TRIAL CRUSHINGS AT WAIORONGOMAI.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 168, 4 September 1886, Page 5

TRIAL CRUSHINGS AT WAIORONGOMAI.

"'The following interesting correspondence having reference to the above, appears In one of the Auckland papers :— " '

TO THE EDITOR OF THK NEW ZEALAND HKBALD, Sib,—ln. this morning's, issue of, your valuable paper I notice remarks made In reference to trial crushinga between thY New Era Quartz Reduction plant' (lately erected by my firm at Waforqagomai) and' Meeere Firth andClark'a battery, which I "thinfeare calculated to mislead'and create, unduly a bad impression as to the usefulness •of the new plant. Although lam much interested in the matter, I only want fair play, and will crave your kind indulgence while "inakine a few remarks in; reference thereto. In the first place, in making such trials it' would be expected that some disinterested and trustworthy person would be appointed 'to see that justice would be done. Whether such Was done in the case referred to re mains to be seen. The order was Bent from Auckland to the mine manager of the New Find to put twenty trucks of the -ordinary crushing dirt into the hopper, and deliver ten trucks to the New Era Quartz Reduction Works, and ten -tons to Messrs Firth and Clarks battery, each taking alternate trucks from ?the hopper, which'l believe was done, and so far as that went we were on equal footing. The quantity from the tracks referred to was treated at the New Era works by Mr Wick, the manager, and it was arranged between him and the mine manager that the 'bullion from each party should be deposited in the bank at Te Aroha, and that the one would not know the weight or value of the other's return until both were delivered. After Mr Wick'had the quartz crushed and the silver retorted, he having to go to Auckland took the bullion with him to the bank at Qrahamstown, so that it might be smelted, and that he might ascertain its weight and value, which was done with the result of 21oz ldwt of bullion, valued at 35s 6d per ounce, total value £37 7s 3d, or at the rate of £3 14s 7d per truck, which is mere than equal to average value usually obtained by battery. Mr Wick stated to the manager of the Bank that it ~was arranged that the 1 weight and value of the bullion was to be kept private until the bullion from Firth and Clarks battery was deposited, when he was infoimed that he (the manager) had instructions to "telegraph to the mine manager of the New Find all gold that was deposited to tha credit of the company, so therefore iihe privacy of the matter was at an end, as T know that the result of the New Era crushing was wired to them before they deposited their bullion. It was several -days before the result of their return was made known, and if i. did nob surprise themselves it did many outsiders, for they managed to get nearly double the amount of gold which they usually get ~from the same quantity of stuff lam very sorry that I did not obtain a sample of the staff for assay, which would hare shown how matters stood. In the case of treating the next 20 tons we were informed that it wa9 to be 20 trucks of surface stuff, and truck for truck' sent alternately to the New Era plant, and we are 'informed by Mr Wick that it took them eight days to deliver the 20 trucks of surface stuff, causing muoh loss of time and extra ■expense. It was only occasionally that a track was sent to the New Era plant, whilo they were sending truck after truck to keep Firth's battery going, and the bulk of those trucks contained ordinary crushing dirt of the mine. It is a farce to say that the test between the two plants was on fair and •equal terms; for, according to their showing, they had no poor stuff in the mine, for their returns out of surface stuff are quite -equal to, and on an average, better than they have been 'getting out of their best •crushing stuff. The New Era 20 tons of surface stuff yielded 3'2oz 6dwt of bullion, toj»l value, 2s 7d. Compare this .with 54 trucks of -surface stuff crushed at Firth's battery last -month, which yielded 270z of. gold, and taking 20 trucks at that rate, viz , half an ounce to the truck, value— Bay £2 14s per <oz, would yield £27, which would show the -result in favour of the New Era on the 20 trucks the sum of £18 2s 7d, which is more likely to be the correct thing than their ■statement that they have got from 20 trucks <of the same kind of stuff which was treated at the New Era Plant 240z lldwt of bullion, valued at 51s 3d per oz, or a total value of, for the 20 trucks, £62 18s 3d. On this occasion I have taken the precaution of making thorough fire assay test* «f the two quantities treated, and attach herewith copy of assay statement. It is at follows: —

NBW FIND GOLD MINING COMPANY Hire anays of the 20 Trucks Low Grade Ore, as treittid at New Era Battery. Tracks divided into 10 raw ore and 10 burnt •ore, and treated s parately at battery workl of New Era. No. 1 : Ra«r ore of 10 tracks ; fire assay teett. -Average of 1 tails, 7oz lldwt 2nr.

