it is about nine chains wide, but being tidal can be crossed in still water at time", and is in any state slowrunniDg. The party had some t'ouble iv crO3eiug it, and Bates had pretty tight work in saving himself. They were crossing when the sea was coming in somewhat roughly, and he got out of his depth among soina rocks, but his companions managed to assist him to regain a footing by extending a rod to him. On this river it is . intended to place two boats, to be worked by wires. Tbe Wairaurahiri is crossed about 40 chains above its mouth, and the Waitutu 30 chains. All the rivers are good for trout, and they were seen by the party. A visitor to the Nevis last week informs us (Cromwell Argus) that dredging matters are booming ahead, and that the Nevis and Ngapara No. 2 dredges are working assiduously in seaich of the precious metal. The latter-named dredge has had a slight difficulty as to getting floated, having been built too close to where the river divides into two streams, but will soon work herself out. The Upper Nevis dredge has to wait on two more loads of timber before a start can be made.

Messrs Nelson and party, who are now dredging very close to the railway bridge, have lately fitted up a condenser to their stettm engine, and it issaid to have made an appreciable difference in the amount of coal used. Keport says that the dredge is now on very good gold. — Bruce Herald.

We are indebted to a well-known district authority on mining matters, signing himself Old Miner," for an interesting account of the doings— present and prospactive— of the Waimumu Dredging Company. Our correspondent writes :—": — " As some little notice lias been taken of late in our local papers in reference to dredging matters in our district, I will feel obliged by your giving space in your paper for the following remarks and observations, in reference to the allabsorbing subject. Ib appears tbe Waimumu Dredging Company have been hanging on thetr oars for the last two or three weeks, to Eec if the Dunedin syndicate, who are at w.ork lower down the valley, would be more successful ia reaching bottom than they were, they haviDg failed to reach the bottom at 33ft. The Dunedin Company, it seems, have abandoned the shaft. they wereafr work in for some cause or other, and'have started work further up the valley, and in proximity to the other company's claim. Being an" oldwniner and dredger on the Molyneux, I am very much surprised at the little public interest- evidenced towards this rich valley. If the residents of Mataura and Gore could only realise tho effect this new goldfield will have on the prosperity of their district, they would take more -interest in it. I will stake my reputation upon it that if it

does not come up to the far-famed Molyneux, it will, at all evento, come in a good second. The valley in question consists of from 2000 to 3000 acres of flat land, capable of being turned over by dredges. In fact, it is questionable if New Zealand contains another valley more adapted for dredging. Every squire foot of the country contains gold, with the exception of from lft to 3ft of a soft muddy clay on the s"urface. Out9ide of this the valley has been tested to a depth of 33ft, and proved to be gold-bearing bo far ai has been sunk. Now allow me to draw a comparison between this valley and the Molyneux River. In the latter locality the dredger has to contend with a rapid current and frequent flood?, »lso with from 10ft to 20ft of water underneath his dredge before his ladder touches beach at all. Then he has from 10ft to 20ft of tailings to lift before ho reaches bottom, without practically even getting a colour. On reaching bottom, if indeed he is fortunate enough to do Bf>, he has large boulders and rugged rocks to grope amongst, often to the sad detriment of his buckets. In addition to all these drawbacks, the tailing* washed in from the river bank claims are constantly on the move, and have to be got rid of t>y lifting. Now look at the other side of the lecture. In the Waimumu Valley none of the above difficulties have to be contended with— no floods', no 'tailinga, no rocks, no boulders, no guesswork, and a very fair estimate can always be made as to the week's returns. The Waimumu Di edging Company's expert informed me that out of the two la?t shafts he sunk he laid aside a bucket of wash for every foot he passed through, until he had a cubic yard of stuff, which he ran through a cradle. One shaft gave 16gr to the yard and the other 6gr. Now, I wonder do the general public »ealise what result this material would produce if put through with a dredge. An average dredge, such as those at work on the Molyneux, will turn over about 100 yds of wash per hour. Let us ba'ie our calculations upon the smallest quantity found— viz ,'6gr to the yard. That would mean OOO^r per hour. Or take the average week's work, allowing for stoppages, say 120 hours ; this would give 150oz of gold per week, or a return of about £582. One grain to the yard pays well, and leaves a fair margin of profit. About £20 per week would pay all working expensts. I can see in the near future a fleet of dredge 3on this valley, and ttust to be present at the grand public dinner and bres-entation of silver plate to our townsman, Mr Begg, who was the first promoter in this enterpiise." — Matauva Ensign. The following items a»e from the Dunstan Times : — We hear that Mr Gards has been successful in arranging the contracts in Dunedin for the new dred»o about to be put ou at Cambrian by the Cambrian Company. — L'he Victoria dredge has bo far not been able to bottom. The dredge has baen shifted several times, but with no success. The directors met last Wednesday, and decided to make some alteration to the dredge, and hive in-itriicted Mr Cutten to attend to same, and to lengthen the ladder "Bft, when it is "then expected there .will be no trouble in being able to bottom. — Hyde and party arc at, present stopped, owing to an accident that happened to the punip. The matter is now nearly adjusted, and work will bo resumed .probably to-morrow.