a—s

55

Waihi.

Waihi Gold-mining Company's Mine. —The following is a description of the company's operations during the period under review:—-Shafts : The three old shafts—viz., Nos. 1, 2, and 3 have been deepened : the first 44 ft., the second 92 ft., and the third 42 ft. Shafts Nos. 4 and 5 have been commenced, and at the end of the year had attained depths of 353 ft. and 264 ft. respectively. No. 3 shaft has been used in connection with the supply of quartz to the Victoria wet-crushing mill for some time. At No. 4 shaft the necessary brace has been erected, and a siding (connecting the hoppers with the Waihi-Waikino Bailway) has been excavated. The hoppers will also be excavated during the next few weeks. The shaft is now in good working-order, provided with safety-cages, and connected down to No. 4 level in the mine. A winding-engine by A. and G. Price, of Thames, and a tubular boiler by Tangye have been provided for this shaft; a good smithy has also been erected. A large brace has been erected at No. 5 shaft, together with a portion of the engine-and-boiler house. A Hathorn-Davey pump has been procured, and has arrived at the mine. Two Babcock and Wilcox boilers are on order, and are expected shortly. The No. 5 level in the mine was opened out at a depth of 90 ft. below No. 4 level. Three crosscuts were then driven off the No. 5 level chamber, one going north-west, one west, and one south-east. The latter has been extended 374 ft., and has intersected four large reefs, besides nine smaller veins and leaders. The four large reefs, where cut through, aggregate a total width of 40 ft. 6 in. The western crosscut was extended 104 ft., intersecting three large bodies of ore, besides two smaller veins. The three large bodies of ore are all branches of the large lode met with in the north-west crosscut. The north-west crosscut has been driven a total length of 280 ft., intersecting four large and distinct bodies of ore, besides numerous small veins and leaders. The united width of these four large bodies of ore, where cut through, is 85 ft., but the second was not intersected at right angles, and hence some deduction has to be made for this. The foot-wall section of the last (the Martha lode) has not yet been intersected. The Martha lode has been driven on eastward for a distance of 66 ft. The first lode intersected in the north-west crosscut (the Magazine) was driven on for a distance of 426 ft. At the No. 4 level the old southeast crosscut, in which the existence of the Albert, Prince, Empire, and Princess reefs were first discovered, has been extended a distance of 594 ft., making a total distance of 1,393 ft. At 1,199 ft. a new reef was discovered —now called the Boyal—which is 9 ft. in width where cut through, and has been driven on for a distance of 298 ft. The mine-development and distances are as follows : Shaft-sinking, 1,188 ft.; No. 5 level, driving on reefs and crosscuts, 1,367 ft.; No. 4 level, driving on reefs, winzes, and crosscuts, 5,901 ft.; No. 3 level, driving on reefs, winzes, and crosscuts, 3,223 ft. ; No. 2 level, driving on reefs, winzes, and crosscuts, 2,552 ft.; No. 1 level, driving on reefs, winzes, and crosscuts, 981 ft.; adit-level, driving on reefs, winzes, and crosscuts, 540 ft.; smithy level, rises and crosscuts, 167 ft.; old intermediate level crosscuts, 125 ft.; surface drives, 554 ft. : total, 16,598 ft. In the mine itself, apart from the mills, &c, an average of 603 men have been employed. During the nine months ended 31st December 79,808 tons of ore was treated for a return of 201,014 oz. of bullion ; value, £223,576 lis. sd. Until the end of September 190 stamps were at work, and since then 240 stamps, the remaining fifty stamps not having been started. The new 100 head of stamps at the Victoria mill, Waikino, are intended for wet-crushing. Six Union vanners have been erected, and the necessary treatment plant, the sands and slimes being separated and subjected to different treatment by the cyanide process. The cyanide plant used in the dry-crushing mills has not been altered. An additional locomotive and sixty-two trucks have been added to the rolling-stock of the railway from Waihi to the Victoria mill, Waikino. A 550-horse-power Yates and Thorn engine, and five Babcock and Wilcox boilers, providing auxiliary steam-power for the 200 head of stamps at the Victoria mill, have been erected. The new stamps were made by Fraser and Chalmers,-and weigh 1,2501b. each. Union Waihi Gold-mining Company (Limited). —The No. 1 Union shaft has been sunk 200 ft., making it a total depth of 668 ft. The shaft is now being opened out at a point 16 ft. from the bottom, where a chamber is to be cut, and the drawing-lift section of the main pump fixed. The second plunger section of this pump is also to be fixed at No. 5 level. When these works are finished crosscuts will be driven from the lowest level to intersect the lodes. The following extensions at the different levels from the shaft have been made during the nine months ending 31st. December, 1900: No. 1 level, 149 ft. ; No. 2 level, 296 ft. ; No. 3 level, 45 ft. ; No. 4 level, 283 ft.; No. 5 level, 356 ft.; making a total distance of 1,129 ft. In connecting those levels at different points rising and sinking have been done to the extent of 626 ft., and crosscutting off the different levels to the total extent of 200 ft. Stoping has also been carried on over Nos. 2, 3, and 4 levels. In the Mascotte section 200 ft. of driving has been done on the lode, 80 ft. of sinking, and 70 ft. of rising. In the Silverton section the pumping-engine was overhauled and put in good working - order, and the shaft repaired and strengthened with new timber to carry heavy pump-work. A Cornish pump-plunger and draw-lift, with all necessary pit-work, was put in, and an adit-level driven to the shaft. On the completion of these works the shaft was deepened 90 ft. ; the sinking has been suspended since December for the purpose of placing a new sinking-pump in position. It is now about ready. The drive north on the lode at No. 4 level has been extended 245 ft., crosscut east at No. 4 level extended 150 ft., and stoping has been carried on over the back of No. 1 level. Amaranth section : The lode has been driven on for a distance of 280 ft., a rise put up to a height of 150 ft., and stoping has been carried on over the road adit-level. Extensive surface-works have been done in laying tram-roads on the flat and incline-trams to connect the mine with the battery, also the construction of hoppers, &c. The mill, consisting of forty head of stamps which formerly belonged to the Waihi-Silverton Company, and had been used almost exclusively as a dry-crushing mill by that company, has been overhauled and repaired, a No. 3 Gates crusher erected, and the treatment plant added to, the chief addition being the fitting-together of one of the steel tanks which had not been previously used, and