These figures apeak for themeelves, and will when looked into, reveal the true state of things. It will be found that in both teats the bullion runs low value, owing to the -quantity of silver contained, therein, and this has been misleading in the treatment of this Btuff in the pans, as it was treated for a gold bearing quartz, and not so much silver as it has turned out. To get the return that Messrs Firth and Clarks battery claim, it would be necessary for them to get nearly 65 per cent, of the fire assay, as their standard of gold is about 600. Now, if jbhe experts connected with 'Messrs. Firth's battery can show how they manage to save so much gold but of the e&rae kind, of stuff, aa supplied to the New Era plant on this occasion,' they .will charm the .hearts of the shareholders , of the , New, , Find; fforr r they must thinks that a; ne.^v erf has, commenced, and they ;will now,, have some prospect of soon getting another dividend.' ImuYtnow apologise for trespajjrfng #o ,inuch $ , bui'thU matter ir of suoh .^importance, that I will

i igoin orave your kind indulgence » to eiiy ] tomething further at an wly date.—l.Bm

!f' v ' ' ;, ' 'To THiVßi'troß. ; jl|> " - } <'<■■ Sib,— ln your, issue f ot Monday * letter appears trmia Mr George Fr*e«r; in ; which he insinuates that hit battery has been; unfairly treated in the late, trial orushings, and that there^haa been something little short of a conspiracy to damn his property, and proceeds to give a' list of assays to prove that it was impossible to get the amount of bullion that came out of the trials. I think sir, you will agree with me in saying that the public* are nearly a« sick of assays 4s they are of trial crushings on a small scale, and if anything was wanted to show .the fallacy of putting faith in the value of assays the late run at the Woodstock, when ! the .assay value was something like £19 per ton and the return £9 lOs per ton, f arid the 'La MonteJCompany, which paid something like £800 more for their aesay .value^ than they got out of their stone. Mr Fraeer's ' con* tontlon ii that since his battery 'started the ! stone coming out of the New Find 'mine is better than ever, but which isnot the case, as the following figures will show,, and ,«s, thby are taken from the .company's records they can be depended on as' being correct, while>bme of Mr Fraeer's are only imaginary, I will take the last four months crushing, which will, I think, show a very different state *of affairs from thai of Monday's letter. ~ May : 228 trucks, 3150z aesay value 54s 9d per os, £862 6a, rate per truck £3 15s „7d; but from this is to" be taken 30 trucks crushed oh halve?, and which only yielded lloz. of gold, so ft will be seen that the crushing for May was nearly- £4 per truck. June : 119 trucks, 1740z lldwt, assay value 53s 4d per oz, £3 18a 2d per truck ; 96 trucks, 570z, treated by Battery Company at different rates. July : 172 truck*, 236 oz, assay value 51s 9d per oz, £610 13s, value per truck £3 lls ; 75 trucks, 40ozs, £103 10s, crushed on terms by Battery Company. Trial crushing 10 trucks, £52 14s, or £5 5s per truck. August : 172 trucks 223 022 lOdwt, ' aesay Value 48s 7d per oz, £542 18s 4d, £3 3s Id average per truck ; 33trucks 16oz 17dwti, 20 trucks, value £62 18a 3d, or value per, truck £3 2i lOd, or a trifle lees than the value per truck for the general crushing for the month. Now as regards the trial of the ten trucks. When the stone was sent to the New Era plant the manager was told that it was the best stone that bad been taken out of the mine for a considerable time, and that a large return was expected. In reference to the statement that Mr Wick, the manager of the New Era battery, having business in Auckland, so took the gold with him, why did that gentleman not carry out the arrangements made with the manager of the New Find mine and retort at the same time as the other trial crushing ? Why did ho not deposit the gold at the Te Aroha bank as arranged for ? and how was it that he had two parcels of bullion, one of which contained some 12 per cent, more gold than the other, and this out of the same trucks ? And how is it in the trial of 20 trucks from the same stone, part of the bullion was worth 30s 4d per oz; and the other worth only 16s 8d per oz, or very little over half the price. Mr Fraser complains, and I think justly, that it took some eight days to get the 20 trucks, and we have asked an explanation of this from the manager. At the same time I see by the bill sent in, that it took three days to take away the 10 trucks. Mr Fraser says that the second lot he treated was from the surface, and therefore poor dirt. - he give his. authority for stating that' it was poor and from ths surface, or that it was different in any re,spect from that treated at the other battery, because if such is the case the directors are not aware of it, nor have they- any wish te do anything unfair to him, as a proof of which they are prepared to let him have 50 trucks of Stone from all parts of the New Find mine at the same value as is returned to them by the other battery, so that he can save as much as he likes, and the whole of the profit over the other battery will be hisown.— l am, &c, Adam Poetbb, • Chairman of Directors, New Find Gold Mining Co. (Limited). Auckland, 31st August, 1886.

value of Anay. ozdwtgr M « d £id ■God, •0915 = olt 64 at 4 0 0 .. 217 1 Silver, '9M = 616 17* at 0. 4 0 ..174 Total .. 711 0 per ton «. I 45 Bnllfon value, 11s 7d peroz. No. 2 : Bornt ore of 10 tracks, flee aesay tdti. . Average of three tests 4oz 2dwt lgr. Value of Assay, ozdwtftr Ay ■ d £■ d §S ld ' *i?^ = OlSiojat r4 0 .. 3 1 1 Silver, -8117 = 3 6 13* at 0 i 0 -. 013 3i .Total ..4 2 0 per ton .. 315 Oi Bullion IBs 3i pjr oz. ••*-•»