WEEK'S MINING NEWS

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 28

WEEK'S MINING NEWS

December 2. i The following returns are reported irom { Ac Peterson's Freehold dredges :—^o. 1, , 15oz lOdwt for 154 hours; No. 2, 20oz for 131 hour«. The return from the Undaunted sluicing claim tor the months of October and, November is 114oz. , The Mystery Flat dsedge wowed the ' centre and. western, sections of the cut last week. The wcwh in\ the former had int | proved a. good deal, but there was no i ;h«.na© in tne other section. The Mount LyeU Mining and Railway Com, -ally's progress" report for the fortnight ending .November 18 shows that 1150 tons of blaster copper fcave been consigned for the current half-year. The duplicate parts of machinery for th© Alexandra Lead dredge arrived on th« claim last week, and on Monday a gang of men were put oa to -oarry'out the -aeoee- ! sary rep ft ire. It is expected that the dredge witt be ready to start again iv about 10 or 12 days' time. . Th« eeeretery of the Nokomai Hydraulic Sluicing' Company reports that No. 1 had * wiasb-up,' the Jesuit being 2890z ldwt of gold. The jmanager expected "to resume sluicing off top material yesterday. The weather continues -warm, and there ie a consequent decrease of water — all now being in the race.- No. 2 also ie getting short of water. They .had a full week's sluicing, but the dam was. 10ft from being full. No. 3 h«d a full week's sluicing, and the water is plentifufly in the' Lion race. The master of the Waikaia dredge, reporting for the week ended November 28, states tb*t everything is going satisfactorily with the repairs and the renewals, and that the heaviest portions of the work, including a- new top tumbler, iscreen path, and a pivot shaft casting, are in place. During the coming week the elevator rollers, bucket furrows, and a new bottom t-umbler will be put in, and the main ladder will be reriveted. The secretary of the Big River Company J reports -that during the month of November the lattery crew bed 550 tons from the No. 9 fitopes and 70 tons from Cosgrove's block etopes, mating- a. totaj of 420 tons, from which 6Q4oz lOdwt of melted gold mtis obtained. The cyanide plant treated 250 tons of tailings for a yield of 68oz 14dwt of bullion. The total value of the gold won during- the month was £2585. t December 3. The Lady Roxburgh dredge has reached ' her new claim, and started "work there on Sunday night last. Mr James Hayes has been appointed mine manager of the Missouri Mines (Limited) at Xuaotunu, in the Auckland district. The Rise and Slhine No. 1 dredge worked Bft ahead last week. The cut was 480 ft wide and from 42ft to 48ft deep. Prosp&ete were similar to those of the previous week. The No. 2 dredge worked a cut of 520 ft, with a depth varying from 42ft to 50ft. The coal bottom was gradually disappearing. . and the wa9b on the -lay bottom towards ' the east side was looking better. The Electric No. 1 dredgemaster writes as follows in his weekly report:— 'All the, week the crew have been employed repair- ; ing elevator buckets, elevator rollers, taking i out the bottom elevator and pla^in*? a ne~ one jn position. We find each elevato. , bucket requires extensive repairs, the rough, bouldery ground that was dredged through last year having shaken theaa." Reporting on the past week's work, the i master of the Electric No. 2 dredge writes i that the published return of 20oz sdwt was I for practically three days on the bottom. Ahe dredge worked ahead 21ft. The width of the cut, which has been gradually increased, is now about 100 ft, and the dredging depth about 25ft. The gold is a coarser sample than recent returns, and contains * considerable portion of dark pold, which w always regarded as characteristic of tlie Electric claim. If the fjround continues ac »t present a return of probably 30oz to 350z Jiav be^ expected for the current week. The Cromwell Syndicate's dredffe is opening a cut in the river a* tl<e bottom boundary, the Tiver being at too low a level to work the bank. — Dunstan Times. Thsre is little change to report in tl:e auaJity of the wash of the New Trafalgar flr-edge, as ijt etill continues very rough, fhe master reports having dredged the Saiddlo side of the creek section, and will ihift to the creek side to-morrow. It will , Wke three weeks to square this up. ]

