BLUE SPUR AND GABRIELS GULLY CONSOLIDATED GOLD CO, LTD.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4895, 28 September 1901, Page 3

BLUE SPUR AND GABRIELS GULLY CONSOLIDATED GOLD CO, LTD.

We make the following extraots from the report presented by Mr J. Howard Jackson, general manager of the above company, .to the annual meeting of shareholders in London :—: —

On the 9th April the outfall of the OJago dam (our largest reservoir), a timber culvert which had been in use since the dam was builk in 1878, tailed, and lo* a coneidar&kld time, until a new outlet was consiracted, the loss of storage accommodation seriously interfered with the sluicing works ; repairs were finally completed on July 17th and the dam filled again. Meanwhile the Waipori dambank failed altogether and robbed . us of further storage ; the bank was known to be weak, but what the immediate cause of its failure was I have never satisfactorily determined ; it had washed out once before in 1876-77 shortly after it was made by sluicing in clay from the adjaoent hill Bides, and I know of no way of strengthening it withont I Vifta&lly building a new bank. Repairs to this dam were taken in hand at once, but were discontinued on aooount of hard and persistent frost which penetrated the ground to a depth of from 12 to 24 inches, and not gone on with until the last clean op at the end of February was finished. I did not think it wise to divert water from sluicing in the Mine for this purpose, as no direct loss was occasioned by the absence of the reservoir while the water could be used or stored elsewhere — in the Otago dam as soon aB it would bold— and I wanted every drop obtainable to try and retrieve the shortage ot gold earlier in the year. The work is now nearly completed at a small ooit. . On July 2nd the main drain in Gabriel's Gully, other parts of whioh have given expensive trouble before, collapsed, and great difficulty was found in treating the exact point of rupture and the extent and nature of the damage. At first, and for some little time after the break ooourred, the mine was kept clew through a connection with the libdil

Industry drain, but this also failed and it became neoessary to dear our own drain and repair it ; to do this I was obliged to hire the Local Industry's plant and water, the drain was eventually Stripped and made good on the 17th September. Meanwhile to keep the mine dear of water and enable some sluioiog, i.e., gold winning to be continued there, a pump was erected to dispose of the drainage bye«wash from the elevators <fee, <fco., and by this means the mine was kept runrilng to some extent.

The series of misfortunes whioh had overtaken dams and drains were not, IJbelieve, preventable, and were repaired as qaiokly and economically as was possible. The inclement season operated seriously to th 9 dieadvantage of the work of repair, but the effect of them on ihe output of the mine hasbeen disastrous from a revenue point of view, or indeed from any other. The dams, I am confident, will give no further trouble, but there are portions of the drain whioh I have never seen that are a source of anxiety, largely because it is impossible to examine them ; however, tbe faot of them having remained intaot and serviceable so far proves them to be the strongest part of the oid work.

Early in May last tbe work of oleaning in the several paddocks was commenced with a view to collecting the gold as usual at the end of the month, but the winter set in unusually early, aud before i( was possible to complete, the clean up, frosts effectually closed down the mine. The temporary loss of the Otago dam incommoded operations seriously, and it waß not until the 19th July that a partial clean up was finished and 491 ouncejfcof gold banked, whioh under ordinary circumstances would have been to hand early in June. On the 12th November another 4850z were banked, and from that date to the 1 end of tbe year, 28th February, the ordinary work of the mine has progressed steadily under generally favorable conditions. oz £ s d i Gold won 1899-00 . . 2753-3 10,875 10 8 „ „ 1900-01 .. 1878 8 7,448 17 5 A decrease of ozs. 874-5 £3,426 13 3 £ 8 d Expenditure 1899-00 .. .. 5,310 0 0 „ 1900-01 .. .. 5,651 V 0 4 An increase of . . . . £341 0 4 The oast of production this year, including all colonial charges, amounts to 75*88 per cent, of the value of the gold won as against last year's cost of 48.82 per cent., a ruinously large increase. An increase in the year's expenses was anticipated, but not to so'great an extent and from altogether different causes. By careful manipulation of tbe tailings, now stacked to a height of over 125 ft in Gabriels Gully, tha necessity for raising the elevators has been deferred, the collapse of the Otago and Waipori drains and tbe main drain, with the consequent dislocation of the mine works has been the main cause of both iaaceased oost and diminished output.

The work done in cleaning out and repairs to head race ditches after the winter before last has proved efficient, and greatly reduced the cost of their maintenance during the year under report.

I may remark incidentally that, although the rate of wages has not risen, the supply of casual labor in tbis district has been very small, and now considerable difficulty is met with in finding men for extra jobs. The scarcity is to a great extent attributable to the drain on able-bodied young men to fill the six contingents already sent to South Africa for military purposes, and the seventh now in training camp at Wellington.

