THE AUCKLAND GOLDFIELDS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 474, 23 November 1869, Page 3

THE AUCKLAND GOLDFIELDS.

The following items are from the Auckland and Thames papers, from Nov. 8 to Nov. 12 inclusive : — TnAMES. A fine solid reef which had previously been opened in Clarkson . No. 1, an upper level, was cut on Saturday in a drive from the shaft. The shaft is sunk about 65 feet, and tbe drive is carried in to a length of 130 feet. The reef is a fine compact body — blue quartz, interspersed with white veins, but tbe thickness of it at this level has not yet been ascertained, as the back has not yet been reached To show tbe extraordinary richness of some of the quartz taken from the Long Drive

claim, a piece of stone weighing tAveive ounces was crushed by Mr C. Quint, at tbe Bank of New Zealand, Grahamstown, yesterday, and from it was obtained 6 ozs. 19 dAVts. 12 grs. of gold. This stone was taken from the new leader lately struck in the 135 feet level tunnel. The works at the Imperial Crown are being pushed on vigorously, the miners now working freely in the bhaft, the company having put down a second air pump, which, owing to the noxious vapour generated in the shaft, Avas rendered necessary. A quantity of stone from a netwook of gold bearing leaders in the shaft will he put through the Tramway battery early gnext week ; gold being visible in the stone, a good return is anticipated. Adjoining the Hauraki ia the Two Reefs claim, consisting of seven men's ground, and worked privately. Their drive has reached the depth of about sixty feet, twenty of which had to be carried through a heavy dyke, exactly similar to the one met. Avith in the Hauraki. The shareholders, after pushing their way patiently through this impediment, were rewarded by striking a good reef seven feet Avide, and averaging l£cz to the ton according to trial crushings. Any amount of stone can be got out. The Victoria machine finished up a crushing of 30 tons of stone from the Red, White, and Blue claim yesterday. The stuff was taken out of the large leader, the same that is being Avorked on in the West Coast. The amalgam was retorted yesterday, and gave 34 ozs. 7 J dwts. of gold. The blanket tailings have not yet been treated, and some more gold may be expected from them. A parcel of nine tons from the large reef exposed in this claim has been put through as a trial, but the stuff is not yet cleaned up. Very little is expected from it. The Hastings Gold Mining Company, Tapu Creek, iB turn ng out remarkably Avell, and is likely to become — what so many of our claims are not — a steady dividend-paying claim. For some time past they have not been getting less than tAvo ounces to the ton, but the stone is improving in character, and the crushing which is just completed of 20 tons has given 90 ozs. of retorted gold, or 4J ozs. to the ton. This will of itself give an impetus to mining operations at Hastings. A new leader was struck late this afternoon, about 45 feet from the surface, in the air shaft which is now being sunk on the Colleen Bawn Gold Mining Company's ground, for the purpose of conducting air to the main shaft, which is being sunk alongside the msin reef in the lower drive. Some specimens were taken out of two buckets of quartz (the one as yet raised from this leader) | by the contractors, and if that continues to yield as well, this will be as rich a strike as any we have yet bad to record from this part of the Thames. The Vale of Avoca has been steadily Avorked for upwards of eighteen months, since the time it was pegged out ; the stuff takc-n out is of a very promising character, and pockets of specimens are occasionally met with. One of these was found in one of the stopes on Tuesday, and turned out a very nice sample. The stones are _ofc-eo-ric_--v"-those we have seen from the Long Drive and Shotover, but are sufficiently so to assist materially in swelling the general yield, and to encourage tbe shareholders to hope for Borne^ thing better. The supply of stone to be tamed from the claim is almost unlimite«V In the Norwegian Claim three large heaps of quartz, amounting in the aggregate to, we should think, one hundred and twenty tons, have been placed to grass in the Norwegian claim, which, as many of our readers are aware, is situated in the Moanatairi Creek, on the strike of the same run of golden quartz that is now being worked so successfully in the Edinburgh Castle and United Mates claim, the latter of which adjoins the Norwegian. The stacked stone looks very well indeed, and we are only surprised that the shareholders have not given some of it a trial by crushing long ere thi.. The Full Moon has just finished a crushing of about forty tons at Rattray's inachiue, but I do not think it will average half an ounce to the ton, as the specimens are again kept out of it. Some parties in town appear to have a kind of specimen mania, hawking Full Moon specimens about, and I wonder very much the shareholders allow it. For some days pact most magnificent specimens have been taken out of that claim, but instead of being sent to town for exhibition, it Avould be much more satisfactory to all parties to bave them crushed along with the poorer stuff sent to the machine. The last crushing yielded about an ounce to the ton, also without the specimens. A large parcel of really fine specimens were turned out of the All Nations claim since Saturday last. There is now a large quantity of stone out, and a crushing is to be commenced this week. The mine is now well opened up, and as the main leader is much larger than it was in the upper workings, greater quantities of stone can now be taken out than formerly. The specimens mentioned above were not taken out of the main leader, but out of another very fine one that has been found nearer the surface. The main lode also continues to turn out rich stone, and there is no doubt that the result of the crushing now about to be commenced will be fully equal to any of the previous ones. The crushing of 100 tona trial from the large reef of the Shooting Star, was finished up yesterday at Bleazard's and yielded 162 ozs 4d wts of gold, making a total of 3340zs 7dwtsaß tbe result of the whole quantity crushed, including the six tons crushed at the Kuranui Company's machine, or an average of 3ozs 3dwts to the ton. The return is considered most satisfactory, as a large quantity of the stone latterly sent down was of an inferior quality, and reduced the average considerably. The mine is now being put into g od order, under tbe management of a good practical miner, and will doubtless soon turn out stone in sufficient quantity to keep a battery constantly employed.

We are glad to be able to record cheering news from Tapu. The Hastings Company (late Lord Nelson and other claims) has had a crushing of twenty tons of stone, lhe result on Monday morning, Avas 500 ounces of hard squeezed amalgam taken from the tables. The stamper boxea have not yet been cleared out. This crushing will, probably, give a result of at least six ounces to the ton. We understand that the stone from the Tapu Company's ground is yielding two-ounces to the ton.