THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 18

THE WEEK'S MINING NEWS.

The Macraea Plat Gold Dredging Company (Limited) is now, winter being over, progressing very favourably. The engine and boiler have been landed, and will be forwarded to the claim in a. short time. The pontoon is now being erected on the claim, and rapidly getting on to completion. There is also plenty of water on the ground, and no fears are entertained that there will be a scarcity for dredging. The Canadian asbestos expert — Captain • Evails, — who has been engaged by the jtfew Zealand Asbestos Company for a term of two years, will arrive by the Vancouver mail on Saturday next. An Auckland telegram states that the Great Moreury mine, Kuaotunu, crushed 200 tons of quartz for 3030z amalgam, valued at £660. At a meeting of the Thames Drainage Board the Hauraki Compaaiy, to whoru the Government ka.s granted a subsidy of -925,000 for tho drainago of the Thames deep levels, intimated thai pumping operations would commence ia October. Mr C. W. Harvey, broker, Princes street, reports the flotation of the Croydon. Dredging Company (Limited), with a capital of £8000, formed to work a claim consisting of 123 acres, situated in the Croydon district, Waimumu Hundred. The Stock Exchange" hand us the following extract from the Mount Lyell Mining and Railyua.v Company's progress report for week ending

August 24: — No. 4 tunnel S.D. — No. 1 engine sbaft, 50ft level. — No 1 crosscut extended 4ft; total, 54ft. No. 4 tunnel S.D.— No. 1 engine shaft, 75ft. Level N.D.— Extended 10ft; total. 48ft ; weekly average bulk borings — copper,. 6.75 per cent.; silver, 650z; gold, OJdwt. No. 4. tunnel S.D.— No. 1 eDgine shaft, 50ft and 75ft. Level stopes.-— Stopes yielding high-grade ore. No. 5 tunnel N.D.— Extended 2ft; total, 156 ft. No. 5 tunnel S.D.— Extended. sft; total, 197 ft. Surface work. — Nos. 2 and 2a. benches : Breaking ore for smeltera. No. 3 bench: Breaking ore for smelters and removing- country rock on footwall. Smelting plant No. 2.— Blast j furnaces: All -work on Nos. 7 and 8 completed except small pipe fittings. No. 9 furnace:; Hood riveted up in place; chimney for same in position ; also main blast pipe. Hill flue : Bricklaying of arch in progress ; main chimney stack 90ft high. Shotover Quart Mining Company (No Liability).—Mr S. E. Brent supplies the following extract from mine manager's report, dated 12th September: — During the past week the machine level has been extended 14ffc, making the total length driven 503 ft. The formation is still soft, requiring timber, but on the whole splendid driving ground. An Ashburton telegram states that the mining manager of the Barrytown G-old Mining Company has telegraphed to Mr Zander, tha socretary, thai; there is a return of 70oz amalgam for three days' work. The directors of the Post Office Creek (Waipori) G-old Mining Company have made a call of 5s per share, payable on the 12th proz. An Auckland telegram states that the Hauraki Company crushed -144 tons, for bullion, valued at £1437. The Woodstock Company during the month crushed 526 tons for bullion, valued at £657; and the .Kapanga Company 25 tons for bullion valued at JB3OO. The following Glenore items ar& from tho Tuapeka Times:— The dredges at G-lenore have baen stopped for necessary repairs for Homo time, and there has, therefore, been a temporary ceesalion of the agreeable work of gathering in the precious metal. Nelnon and party's dredge met with, an accident to her boiler recently, which caused some inconvenience aa well as some expense.. They purchased a new boiler at Kaitangata, and are at present engaged putting it up in its place. The returns from this dredge for some time have not bean at all good. They have been working in shallow gionsfl, apd got off the lead of gold, which rung right under ifcs railway line. They have, however, ererj confidence of soon getting on the "jugular"' ag&in and making up for slack time. It is a, soraewhat curious thing, and hard as well, that though this dredge has won a very large amount of gold during the period she h'a3 been working on the river, she has nqt by any means done well from a shareholder's point of view. She has taken, £11,700 worth of gold out of tha six acres of ground lying between the two bridges in a little over three years. This is ayery decent record, and would take some beating, unless one were to go among a few of the record breakers. Out of the sum just, mentioned a little over £2000 has been paid for.coal alone. The coal used is the Benhar, a brown lignite that is reckoned to be a, good steam producer, and differs from the Kaitan— gata in that tho blast is not so strong, nor does it burn away so quickly. Anyway, the case is just as I have stated — the dredge up to the present has not paid as one would imagine circumstances warranted. However, the prospects at present are said to be reassuring, and it is to be hoped the enterprise of the com.pany may be adequately