At Bendigo the adit being driven has another 40ft to go (says the Dunstan Times) before reaching the body of quartz. Considerable progress has been made in the erection of the battery. December 4. The master of the South Waikaia dredge reports a return of Boz 15dwt. The dredge lias been bat is now going again. The weekly report from the Enterprise dredgemaster states that prospects are improving as the dredge work 6in towards the bank, and he anticipates a slightly better return this week. The report from the master of Riley's Revival dredge, which states that prospects are somewhat better, is of a favourable nature. The amount of gold produced in Queensland last October was 40,243 fine oz, valued at £170,942, as against 38,311 fine oz, and £162,735 for October, 1907. The calls and dividends from the several Queensland mining centres were : — Charters Towers : Calls £3833, dividends £5500; Croydon: Calls £1050; Gympie: Calls £7071, dividends £2762; Ravenswood: Calls £375. A dividend of Is per share, equal to £1200, has been declared by the Big River "Company. The month's operations, after provsdrog the dividend, leave a considerable balance available for the December divi--deod. December 5. The Roxburgh Amalgamated Mining and Sluicing Company has obtained a. return of 1270z 17dwt for the month of November. ' The directors of the New Fourten-mile Beach Company nave decided to call a. meeting of shareholders, at wKich the following resolution -will be submitted: — " That the company be wound up voluntarily, and that Mr David Crawford be, and is hereby, appointed liquidator for the purposes of such winding up." The circular accompanying the formal notice contains "the -following clauses : — "As is already known to you, we have bad a. succession of non-productive years necessitating Recently the calling up of the unpaid capital. 'The directors cannot see their way to recommend the shareholders to further continue the work of the company. Last year when the financial position of the company justified it the board, with a view of lengthening the life of the old claim, a considerable portion of which had been worked out, took up about a mile of the river immediately below and adjoining our lower boundary. That the jiew ground contains gold there is no idoubt whatever, as splendid prosoects were obtained, but unfortunately the extreme roughness of that port of the river (a risk which obtains in all gorge claims) ! was altogether adverse to successful dredg- j ing. The whole claim held by the com- j pany having now been practically worked out,* and the funds being almost exnausted, your directors have decided to submit to shareholders a resolution in the direction of liquidation." The dredgem-aster of the Kura dredge reports for the week ended 2nd inst. : — "Had «k very broken week's "dredging. On Saturday morning the bottom ladder . blocks broke, and we had some difficulty in getting- the ladder up. The side links and plates in the block broke away. We got an old tumbler plate, and made side' links and the plates to use meantime. The ground continues very tight. The depth is 30ft, and the width of the face 70 yards. December 7. Daring the month of November the Barewood Company's battery has treated 435 tons of stone for a return of 1930z of gold. The amount put through is slightly less than that of the preceding month, but the' value of the stone remains practically the same. The Otego No. 1 dredge started work again at the end of last week. The Alexandra Eureka dredge has been working on a hard bottom all the week. | The Punt dredgemaster wires that : prospects are fair. A cablegram has been sent from Karangahake to the- Talisman Company's London office reporting 32ft progress in' the No. 11 level and 42ft progress in the No. 12. Reporting for the past week the South Waikaia dredgemaster writes as follows : — " I washed up for the week for a return ' of Boz 15dwt. I was stopped from Tuesday morning to Wednesday night at 9 o'clock ihrough a breakage of the 'Aain steam pipe. The ground continues to be very poor. The ■wi<3tll of face is about 6=j chainE. and I am working on a nice red clay bottom with very little wash. There is a. very narrow streak of gold near the river. I do not seem to get the same sample of gold as I did in crossing." During the past week 23 Otago dredges have reported returns amounting to a total of 6320z 18dwt, which prhes an a^erage of about 27ioz per dredge. Only three Wert Coast returns, amounting to 1340z 2dwt. or 440z 14dwt per dredge, ha^e so far come to hand here. December 8. The height of the river was 6ft 3in. above the normal mark at Alexandra on Monday, and there had been rain during the night. The master of the No Town Creek dredge reports a return of 470z for 135 hours' work. The weekly return from the Nelson Creek dredge i 3 lOoz for 110 hours. The return from the Golden Gem dredge last week was 330z 4dwt for 113 hours" work. The following returns are reported from the Pactolus dredges:— No. 1, 18oz 3dwt for 124 hours; No. 2, 250z lOdwt for 135 hours. The secftetary of the Chicago Company reports that there was no wash-up last week, as the dredge was undergoing repairs all the time. "Dredging was resumed yesterday. The master of the Rising Sun dredge reports that diwing the pa»t week he> dredged 133 hours, and worked 12ft ahead on a cut 150 yards wide. There is no change to report in the srround, and prospects continue fair. The machinery is running welJ. The master of the Central Charlton dredge, writing under date December 4, say* that the return from parts of section-? 1 and 2 is very satisfactory. That end of the claim is keeping up very well, and he hal never had such a satisfactory run from it before a.« he is getting at present. The search for minerals west of the WaJau (say* the Orepuki Advocate) is likely to meet with success in the near future. Some nice specimens of copper ore have been picked up and' a find of tin is also reported, the assay of which -•showed a very high-grade ore. The exact locality of the find is at present a secret. but more will be heard of it shoitly.