MINING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5690, 8 October 1896, Page 1

MINING.

'•: A FAMOUS LODE. TPer Press Association.! AUCKLAND, Oct. 7. Owing to the Waihi Welcome lode having been struck in the Waihi Grand Junction mine, there has been a sharp rise in the shares of mines adjacent. The Waihi Grand Junction is in the hands of English capitalists. The office at the Britannia mine, Coromandel, was broken into, and the strongbox carried away bodily. It was found a quarter of a mile away in a gully. It is supposed that the thieves expected to find specimens in it, but they were disappointed, as only plans and papers were in it, and these were left untouched. . Doubt has sometimes been cast, upon the probability of any of the rich lodes in the famous Waihi mine ever being discovered outside the Waihi Goldmining Company's area, particularly on what is known as the . "flat;" At the Grand 'Junction mine, ad"joining, however, where about '.£l2oo per month has been expended in vigorous and energetic development, enterprise has been rewarded by the striking, in a small exploring shaft in the Waihi West section of the property of what there is every reason to believe is the well-known Welcome lode. Information has been received that in the south drive at 840 ft from the peg on the northeast boundary a strong body of stone had been cut into, from which a large quantity of water was flowing. The drive in which the discovery was made runs parallel with the Grand Junction boundary. The point of intersection was as above stated, and at a depth of 160 ft and 33ft below the lowest workings of the Waihi Company's property. Every indication went to show that tho new find was the Welcome lode, and this received confirmation last night, the mine manager telegraphing that he had cut into the footwall, and that the underlie was the same. A survey will at once be made by the Grand Junction Company, with a view to sinking a permanent shaft to work the lode, and preparations will be made for the erection of a battery. This will probably mean an expenditure of some .£20,000 or .£30,000 for the thorough opening of the. mine. Instructions have been sent to have assays taken of the lode, and upon the result of these much interest will be centred. The great importance of the find is that it is the first discovery outside the Waihi Company's mine of any of their lodes. The Grand Junction Company has been financed and carried on by a group of capitalists in London whose one single instruction was to push on the work with the utmost rapidity and spare no )r expense to test the ground. - A few of tfie" 'same '"capitalists are associated with other well-known mining properties, so that this important discovery may have a much wider influence than appears on the surface. Because of the encouragement given to further enterprise the adjoining mines will no doubt now vigorously prosecute their prospecting fcr the lode which may run through the properties near. Taking a line from where the lode has been intersected in the Grand Junction property and where the Welcome lode junctions with the Martha lode in the Waihi mine, that line would strike down to the boundary ' of Waihi Consols and Waihi South.