WEEK'S MINING NEWS

Otago Witness, Issue 2862, 20 January 1909, Page 28

WEEK'S MINING NEWS

January 13. A return of 20oz for 70 hours' work is reported from the Nelson Creek dredge. Writing on the 9th inst., the master of ifche Waikaia dredge says that work was resumed on Tuesday, when everything went iwell. All repairs are completed, and work on the remainder of the main buckets will be resumed. A good deal of silt has accumulated during the stoppage for repairs. The progress report of the Mount Lycll Mining and Railway Company for the fortnight ending December 30, 1908, states that 2149 tons of blister copper were consigned during the current half-year. The new mill of the Simmer Deep Company, at Johannesburg, will have 300 stamps, each of whioh will weigh 16701b. In the "design of the mill (says the San Francisco Mining and Scientific Press) three main principles have been kept in *ciijd — namely, simplicity of arrangement, l*rge units (such as 50ft sand-vats and 70ft iiime-vats). and facility for extension of ! tha plant. " ' Tne Cromwell correspondent of the Dun*tai. Sanies understands that the tributers of the Clutha River dredge are closing down, •*c ihe enormous amount of overburden on iiie jrr-o'ind i« too much of a handicap for ■» small a dredge. j The Duns tan Times reports that the Syndicate's dredge ie working in fba river at h«r bottom boundary, pending j} r:»e to enable her to once more work the Bx>xch. I Thie secretary of tt© Nokomai Hydraulic Sluicing- Company reports that at No. 1 j atyvator good progress haa been made during the week, although the water supply ;wsse sleek at times. The weather Unas been •how ry, with snow on the hill tops, and at the end of the week water was plentiful. At No. 2, rain fell on four days, *.*tt o*Jy very slightly increased the water i» j»plj. Sluicing has been continu-cd all tue week. There has been a break in th© Lion race, which caused opei^tians to he suspended at No. 3 for three days, and ta. ; n and snow, which fell to a depth of Bin, *nade the progress of repairs slower than would otherwise have been the case. The m.jia'ger expected that sluicing would t* resumed on Monday evening. | January 14. \ The master of the Punt dredge roports broken time since Wednesday last o\\ ing to various mishaps. The cut was eroded *J>ly once. A lot of silt has settled in the p*ddock, aud is very bad stuff to tip out of tihe buckets. Prospects on the bottom are patchy. I The Rise and Shine No. 1 dredge worked 4ft ahead la3t week. The cut was 500 ft wide, and from 42ft to 48ft deep, with about 4ft of material above water level. The bottom was of various clays, coal, and cement; but the latter was showing sign 3 of cutting out. The No. 2 dredge worked Bft of a cut 520 ft wide and from 58ft to 48ft deep, with coal bottom on the west alie. The ground had changed for the ••tter in a large part of the out. The master of Electric No. 2 dredge, •uniting under date January 11, reports that miring the past week the dredge was phiefly engaged squaring up the face owing to the headlina being shifted just before the JiolKftys. Consequently mo3t of the dredging was done i:* the south corner, where it was already partly worked, ' but required to be kept open for coaling, and also for opening out into the .op »nd of the beach. I Abo-rt 10 hours wers lost on Wednesday ' repairing- the e'evator, buckets, etc., and on ' beturday morning the dredge was stopped m order to put a new ahaft in the lower tOmbler and to repair the bulkhead adjoin - Wg.the *ower tumbler, etc. Dredging was again resumed on Tuesday. i The manager of the Mount Rex mine, ! Avoca, reporting- on January 2, c*ys: Breaking stone of better quality from No. 1 bench; the tin is fine and clean. At No B fcench tfae -tone broken the latter part of taw week was of rather low grade. The <£urters delivered 166 loads for tho wee*. Jhs battery will resume crushing on Monaay. 4th inst." I Mr O. Gore Adams, a graduate of tho Ot»go School of Mines, and late director of the Thames School of Mines, has just re- > turned to Australia from a visit to Oolum- | bio, and left Sydney recently to Braid- ' wood (N.8.W.) to report upon the Major's Creek gold mines for an English company. Queensland's gold production for 1907 amounted to 466,476 fine ounces, valued at £1.981,461, showinsr a decrease, compared frith 1906, of 78,754 fine ounces , January 15. A return of 320z for 90 hours' dredgimr Iv»J6 been obtained by the Hartley and Riley dredge. The master wired yeaterdav that he had been forced to stop, owing to the breakage of the driving rope. A new one has been already ordered, and will be forwarded immediately. The Masterton dredgmaster has obtained a return of 41oz 7dwt for 165 hours' work. Reporting under date January 10, he stated

