BORING V. DEEP SINKING.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1770, 4 September 1874, Page 3

BORING V. DEEP SINKING.

A writer on the above subject in-'the Bendigo Advertiser says : — "It docs seem strange that on the great question' of' deep prospecting, the idea of boring for the reefs has been so much neglected. I think a.great many will bear meoutwhen ! gay had they commenced -boring six or seven years ago, instead of deep sinking and long cross-cutting, Bendigo would have been much better than it is at present,,. Existing reefs would have been proved at 6nc-;tenth\the expense,- and, if not 'payable» the rush of miners here would have been less, and consequently not so much misery to day. By boring from the surface, the cost of- cross-cuts is nearly abolished, because a company can thensink right down on to the reef,.or as , near as practicable, or in the lowest levels of any of pur, deep mines where quartz has not been found.' Surely a few boreholes, «ay one every 20 feet of the crosscut, if nothing be found sooner, would quickly prove, the ; value of tho ground down to 1,000 feet at least." A boring apparatus -trad fixings may be put in working, order fpr & very small, sum indeed, as compared, with the r sinking material' required for proving the. same amount of ground. In the coalfields of Great Britain I have .known three or four holes bored down a distance over 600 feet simply to prove the best position for sinking, that the same may be in the lowest part of .the coal xbed, making the transit of coal to the shaft cheap and easy; also'proving " faults" " thickness," and quality of the coat seam. Then why not prove to us the 'existence and underlie of quartz reefs P I ,e^pe,ct.,many-will differ from these views 1 in different, forms;' the, working miners :may.!dread.tliis,as an encroachment,on their sphere of labqr ; but,, sir, I think if , *tW miners ao suffer for a few months from it,they, will be benefited by it on the whole, and we had better have this system of prospecting thoroughly and quickly than-tfjl present, when contracting miners are'inspecting at a rate of wages something Tike £1 per week, and even lessrand at'a rate of sinkingand driving which will take A Srery great many years indeed to prove tho same instance down as ncay be proven and oagerly sought for, in' twelve months -by,the simple, cheap, and safe * plan of ;boring. The mode I think; .the pest would be to. bora, .from, one to, six ; " holes in a direct line crossing the lode oh . each h'ne of reef that lias not been, pros- - pected to termination], Let the holes be SO feet apart,.or t less,.as t " borings" may indicate in'the'first holes;-' In conclusion, I hope this subject will be. taken up by some as a question of great importance, as a deep .prospecting ahaft seems not pnlyjinpracticable, but slow and very ex"pen'siTe."