IMPORTANT MINING NEWS.

Southland Times, Issue 1239, 19 April 1870, Page 3

IMPORTANT MINING NEWS.

ONB OffffCE OP ALLUVtA.L GOLO TO THE DISH. (From the Cromwatl Guardian, April 9.) Last week a rush on a small scale took place to a portion of the Nevis Gorge, situated between the township and Wotton's Creek. The ground was .first discovered about seven years ago, but in consequence of its liability to get; inundated, it was for a length of time completely deserted. Some "five months ago, Grand and party set into work on, one of the terrace points, and. after dear* ing all expenses, the four shareholders divided amongst them a net sum of £700. Specimens of the gold taken out of this claim were submitted for our inspection, and richer gold we have .not had an. ; opportunity of examining for a consideri able time past. This statement should be I noted, as scarcely a day passes without a sample of one kind or another finding its way to this office. The specimens (six in number), varied in description from the heavy flake to the round solid lump, and weighed one half to one and a quarter ounces each. Another party, Smith and O'Connell, working ashaft 35 feet deep on the terrace, and known to have been realizing as much as £50 a-week per man, struck a patch the beginning of last week, which went an ounce of gold to the dish. This is a statement we would not put in print unless it had come from one of the most respectable inhabitants in the district, who vouches for the fact that he saw the prospect taken out with his own eyes. As soon as the last-named find became known at the Nevis, the attention which had hitherto been directed towards the ground, took the form of a general movement thither, and at the time our informant left twenty parties had set in. From the description given , of the ground, the course of the stream appears to be most circuitous. What is now sharp terraces and broken ridges must at one period have been landslips, the crevices of which in process of time have filled up with the river deposit. This opinion is strongly countenanced by the position in which the gold is got. To a certain extent the bed of the stream is gold-bearing, but by far the richest part of the deposit is found on dissecting the ridges and terraces at a level with the bed of the river, that fact induces the belief that in falling down these landslips buried the auriferous deposit of ages, and as such terrace pinches and projections are numerous, a well-founded opinion prevails, that with a little extra labor, finds as. good as the best days of the Otago goldfields will be got. The ground is wet, so that pumpingapparatus is indispensable for working it. Latter accounts to hand ■ state that four parties had struck payable gold, and that a large dam was in course of construction with the View of' making 200 yards of the river bed available for sluicing. Although the ground is exposed to floods, the absence of snow on the ranges renders such a contingency highly improbable for many weeks to come. In fact, it is reported that those best acquainted with the place are _ sanguine that they will be able to work without interruption throughout the winter. The discovery continues to excite . lively interest in and around the Nevis.