A THAMES MINING EXPERT ON HIS TRAVELS.

West Coast Times, Issue 6623, 29 October 1887, Page 4

A THAMES MINING EXPERT ON HIS TRAVELS.

A gentleman of large gold mining ex« perience, who left by a late San Francisco mall iteamer, for the purpose of invest!gating In the United States the kinds of j maohlnery and methods of working best adapted to the Thames goldfield, sends a letter to a friend in Auckland, from whioh we (Auckland News) make the following extracts :— Butte Oity, Montana, U.S.A.. 13th September, 1887In 'Frisco we met Messrs Craig and Lawry, of the Insurance Company, who were both most kind* The latter made us acquainted with one of the agesta of a mechanical engineering firm of Chicago, j in whose company we cross-examined Mr Luokhart. The result of these interview! has been that I find myself in this agent's company still, and Inspecting the mines, minerals, and. machinery in this most , important mining centre. I will attempt no minute descriptions, but drop in a few solid facts, which you must assort, olassify, and digest at your leisure, of which latter commodity I have none now to spare, MUTING IN MONTANA. Here we are 9000 feet abore the sea level, in a town of 17,000 to 20,000 souls, all dependent on mining. There Is an area of three or four square miles all located as mines., and scores of mining plants in full awing. These are of rarious ikes and kinds, bat all are large and costly, and none are similar to ours. The ores here are copper, lead, silver, a little gold, and other combinations. The greatest depth gained is 1200 feet. Some of these mines are paying beyond our notions of a profitable concern. The Blue Bird is clearing 60,000 to 80,000 dollars per month. The Anaconda Is doing more than twioe that business. There are, of course, many wealthy people here. Our mining and our mining men and notions : are all dwarfed into absolute insignia- i oanoe by comparison. A CONTEAST. I am certain we have plenty of mineral land of equal value and importance, and I feel confident somebody's great grandchildren will see our peninsular as prosperous as any State in this Union. But thU is simply not possible as long as the aim and tendenoy of our mining legislation is to harass and bunt the mine* in the exeroise of his business. Here it has been seen that mining is of til* first-— and almost only — importance, and bis lines have been laid pleasantly all along. He may take up 1500 feet on any unocoupied line of reef, keep possession for a shjort period, Bpend 500 dollars, and then secure a patent— i.e., a freehold ; all he has to pay is 2£ dollars per acre as the price of his land. Compare this with £3 per acre per annum for rent, besides all outrageous charges for survey, advertising, and other red tape circumlocutlonary persecutions, by which life in New Zealand has been made unbearable. I want yon to send here whoever is made Minister of Mines. I ask nothing more. The man will learn how to pay your national debt. lam not going now ! further into this matter. I am sore on j the subject and dare not trust myself on paper as I feel. I will Bay, however, I have some excuse for being bitter, in view of bow the best interests of a country are murdered by the Incapacity and Ignorance of those in power — I mean those Government men who have in charge this branch of the nation's industry. Your Auckland men — merchants and others—have only recently agreed to look to mining as their only salvation from going '• bung." They are quite correct. But salvation thu way will sever come unless the whole code of conditions are modified and relaxed, so that rgirfrtg may be allowed a fair chance. As things sow stand, the business is burdened by all sortß of vexatious trouble and unworkable conditions, and, most fatal of all, insecurity of title ; indeed, no title at all. The mining lands of the Thames Peninsular are now being farmed out at rack rents, and the money reoeived therefrom is squandered. Coming from out of such a stagnant hole the contrast here seen strikes one most forcibly.

There ii no sooner a new discovery in the mountains than two or three railway oompanieß strive to see whioh shall first ■end traim there, These things are done bete, not merely dreamed, and talked of as with us. Look at our Thames-Te Aroha track. Great Scott! I should not dare to tell its history here. As an Instance of the vitality of the men here I may state that in one day they altered f com narrow to broad gauge a line of traok one hundred and sixty-five miles long. Fact. I came over the said traok last night, and can well believe it ; sometimes the jumping was beyond a joke. bat there- have been no acoidents 10 far. The cuttings and embankments »ho# evidence of a hasty cheap job. The rails axe merely dogged to the «Uepew, and not Mt lo chain like ouri.

lam wandering. My business* here is mining. There are no ores here like ours. These have more base metals, lead, zino, copper, &c, with silver and a little gold. For reduction Blake's stone* breaker is used first, then wet or dry i stamps. From roasting and ohlorldlsing , furnaces, afterwards passed through [ grinding and amalgamating pans, with ! quicksilver and chemical re-»agents, and • oarrled thence through settlers, where the ! result is secured. , These dry crushing, roasting, and chlotldising works are ponderous and costly — I am startled out of conceit for 1 them. The information I am getting from the obliging and communicative cxi perts is all one way regarding our Waihi ore. They advise reduction by wet stamps, pass the tailings over Frue cons f centrators (having previously, however, , scoured as much gold on copper plates as possible. They use copper inside as well I aa outside the stamp boxes ) The concentrators to be shipped and sold in the bost ; open market. The tailings from the con- ; centrators to be treated in pans with ; quicksilver and chemicals. As the tailings leave the concentrators they fall into settling tanks- The water which ' overflows these tanks is carried again into ) the stamp boxes (having first been made clear by charcoal, alum, or otherwise), and so continues always on hand, so that > po fine gold nr Bilver sulphides oan get clear of the plant except in the tailings (sand) after treatment in pans and » settlers. THE BEST FOB US. i Mr Luokharfc advised dry crushing, ; then a chloridising routing, with subsequent pan and settlers. Now he admitted that we should sacrifice something by the ' chloridising. That is, we should lose ■ silver in taking this means to secure a i higher percentage of gold. This all the practical men agree with, and they also, , in addition point out and emphasise matters (other objections) which practice ; every day forms gospel for them, and ! which. Mr Luckharfc, in hia laboratory, , not realise. The dust of a dry-stamp mill ] is a terror ; gold and silver must be co lost, > besides, the dust cuts into all the bearings and working parts of the machinery. The escaped chlorine gas is not what the men like best for lunch or at any time; besides, it eats into everything. The cost of a dry stamp, with drying, roasting, chloridising, &c, involves a cost out of all proportion , heavier than such concentrating gear, &c, , as lam leaning towards- Moreover, I have Raid nothing about enormous china* 1 neys, and brick-covered, long dusfc.collect. '■ ing galleries, and large quantities of salt — , all of which are wanted iv chloridising. The value of each process must be estimated according to the net profit it leaves from a given quantity of ore, and not merely by the percentage of gold or silver saved. One may save these at too high a price.