} that he had had a good run for the we*k with just the usual working stoppag-es. The ground keeps much about the same. 1 They etruck a patch of better wash early • in the week, but it ran out again after four shifte. The secretary of tihe Otago Company reports a broken week's work for the No. 1 dredge, and the ground keeping about the same. The No. 2 started work on Sunday night. The river is suitable, but the ground •very deep, and as the dredge is engaged in opening up there will be no wash-up this week. The Sandy Point dredgmaister, writing laafc Saturday. reported as follows: — " Started dr-adginig on Thursday night. The depth of ground a-t ih-s present paddock level is 24-ft. The face above the water level ie very fine, no seams showing in. it at present. It will take a little time yet to get the face straightened up. We ' a.re following the bottom boundary. The stacking room is very tight, as we are at present working on the bottom and stacking back on where we came through with a floating cub, but it will improve as *•© work ahead and also get the paddock up." Mr George Warne (manager of the Waiotahi Gold Mining Company), has also been appointed mine superintendent of the Olci ' Hauraki Company, of Coronrandel. , January 16. I The following cablegram was sont fro/n ! Karangaha-ke to the Talisman Company's London office fast Thursday: — "No. 12 level, south branch, drive- off main south drive at 1200 ft, progress 12ft ; width of ! reef 24in; average value of assays £6.'" The foMowimg report was received from I ths secretary of tha Alexandra Lead ' dredge yesterday :—'' l am very sorry to have to report an accident on the dredge, one of the hands named James Sawyers having lost two of his fingers. The accident was caused through cue of the buckets falling on his hand whilst they were beingreplaced on the ladder." The New Roxburgh Jubilee dredge-master advises that, the river 'having fallen too low to eoavtinuis working in the summer ground, he has moved the dredge 1 into deep water, and consequently there is no washup this week. The dividends paid by the mines of the Ballarat district of Victoria during 1908 show a further decline of nearly £29,000 as compared with the already very low total of the previous year. For four years now th© dividends have been considerably under £100,000 per annum, and last year ■they amounted to only a trifle over half that amount. The recent totals have been : 1908, £53,070; 1907, £81,745; 1906, £79,686; 1905, £85,915. The dredgemaster of the Kura dredge reports for the week ended 13th inst. : — , "Had a fair run; ground very tight and deep, with red clay bottom; width of face 90 yards, depth 30ft." I The Lady Roxburgh dredge has been doing prospecting- work in the old Deposit claim. The ground has been found too rough to dredge owing to the presence of very large stones. The dredge has been dropped back below the mouth of Coal Creek, and is opening out on the east side. ! Shareholders in the No Town Dredging Company will receive a dividend of one shilling per share, payable on Thursday next. January 18. I The master of the Punt dredge reports that prospects are fair. } The Alexandra Eureka. dredg-emasfcer , wired that he expects to shift down the , river to-day. Mr Mair 'and, who will supervise the erection of the aerial trams to the Homeward Bound, Garibaldi, and All Nations claims, proceeded (says the Lake County Press) to Macetown on Tuesday last. The material is on its way there, and the work of erection will be commenced immediately. During the past week 23 Otago and Southland dredges have reported a total return of 6840z 9dwt 12gr, or an average of 290z 15dwt per dredge. Only one return has come to hand from the West Coast so far. I Messrs Anderson Bros, and Hannah have I been busily engaged getting out quartz and crushing at their battery in Scanlon's Gully. Macetown. The Lake County Press he hears that the quartz is payable, and the prospects good. A very great improvement has been made by the erection of a wire rope for hauling the quartz to the battery. I At a lecent meeting of the committee of the Wakatipu Prospecting Syndicate Mr Hamilton, manager of the prospecting operations, reported that he had prospected the localities from Deep Creek to Mount Hyde (including Advance Peak). He had not. so far, struck anything to warrant any extensive prospecting. He discovered some small leaders carrying- gold in the vicinity of Advance Peak, and purposed pipspecting them further. Next week men' will be put on to prospect the lines of reef in the vicinity of Butcher's Creek and Woody Gully, Upper Shotover. At an adjourned extraordinary general meeting of the Branch Creek Ele\ating and Sluicing Company (Ltd.) the following motion was unanimously passed: — "That it has been proved to the company's satisfaction that it cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business, and that it is advisable to wind-up the same, and that the company be wound-up accordingly." Mr W. Hamilton Irvine was appointed liquidator. I The annual statement of affairs of the Rising Sun Gold Dredging Company shows that the capital of the company is divided into 1200 £1 share?, of which 8000 fully paid up have been allotted. The present number of men employed on the dredge is 10, and the quantity of gold produced since the last statement amounts to 220707, J x-alued at £8565 16s sd. The total quantity produced since registration is 86920z 7dwt 14gr, valued at £33,563 13s lOd. Dividends to the total amount of £7600 have been declared and paid. From the statement of affairs of the Ourawera Gold Mining- Company, as at December 31. we learn that the company's capital is divided into 3000 £1 shares, all of which ure allotted and fully paid up. The number of men employed by the company j is nine, and the quantity of gold and silver produced since ljist statement is 5120z lOdwt > 2yr, valued at £2075 14s lOd. The total quantity produced since registration is ' 968907 17dwt 16prr, \ alued at £38,563 13s . 3d. The totnl amount of dividends de- ' clared and paid is £12,415. January 19. ' The height of the river wa^ sft lOin above t-h-e normal mark at Alexandra on Monday, and the weather was mild. The master of the No Town Creek dredge reports a return of 40oz for 122 houis' work. A return of 19oz for 87 houi = rlr-e-dfring is reported from the Nelson Crt-ck di&'lgo The Electrio No. 2 dredeema^ter Las ob

