NOTES FOR THE MONTH.

Otago Witness, 5 December 1900, Page 21

NOTES FOR THE MONTH.

Since the date of our last summary there ihave been no very important developments in mining matters. Dredge mining still occupies the premier position in Otago, and the West Coast ,is attracting a good deal of attention as a dredging field. The contractors for new dredges are pushing ahead with their work, and quite a number of ' new dredges are nearing completion, iibout a dozen have got to work during the past five weeks, and coon the bulk of these will be added to the list of gold-winners. Nearly all the dredges of "most recent construction are of a heavy type, carrying the improvements that experience has suggested. Otago being the home of the 'gold dredging industry, improvements are pretty well certain to come from Otago engineers. The character of the work to be accomplished is the principal factor in the plan of any particular dredge. The dredge, for instance, reqiiired for shallow alluvial ground on a river bank or flat need not be, so powerful as that which has 'to cut through a great depth of wash at the bottom of a river. The deeper the water the greater the additional length of bucket ladder required, which,' of 'course, involves a heavier type of dredge.* Then, again, where'a'tailings elevator -is attached to stack the tailings out of the way, additional engine power has to be supplied.

A few dredging companies have gone into liquidation, and a few have undergone reconstruction. This was inevitable in the hurry of the dredging boom, when, as often as not, . contiguity to a good claim was all the public required to induce them to buy shares. The ; ■worthless concerns are being gradually weeded out, and one result will be to placa the whole dredging industry upon a sounder footing. .Very fow companies have been placed on the ' mai'ket recently, but there are signs of a for.•ward move soon. When a few more of the dredges nearing completion get to work and ■ prove the value of the dredging claims, new ; ground will certainly be broken. It must not t t>e taken, because company promotion has . practically ceased, that all the likely ground ] !nas been taken up. Old "West Coasters — the miners who had experience of the West j Coast in its palmy days — hold the opinion . that if dredges can be built to successfully I deal vfrth the conditions there the West Coast will be the leading gold dredging field i in New Zealand. There are large areas of j low-grade ground, which the early digger did j not think worth touching with the methods | then employed, but such ground yields up j its wealth in payable quantity to a modern dredge. Difficulties of drainage or character ; of wash precluded the idea of ground sluic- j ing, and any other known method of handling the stuff would not pay. The -dredge has, iiowever, altered all that; drainage is not a factor, since the dredge ladder works under •water, and very stubborn material can be torn apart by a powerful dredge with the aid of grab hooks and buckets. The powerful grab hooks do the work of the miner's pick on a big scale, while the dredge buckets represent the shovel. Cemented bouldery gravel has been successfully worked by West Coast dredges, and handsome returns made, so that the initial difficulties may be said to have been overcome. ' Gore (in Otago) is the centre of another important mining district. Although the 'Mataura River hae been known to contain gold in small quantities for a long time back, it was never considered very valuable for gold mining purposes. However, a dredging company resolved to boldly attack the problem of making the Mataura give lip its auriferous wealth in payable quantities. A company with a large capital was floated and a number of Tiver claims taken up. A small prospecting dredge "was put on the river, and the results have realised the most sanguine anticipations. In consequence of the highly satisfactory returns, several large dredges will jbe built, and river claims will be taken tip tor many miles of the river bed. A few miles south of Gore several dredges are earning good returns. On the Charlton Creeks and jWaimumu, and north of the Mataura at seyelal places, dredges have been working with highly satisfactory results. That payable gold should be found someHyhere in Stewart Island has long been exipected, especially as the formation a good deal resembles that of the mainland at Preservation Inlet, where payable quartz lodes occur. Quite recently a quartz reef, which '[promises extremely well, has been discovered at Newton's Beach, Stewart Island, near /where rich specimens have been found for 20 years past. Samples tested at the Otago School of Mines gave an assay equal to lOoz 7dwfc 19gr to the ton. Unless the samples iwere picked, the assay is sufficient to prove the existence of a payable lode. It must not Ibfc forgotten, however, that equally high tests were made of Preservation Inlet quartz, and 'hitherto the mines there have proved somewhat disappointing. The Stewart Island

lode is, at any rate, worth further exploiting.

The following Auckland results have been published: — The Auckland returns for October gave a total yield valued at £19,892. The Waite'kauri Extended mine crushed 642 tons of stone for bullion valued at' £835. The Waitekauri Company during the four weeks ending November 3 treated 2162 tons of ore for a return valued at £4681. The first crushing from the Union "Waihi mine gave a return valued at £1462, from 1542 tons of stone. For the four weeks ended November 10 the Waihi mine crushed 11,814 tons of stone, for bullion valued at £28,946, breaking the big record of the previous month. The total amount of gold won from this splendid mine, including that return, represents a value of £1,458,980.

Nelson mining notes show that the Golden Block mine crushed 190 tons of stone for 1970z of gold. The Croesus mine, Paparoa, returned 390z 17dwt of gold for six men's work for the month of October.