MINING SUMMARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 19

MINING SUMMARY.

From one reason and another, the results of the dredging industry up to the present tyne have not come up to expectations. In spite of the fact that a fair proportion of the working dredges are on payable gold and earning good dividends, there i? an undercurrent of quiotneso in gold dredging generally. The contrast between the present and some time ago, when bustle and hurry marked everything in connection r> itli the new industry that sprung up with mushroom growth, is very striking. For one thinsr, the large amount of money locked up in dredging shares, together with the pressure- 1 of calls, hampers the indu°try to no small extent. The heavy expenditure upon dredgebuilding necessitates the calling up of capital, and investments have been made so recklessly that the enforcement of calls has to be made, in a good many cases through the agency of tho law courts. Yet in spite of these initial difficulties the dredging industry has come to stay, and in good time it will give employment to a large number of miners and others.

The local foundries are not nearly co congested with work now as they were some time ago, as the work has been more widely distributed throughout the colony, while a considerable amount of dredging machinery is being imported from Australia and elsewhere. Still; there will be plenty of work for the local foundries to do after all the dredges have been built and set to work, for the wear and tear of machinery is heavy, and constant renewal of working parts will be required.

After a very wet summer, the weather has recently settled dry and fine, and as the nights are becoming frosty the rivers will soon reach their winter level, when we* may look for augmented returns from the dredges. The frequent heavy rain? during the past summer interfered with dredging to a very great extent, and a few weeks ago all dredging upon tho Grey River was stopped on account of the river being in flood. Such an occurrence is to be expected on the West Coast, where the course of the livers is steep and the rains at times almost tropical.

The riparian difficulty has cropp?d up at Waimumu, near Mataura, and tbe niiiuncf people are petitioning the Mines department to have the stream declared a sludge channel for the deposit of tailings, etc. The capital invested, including dredges in the course of construction, amounts to about £60,000, while it is said the claims for compensation, should the stream be so proclaimed, would not amount to ov er £500. If so, the mining interest is paramount in that particular locality, and there should be no hepitation on the part of the Minister of Mines about declaring tho Waimumu a sludge channel under the Mining Act.

A Lawrence syndicate, we learn, have miners prospecting in what is known as Grey's Gully, off the Tuapeka Creek, where a payable quartz reef is supposed to exist. At any rate some specimens of very rich stone lave been picked up in the vicinity; and so far the prospectors ha"c struck a thin leader, which, it is to be hoped, w ill develop into a payable reef on further opening up. Another small syndicate has been formed on the West Coast for testing a part of the Grey River at the Brunner Gorge, where, near the surface, excellent results were obtained years ago. It is proposed to wiii the gold supposed to lie in the crevices by means of divers; but we should imagine after divers have proved the character, of the riy er channel a suction pump would be the thing to clean up the gold out of the rock crevices.

The gold returns for the first quarter of the current year show a marked improvement over the corresponding period of the previous year, tho increase in value of the gold won repre-entmg a sum eqiuU to ueiflv

£72,090. The expo-t of silver, too, aV*w» an increase from 2? 2240z to 35,2050z. The Auckland goldfields continue to show prosperity, although a dispute between the miners ariel employers at the Waihi mine ha^ interfered somewhat with the work at t i&y mine. It is current belief amongst experienced miners that some of the Thames lodes continue seawards, and in order to put the> matter to the test the Government are going to assist deep boring on the foreshore. The necessary boring plant will be lent free for the purpose, and, in addition, a subsidy of 10-i for every pound- subscribed will bo given towards the project, the total Government subsidy not to exceed £1000. If tho continuation of the Cale'doniari lode can be picked up it will bs a good thing for tho Thames. The Monowai mine at Waiomo has struck some very rich ore, but some of the> richest, worth £200 per ton, is refractory, and has been shipped for treatment elsewhere. A prospecting association has been formed at the Thames with the object in. view of getting the Government to extend the Moanahuan tunnel, in order to prospect an area of 1000 acres of auriferous land at a low level. The Government will be» asked to assist the enterprise

The following Auckland results have been published: — The Union Waihi crushed 1750 tons of stone for a return valued at £2329. For the four weeks ended March 30 tho Waitekauri Company trtated 1835 tons of ore for bullion valued at, £3295. The Barrier Reef=s Company crushed during March ICO9 tons oro for a retuiii valued at £363 P.

The Keep-it-Dark raino, Reefton, for the past month cleme'l up the battery for 2930z of gold, besides 130oz from the cyanide plant, making a total of 4230z from 1251 tons treated. Kirvvan's Reward claim. Rosfton, cleaned up 3790z of gold from 450 tons of store for the month of March. The> Scotia from cyanide obtained 130oz, of the value of £400, from 450 tons; the Progress; Mines for March cleaned un 16950z gold, of_ the value of £6952, from "'1652 tons: the* Wealth of Nations obtained 4SBoz gold, of the value of £1351, from 1062 tons ttone : the Golden Flccc3 Corapanj- obtained 8260z> gold, of the value cf £J072, from 1070 tons.

DIVIDENDS

The followii-g dividends have been declared M<:ce lust summary — Xokomni Hydrauhc Company, 10s, Empire Dredging, Is; Perseveiunce Dredging Company, 2s, Tuapeka Dredging; Ccm-oany, Is, Lrv.-rence Dredging Com-o-anv, ]s, Mrttau dodging Company. Is; Hrr^cy and Rilcy Dredging Company, ss.

SUMMARY OF OTAOO RETURXn

The following table shows the gold ictnrna fiom the diedges whose returns are publio since the beginning of the prpsent year, with. Vno return for corresponding week of lasis jcar —

iwi. iyuy. Dredges Oz dt gi Dredges Oz clt f i First \ieek 14 293 31 9 232 13 3 Stcond week 22 532 915 25 613 18 9 Thud week 29 617 19 15 32 1021 313 Fourth week 31 722 11 9 37 1197 1 0 Fifth week .. 39 823 4 6 35 902 312 Sixth week 34 829 14 14 29 693 023 Seventh week 42 1027 1 0 31 774 018 Eighth we»k 43 994 022 28 893 17 0 Nint.i week 42 1153 114 37 1026 3 7 Tenth week 48 1604 15 3 32 944 814 Eleventh week 41 143 712 22 34 1251 13 7 Twelfth week 40 1347 14 1 32 2074 15 5 Tiurfnth week 41 1608 018 34 1572 10 7 Total .. 12,989 820 13,197 18 21