x tamed a return of 15oz 15dwt for 3g day 6' dredging. The master of the Central Charlton r dredge, writ-ing under date January 15, l* says that the week's return obtained from section 4 was just about the usual average ■t from that part. The machinery is running fairly »vcll, and the work of repairing fc ths buckets is proceeding elowty. l The dredg -master of the Rising Sun ret ports : — Dredged 10 hours and worked 3 ahead 9ft on a cut 150 yds wide. There js J do change in the ground, and prospects continue fair. The machinery is running j well. The secretary adds: — During- the week three shifts were occupied effecting some minor repairs. Had full time bean c dredged the Rising Sun's return would r have been about 60oz. t The annual statement of affairs of the j Rise and Shine Gold Dredging Company i shows that its capital is divided into i 12,000 £1 shares, the full amount of which i has been called up. The number of men employed by tho company is 19, and the 1 quantity of gold produced during the year 5 was 37440z ldwt, valued at £14.626 Bs' 3d. The total quantity produced since registration was 19,1000z lOdwt lgr, valued at i £73,978 4s 6d. Dividends to the total I amount of £15,600 have been paid. The expenditure for the year was £9031 163 5d (including £573 5s 5d Hab-iliti-e6 from last 1 year), and the total expenditure since regie5 tration £67,169 12s Id. I Tho statement of aflaire of the Mystery 1 Flat Goid Dredging Company, as at Dooem- [ "ber 31, 1908, is just to hand* and from this it, a-ppears that the company's capital is 1 divided into 10,000 shares, of which 5512 I have been allotted. The full amount of £1 > per share has been paid up on these. The numfer of men in the company's employ 5 is eight. During the part year 24900z Bdwt . Bgr of gold, valued at £9873 4s 3d, havo j been produced. Since registration a total r amount of 11,1290z 6dwt 22gr. valued at £4-3,932 16s Id, has been won. During its history the oompany has declared and paid } dividends amounting to £20.118 16s. The expenditure last year wa3 £3148 12s 6rl, t and the total expenditure £27,516 8s sd.