MINING SUMMARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 24

MINING SUMMARY.

The majority of the dredges which had ( not previously been compelled to cease j operations in consequence of a high river i and running drift have, since the issue of > our last summary up to the end of last J week, kept steadily at work, and although the returns won do not include any of a sensational order, most of them are of a ' highly payable nature. At present, as is usual at this time oi the year, the Otago j and West Coast dredges, with but few i exoeptions, are closed down, and it will ; b& another week or more before anything like actual work is commenced again. Outside of dredging the „ only occurrence of real interest has been'tiie striking of some exceptionally rich wash at the Vinegar Hill Sluicing Company's claim at St. Bathans, portion of the ground giving 9dwt 9gr to,, the dish. Two or three recent wasb-ups have resulted in handsome yields being obtained, wmle the richness of ' the ground further ahead makes . future prospects exceedingly bright. The Highley -district near Macraes has been receiving some attention lately on account of the gold and seheelitebearing quality of the ground there. Two , or three parties have been at work in the district during the past few years with good . results, and lately some additional claims have been taken up, and 1 although very little development work has yet been done in connection with them the ground chows | signs of containing a good percentage of scheelite, as well as carrying fair gold' in places. One party has been engaged prospecting the old Maori Hen reef with promising results. The following are the returns of the Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand ! for the month of November: — Golden ' Fleece, mine : One thousand one hundred j and fifty tons of stone were crushed at j the 20-stamp mills for a return of 5120z j lldwt of bullion, valued at £2092 6s 3d'; 11 tons of concentrates were produced and 530 tons of coarse sands cyanided, the latter yielding bullion to the value of £221 i 19s Bd. Wealth of ' Nations : Twelve tons j of concentrates were produced and 710 tons I of coarse sands cyanided, the latter yielding bullion to the value of £391 Ils 3d. Progress MJDes of New Zealand (Limited) : Five thousand one hundred and fourteen tons of stone were rained and transported by aerial tramway to the 65-stamp mills, where- -5164- tons were crushed, producing , 1820oz ldwt of bullion, valued at £7526 14s i lOd. Ninety tons of concentrates were ohlorinated, yielding bullion to the value of- £970 2s 9d. Three thousand one hundred' and -forty tons of tailings were oyanided, yielding bullion to the value of £826 17s 9dl j ~ An Auckland telegram states that during the three weeks ended November 1+ gold returns totalling £66,959 came to hand from the mines in the Auckland district. The ' total output for 11 months of the present year reaches a total value of £824,477. Dur- ] ing October and November the. Crown j mines recovered £3005 from 2091 tons of j ore milled. During the four weeks ended i December 3 the Waihi Gold Mining Company treated 20,797 tons of ore for gold valued at £54,630. The return from the ! Waiotahi mine shows that SO tons of quartz and sowt of picked stone had been treated | for 6170z of melted gold, valued at £1667. i A telegram under date 23rd December j stated that shares in the last-named mine j advanced in two weeks from 12s to £9 10s, i and were then being offered at £9 ss. Rioh j ore was being obtained 70ft bolow previous workings. Greymouth advices report a return of HOoz from the Republic sluioing claim and 61oz from the Montgomery Terrace claim. For five years the Republic Sluicing Company was faced by a number of | difficulties, but shareholders pluckily stuok together, and the company is now out of '■ debt, and has a substantial balance in j [ hand. The clean-up at the Kirwan's Reward mine yielded 3520z lSdwt of gold from 1605 tons of stone. Dividends. The following dividends have been declared since the issue of our last Summary: — Upper Waipori, Is; New Roxburgh Jubilee, 2s; Last Chance, 6d; Otago, Is; Enterprise, Is Gd; Lady Roxburgh, Is; Paterson's Freehold, 13; Noltomai, ss; Sandy Point, Is. Sluicing and Hydraulic Elevating Returns, sluicing. j Nokomai, month 255 5 0 Vingar Hill, 10 days 141 0 0 Undaunted, 7 weeks 107 4 9 Ladysmith 63 4 0 Champion., 7 daya .. .. 16 W 0 ,