I The year all through has been a poor one I for water, the long tedious winter with only a limited snowfall, and no frost comparable in severity, although it was more QPQtinuoUß ' and lasted longer with the preceding season, produced a very limited supply. Fortunately, the last three months of the year — viz., December, January, and February, were continuously wet, and produced an unusually steady supply for this part of the year. The full head of water applicable on No. 1 Division was used in pumping to keep the works free for 61 days, whilst the main drain was obstructed and under repair : — Last yea* sluiced ioe . . - . 1,010-9 3aye [This „ „ .. .. 798-8 „ 212-1 days {Shortage of water accounts to a large extent for the differences in the amount of wages paid : — Total wages paid . . . . £3,135 0 0 Last year's total . . . . ' 3,604 O O A decrease of £469 0 0 The expenditure for explosives has been slightly less this year than last, owing to the proximity of the works on No. 1 side of the mine to Messrs Eitto and party's boundary, and the necessity for great oare to avoid dislodging of their ground, the blasts have been cramped, and this want of freedom bas impaired their effectiveness while increasing the quantity of Roburite used — that is to say, two small blasts in corners will not work so effectively as one larger shot iv a free face of cement, although the single charge contains a less quantity of Roburite than the aggregate of the other two. Cost of blasting this year . . £655 0 0 „ „ last „ .. 686 0 0 An increase of . . . . £31 0 0 i The gold saved — viz., 1,868-Boz— has cost apparently 70s 2d per ounce to win, leaving a margin of only 18s lOd per ounce profit as against a profit of 40s 6d per ounce on last year's winnings. This is not a fair comparison. The actual cost of winning the gold has been the same or nearly so, but other circumstances hive reduced the profits. The quantity of the cement shows in all the faces a slight decrease in valne. In No. 1 paddock this is aooonntpd for by the fact that to preserve a shining face the bottom of the paddock no longer coincides with the bedding of tha best layer of cement.- we are hwiQg an mcce&feiag depth of tha best cement trader loot ; this m\\ come in presently but cannot be worked just now. No. Ib, i.e., the bottom level the pement is virtually not auriferous ; nearly 3,000 cubic yards have been worked during the year for a return of 2Joz of gold ; no work has been done here for some time. I have not abandoned the hope of pay dirt ahead, but last year was obviously not the time to oontinue development works which were not in themselves remunerative.

No. 2 I cannot aooount for ; it looks just the same as it has done for years past ; increased dimensions of recognisably poorer material are not noticeable. No. 2$ has changed in character for part of its length ; the eastern end of the face where it abuts under No. 2 on the main fault face is harder and' poorer ; the cement is finer grained and does not contain so many large stones ; the western end next to No. 1 is as good as it ever was and has paid very well.

The past has been a year of serious mi&forr tones, but 1 <3o not think that any of the <3eplorable incidents referred to above could have been prevented, and cannot praise too highly the energy and resource with which Mr M'Hattie met and mended them. In this he was ably seconded by Mr John Uren, the company's blacksmith. Mr M'Hattie has decided to retire from the service of the company, a determination whioh I heartily regret, but cannot alter, and with your approval I have promoted Mr John Uren to take his place. The change was effected &t tag end of ttie year, and. will, I awe no doubt, prove t&ti&faatoty; The following are from Thursday's " Alexandra Herald " : — Owing to rain up-country the river rose about 2fcft at Alexandra on Tuesday night. On Wednesday night the water receded a few inches, and last evening the height Was about 6ft 4in above the " normal " mark at the Alexandra bridge. A wire received last evening, however, stated that rain was again falling at Queenstown ; bo a further rise may be expected. As there is very little snow on the mountains, it is expected ihat the rise will be only a temporary one. We are informed that the Clyde Company are the sQOoessf ul tenderers for the purchase of the Moa Flat Co.'s dredge. Yesterday's rise in the river will more or less seriously affect all dredges working in midstream.

It is worthy to note that the Bendigo Gold Dredging Company is the only one for many moons past to start work on her original capital, and with a credit -balance in the bank. This faot disproves the. apparent impossibility of completing contracts within the margin allowed for. The Bendigo Company should feel gratified at their unique performance.—" Star."

The secretary of the River Molyneux Gold Dredging Company (Limited) reports that the dredge is closed down nntil a more favorable time.

The Magnetio dredge reports having stopped work owing to the river being too high. A return of 220z was obtained for two days' dredging.

An Auokland telegram states that the gold returns for the past three weeks fihow a satisfactory total of £63,313, exceeding the total for any three weeks yet reoorded. During the past three months there has been won from Auckland mines gold to the value of £220,556. The ."Oamaru Mail" states thai' the Maerewhenua dredge, which cost nearly £4,000, has been sold to a southern firm for £320. Our Wetherstones correspondent writea : — The Golden Crescent Co. finished their paddock last Wednesday forenoon, when they had 760z and some odd dwts. That represents about a fortnight's elevating. The first washup at tbe commencement of tbe paddock they got 290z, and then they were stopped two months with the frost and snow. At the first washup after their race was clear of snow, on the 7th September, they got 360z 14dwt for about nine days' elevating, that being 1420z out of ground that was called 11 duffer ground " by some.

Warden Stratford, ia bis annual mining report, says ; — " One of the new dredges tbat Bt&rtrd workiDg at Waipori during last year is O'Brien'^. It belongs to a private syndicate, and is driven by water-power ; it takes two Government heads of water to drive the machinery, with a pressure of 45ft ; 3oz of gold per week will pay the cost of working. It is now dredging to a depth of from 12ft to 14ft, aud does (be work well, to the general satisfaction of tae owners. Mr O'JBcieu baa patented tbe system throughout the Australasian colonies— in fact, the greater part of the world. The dredge is, I understand, the ODly one yet known to be worked by hydraulic pressure direot."