TARATU COLLIERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2784, 24 July 1907, Page 11

TARATU COLLIERY.

ANOTHER SEAM DISCOVERED. VISIT TO TkE MINE. New . seams of- good 1 coal have recently been struck at the Taratu colliery ; samples therefrom were favourably reported on, and some of the directors and gentlemen interested in the Taratu Coal and Railway Company visited the property on the 17th injt. The party consisted of Messrs C. Speight (chairman of directors), C. F. Greenslade and J. Scott (directors) ; D. B. Waters, consulting engineer ; G. R. Cheeseman, secretary; J. Blair, J. N. Lawson, J. Read, jun., Cameron, and Fraser. A start was made from Dunedin at 8.55 a.m.

At Lovell's Flat the company's train awaited the visitors with the news that yet another eeam had been struck when sinking a "well-hole," at a depth of 196 ft, tfnd that the coal taken from the top of 'the eeam closely resembled Eaitangata coal. The eight miles of private lino by which the colliery is approached has been kept in good order, and men are constantly at work enlarging the trenches on each side of the permanent way, which je eventually to be raised by a gradual embankment from Taratu aiding, in order to raise the line well above the level of the swamp and to make the gradient easier to the pithead than it is at present. The colliery is approached by a wildlooking winding gully, that gradually narrows to a gorge. Here and there is a miner's cottage 'without embellishment or garden, looking bleak and lonely in the wilderness. The new company has made 1 many improvements at- the colliery, which now boasts a well-equipped blacksmith's | shop, office, stables, etc., besides a good engine-house. The new main shaft meaj sures 14ft by sft in the clear ; has two mud walls, and is timbered from top to bottom with 3in bluogum. It is surmounted by substantial poppet-logs with 7in pulleys, the hoisting being done by a 20 horse-power engine feeding a double-cylinder winding winch. The old shaft, sunk by the original company for prospecting, is now full of water, which, however, can easily be drained off down the. hill. The company intends to use it as an air shaft, and to connect it with the main shaft by a drive. This will proirably be done almost immediately, as I under prevailing conditions only 10 men 1 are allowed to work below at a time. • The main shaft descends through gravel, "good" sandstone, and -fireclay, and pierces at 143 ft a seam of good, clean coal 20ft 6in deep. Below this lies B£ft of carbonated shale, which covers the 14-foot seam of nice black coal struck last week. Then follows a 9-foot streak of fireclay, which covers the third seam of dense coal that was tapped yesterday morning. Naturally this seam has not yet been prospected, but the coal so far brought to the surface seems to be the best yet mined at Taratu, and it and some of the coal from the 20-foot seam strongly ! resembles Kaitangata coal, though whether the two are absolutely identical has not yet been -ascertained. The official analvnes of the coal from the various seams show the quality of the coal to be high, and of increasing value as a fuel at greater depths. The present sunply of coal is taken from the top seam, which is pierced by a drive of 16 chains' lengths, entering a hill overlooking the colliery gorge. The drivo opens out on either side into crosscuts leading to faces of good coal. About 12 chains from the entrance the drive, following the seam underfoot, dips considerably ; the " skips being- hauled up the incline by means of an oil engine, which also lifts the water from the lower chambers and discharges it down a crosscut to the hillside. Beyond this the drive swetyes and trends away north, and the centre of the hill is honeycombed with a labyrinth of tunnels, widening here and there into vault-hke chambers, floored, roofed, and walled with jetty blackness. A good many men are at work on the faces, but this seam, though clean end unmarred with veins of other strata, does not produce nearly such good coal as the seams recently tapped by the main shaft. The latter will be more expensive to work, but the -management believes that the j Quality of the output- will compensate it over and over again for the extra expendiI ture.

The outnut from the colliery at promt averaees 70 tons a day. hut it is anticipated that this will b* tloublod when tlv> iwwlvdiscovered seams tecone workable. They would have been commenced upon immediately, but as yet another seam of coal was fitruok unexpectedly, the management's first duty is obviously to discover the extent of it before doing anything eUe. The present price of coal from tho top seam is 21s . P<?r ton delivered to householders in Dune-din, apd the nrice on tracks at Lovell's Flat is 9s. As tbo coal in the lower seams possesses area/e^ heating power and is free from sulphur, the cost will be higher, but as yet no pr cc has boon fixed. As they are unable to obtain differential railway rates, it will hardly pay the company to mine for steam coal only, but an up-to-date screening plant will be erected shortly, which will separate the djigt from

the nuts, thus enabling the company to sell two good classes of coal — screened and household.

The lease comprises 1203 acres, and forms part of the rich coal field which extends virtually from the Tokomairiro River to the Molyneux. Taratu and Kaitangata, however, are the only two collieries that have as yet proved lower and more valuable seams .to exist on their properties. The property wai taken over by , the present company on August 1 last year, and everything seems to point to the fact that a prosperous future awaits, it. The colliery was acquired at a comparatively small cost, and a ""supply of good saleable coal seems to be available for a few generations at anyrate. * - , The company is fortunate in its executive;'staff, and the secretary (Mr G. ,R. Cheeseman), the mine manager (Mr T. Shore), and the -consulting engineer <Mr D. B. Waters) are careful practical men of much experience. The colliery employs 40 men, not counting the shaft, hands. .

As to the railway, the locomotive now in use appears to answer its purpose, while another lies idle at Taratu siding awaiting a new boiler. The management is anxious

to obtain a locomotive, one of class F if possible. The Government has been approached on the subject, but wa6 unable to supply the engine, as it had none to spare. " "Welsh's Face," the original claim, stares deserted and desolate from, the barren shoulder of hill. There 'is 'still plenty of coal there, but the difficulties in carting by way of Kaitangata do not seem to make mining there worth • while. Welsh; it will be remembered, was ' killed in the recent disaster at Nightcaps.

This is the first visit paid by the directors to the colliery since the discovery of the new- seam. The inspection was -thorough, - and after lunching at the mine manager's hut a long procession of gentlemen bearing candles followed the mine manager through the Stygian darkness of the tor-* tuoua passages branching from the main drive. Candle light wherever it flickered showed coal in apparently endless avenues .of ebon perspective. There _js. comparatively speaking, little water, and what there is is easily got rid of. The members- of" the party expressed themselves, pleased with what they ' 6aw, and are confident that a great future is in store for the Taratu Coal and Railway Company.