rewarded. — The Woolshed dredge is still showing good returns. Up to the present this dredge has done remarkably well. From the time she got into* the full swing of the work and got a good face opened out- her weekly returns have averaged 220z a week. It is questionable whether some of the "comets" could" show such at satisfactory sheet as this. The returns that;, tell are not those that keep running up anc! down like a weather glass or a monkey up a. stick. A steady average is what goes home. The shares of this dredge stood at £250 each, and of that sum £200 has been paid in dividends, leaving shareholders with only £50 to> pay as the price of their interests. It doesn't take a very clever calculator to figure out what, this means. — Thorns and party's dredge broke her engine shaft about a fortnight ago. The damage has, however, been since repaired, and she is again wading into her work. She is now on payable gold and settling down to her usxial steady returns. These run from 12oz to 13oz of gold a week — 3eldom running muck above the higher figure or dropping below thoother one. A return of this kind, though ife. would not, of course, satisfy the desire of some of the bloated capitalists who have been, spawned by the local dredging boom, leaves a reasonable margin for distribution and paya more than fair interest on capital. — A new dredge, the property of the Stirling Dredging Company, has been added to the Glenore fleet. The hull is complete, and all the machinery is on board, except the working gear, for which! the contract has been let, and it is expectedto come forward in the course of a couple of months, according to stipulation. The ladder and buckets are part of the Dunedin. Harbour Board's dredging plant. She will be a big dredge, and the plant will be all correspondingly heavy. The buckets are estimated to hold 42 cubic feet of stuff, against the ordinary bucket measurement of about 22ft of dirt. The new dredge is expected to commence operations about the beginning of December. The Tuapeka Times says: — "A large numberof people interested in the dredging industry assembled in the rear of the Eailway Hotel on Saturday afternoon and evening for the purpose of inspecting Mr W. O'Brien's invention for working dredges by water power. For the purpose of better illustrating his patent, Met O'Brien had constructed a working model of adredge, perfect in every important detail and? equipped with every appliance necessary to permit of a fair and decisive trial being given to his irn ention. * Of the construction and finish of the miniature dredge it need only ba said that ifefurnishes further proof of Mr O'Brien's mechanical and constructive ability which, v all tho circumstances considered, is decidedly of a. high order The dredge, which is some sft in height, was placed in a shallow box 12ft long,, in which she floated. The motor on the nlbdel, it may be explained, was a pelton which travelled at great speed, tho velocity being regulated by belts and gearing to enable the top tumbler to discharge 12 buckets a minute. These buckets are carved out of solid pieces of wood with, grit and sand glued on the surface, and, being in motion, with the belts and other gear all woiking effectively, the exhibition waa a very; realistic one indeed. Tho pressure for working the dredge is obtained as in any oidinary hydraulic claim — that is to say, the water isconveyed in pipes down the slope of a hill. On Saturday evening it was conveyed fiom the water tap in the hotel yard through a floating, column of five pipes, each 31in in length. The. pipe lengths were union jointed and were fixed on what were purported, to represent small floating pontoons, four in number. Through, these pipes the water came, and, spending its force on the turbine or pelton. wheel, set the whola mechanism in motion, and in actual working would do precisely what steam ia doi'iir n<, t!->" T>ic3CT»t mcrr=-it. It, phrmH bo also stated that the water,after being discharged from, tho turomc or pulton wheel, alter working tho machinery, may be utilised for washing the stuff discharged from the buckets. The whole operation is extremely simple — so very simple, indeed, that the wonder is that it had not suggested itself to some original mind long before this. The advantages of the system which Mr, O'Brien is resolutely endeavouring to bring under the public notice are many, the chief, perhaps, being the obviation of the necessity of either purchasing or maintaining: an engine and

boiler, at the same time dispensing with the services of the usual mechanician. Mr O'Brien lias shown a good deal of mechanical resource, great industry, and persistent effort in bringing his invention under public notice, and he certainly deserves success. It may be mentioned that among his audience on Saturday were many experts, who speak in high terms of the invention, and are confident that, under certain conditions, it may prove of great value to the dredging industry.