MINING- ITEMS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1027, 26 March 1884, Page 5

MINING- ITEMS.

New Zealand.

The Kumara " Times " says :—": — " Marshall and party washed up last week for the handsome return for seven weeks' work, of 1400z3. Csesar Mitchell and party also had the large yield of llOozs for 20 days' water which is considered as the best return on the field."

Wookey and Gavan's claim is looking very well. They are sluicing with the night water from the White's Company's race, and are saving tho stone for crushing. The Advance Company are sinking a shaft near Wookey's boundary. They are down about 25ft ; and judging from the lay of the reef in Wookey's claim, they ought to strike something payable shortly. White's Company are pushing on their tunnel. They are still in hard rock, and have not reached the line of the reef yet.—'* Dunstan Times." New South Wales.

At Upper Bingera, Withers and paity took 40f>z. of gold out of their ground b sb week. The Diamond Drill Company ere still sinking for water.

From Carcoar, on 21st February, the monthly escort took 807oz 3dwt 7gr gold, which was mostly from the neighborhood of Brown's Creek and the Mt. M'Donald field.

The " Goulbourn Herald " says : -Alluvial mining at Tuena has taken a fresh start for the past two months. A number of claims have turned out fairly remunerative; Sargent and Sons, also Baker and party, have been making over £4 a man per week on the Conuaught*

man's Hill. In the Main Creek, Cook and party have been doing equally well. A party of Chinese have opened a claim, and have obtained from lOoz to 14oz to the truck. In Limestone Creek, Moore and party have made no more than wages. At Scrubby Rash things are rather quiet ; some of the claims have been registered in the hopes of a crashing machine being erected. At Barmedam, the machines which were idle for some time for lack of water started again after recent rain, although the supply is not yet plentiful. In Jackson's claim a shoot of very coarse gold was discovered the week before last. On 25th February the crushing plant was employed on quartz from the Fiery Cross, and from Minter and Co. in No. 2 North Ada. Mr Minter is one of the oldest speculators in Barmedam properties, and the spare ground which belongs to the present shareholders in No. 2 North Ada has been somewhat a windfall in conjunction with the monstrous heap in No. 1, and pluck and energy have been rewarded by the dis1 co very of this small but lich reef. The Bi» Reef yields moderate returns, and under the management of the Sandhurst man now in charge, with a certain modicum of rain, continued dividends may be expected. Lett's party last week struck a patch of specimens which yielded 4oz or soz of gold. There has beeu a large yield of specimens in the Fiery Cross recently, but the dimensions of the reef may curtail the returns ; nevertheless, they must be unmistakably good. Some of the reefs on the Flat are so narrow that coarse gold does not entail a fabulous return. The Phoenix reef is not vepy wide, but the gold is showing up tothAJUsual standard. There are about 14 tons ,qf .stone at grass. The following telegram from Mudgee appears in the "Melbourne Leader" of the Bth instant :— " Rich finds of gold have been made at Mudgee. Bond and party have struck a rich vein in the old Eureka claim, Hargreaves. At a depth of 95 feet, they struck a vein 11 feet wide, and took out 4 feet of stone, estimated to contain lOOOoz. of gold. One lump of stone, the width of the vein, is nearly a mass of gold. Several leases have been taken up, and the excitement is increasing. The reef from which these rich specimens have been taken was 1 foot wide on the surface, but increased to 11 feet at the 96 feet level." — Another telegram of a later date says : — "Bond and party got another lOOOoz. of gold from their claim at Hargreaves. The gold is so thick in the stone that it has to be chiselled out. The find is the richest ever brought to light in the Mudgee mining district, and exceeds anything ever discovered at Hill End. The locality is contiguous to the far-famed Couba Creek, where a monster nugget, weighing over lOOOoz. was found many years ago. A revival of the mining industry in the district is confidently anticipated."

Queensland.

The " Cooktown Courier" was lately shown some really excellent quartz from the Normanby reefs, and according to the opinions of more than one expert in such matters, the lot is of a very valuable character. The reefs from which the stone was procured are, we are informed, about two feet wide — namely, the Gilbert, Rafferty, and Isabella. The gold is of a coarse nature, running throughout the stone in good seams of mundic, also thickly interspersed in the solid. If the stone shown us is an average of the reef, of which we have been assured it is, it will at least crush 3oz, if not more, to the ton. These properties should therefore pay a handsome dividend on the outlay, especially should the crushing be at a reasonable figure. Victoria. In the Castlemaine district during the fortnight ended 23rd February, the Forest Creek, Wattle Gully, had 100oz from 205 tons. The New Era crushed 800 tons for 960z. Small as this average may appear it was payable. The reef has not yet been reached. Subsequently a lad engaged in feeding the stampers picked up a 2oz nugget of almost pure gold — a promising sign for next cleaning up. At Ballarat, the yield for the week ended 23rd February was thus far the best during the year. The alluvial amounted to 25750z, and the quartz to 39240z, while £10,3 00 was declared in dividends. These were as follow :— Madame Berry, ss, £4500 ; Ristori, 63, £3600 ; Lone Hand, 33, £1800; Reform, 6d, £200; all from alluvial mines. Excepting the Reform, which is at Haddon, all the others are in the Kingston field. The new West Ristori, with 990z, has more gold this time than the old Loughlin had the week before ; the Smeaton, with 520z, is creeping into larger yields ; Davies's Junction must soon begin to give out some gold ; and the Lord Harry is only waiting for the water to drain a little more, in order to set on a full force of picks. The chief yields were — Duke Timor, 2320z ; Lone Hand, 5480z ; Madame Berry, 508oz ; Ristori, 4090z ; Maxwell, 303>z ; from 166 tons ; Hepburn Home Paddock, 218oz ; Egerton, 1920z ; New Australasian, 1750z ; Reform, Haddon, 121oz ; Loughlin, 113oz ; Band and Albion Consols had 231cz from 238 tons ; Working Miners' United, 3060z; Rising Star, 3520z ; Cornish, 545.

At Clunes, the Port Philip monthly cleaning-up gave 3950z gold from 1522 tons.

At Daylesford, the Rising Star had 2610z from 304 tons.

South Australia.

The annual report of the directors of the Wallaroo mine shows an estimated profit for last year of £10,234. The ore raised was 15,798 tons ; 17,503 tons of Moonta ore were received for smelting, and the number of hands employed by the company was 1018. Tasmania.

At Mount Victoria, the result of a scraping of plate 3 and ripples from a crushing of 60 tons quartz from the Mount Victoria Company was 2480z of amalgam. Considering that this is only from the plates and ripples, and the boxes have still to be cleaned, the crushing will probably be over 2oz to the ton. Shares are in great demand. Mr H. Teplin arrived in Hobart from the West Coast on 15th February. He states that Cooney and party have discovered a reef 4 feet wide, showing gold freely, about 5 miles to the north-east of Lynch's discovery, better known as the King River Company's property. Mr Teplin brought 9oz of alluvial sold taken from below the reef, which was said to be 8| miles from the King River. In Gould's country, the manager of the Anchor reports that during the fortnight, ended 16th February, there were crushed by the battery 500 tons tin stuff, which had been taken from the face in the upper cutting leading from the. workings to Robinson's pit, and also from the face on the west side of the lode. The cost of getting this quantity was 7s 2d per ton, and the yield from 500 tons of stone was 4 tons lOowt tin ore.