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Alta Mine, Bendigo (H. Holmes, mine-manager).—A level was driven to strike the reef from the battery level, and about 100 tons of stone taken out and treated in the battery. The high results anticipated from this mine were not realised as the stone is low-grade and patchy. Latterly only one man has been engaged on prospecting-work in the mine. A five-head stamper-battery was erected at the mine and power supplied by a 7-horse power oil-engine. Later information from the mine is to the effect that a scheelite lode has been struck, running parallel to the reef-walls. Bannockburn. Go-bye Mine, Carrick Ranges (J. B. Holliday, owner). —Mr. Holliday has been prospecting on this property for the past six years. A large amount of driving has been done but without meeting with a body of payable stone. In spite of the want of success as yet attending his exertions, Mr. Holliday displays his confidence in the future of the Carrick Ranges as a quartz-mining field, by the persevering manner in which he carries on his prospecting operations. Messrs. Lawrence Bros., Carrick Ranges. —No work has been done on Messrs. Lawrence Bros.' property this year. During the year several syndicates turned their attention to the Carrick Ranges. Some desultory prospecting was indulged in from which no permanent results eventuated. There is a wide field for reefing on these ranges, but the stone is mainly refractory and requires special treatment. Bald Hill Flat. White , s Reef, Bald Hill Flat (R. T. Symes).—The prospecting-drive has been extended 100 ft., during the year, making a total length of 750 ft. driven along the hanging-wall of the reef. At the face of the drive the footwall is coming in, the country is getting harder, and good stone may be expected shortly. The payable chute of stone found by White's company is overhead, there being 110 ft. of backs in which a rise is now being put up. The prospecting-drive stands well with occasional renewal of timber. Two men are generally employed in and about the mine. Quartz leaders carrying gold are met with. The quartz is treated in the five-head stamper-battery. Excelsior Mine Bald Hill Flat (F. W. Gray).—This mine is in good order, timber excellent, and ventilation good. Mr. Gray, the mine-owner, supplies the following interesting information re this mine: " Work has been carried on as usual during the year at this mine, an average of four men being employed. The principal work done during that time has been the stoping of stone and prospecting-work underfoot or below the working-level which runs into the hill some 330 ft. from the battery. Although the stone loses nothing in quality, in depth it is, owing to the wet nature of the ground, becoming more difficult to work, and the owners contemplate abandoning this mode of working and driving a still lower level to tap the stone at greater depths, or trying further along the line of reef for some fresh chutes. Since last Christmas up to the present time —October —some 215 oz. of gold, valued at £3 18s.per ounce have been obtained, which provided a fair margin for profit over working-expenses. The reef in this mine is of a heavy mullocky nature, the walls being stone 12 ft. apart. The gold-bearing run of quartz, however, rarely exceeds 3 ft. in width, and is bunchy. The ground requires to be close-timbered, and the working of the mine is somewhat difficult. This mine is a paying one, and the owners are confident that if solid country is met with at greater depths, better quartz will be obtained." Rough Ridge. Rough Ridge Quartz Reef, Rough Ridge (F. H. Perry). —Very little work has been done on this property during the past year. Waipori. During the year there has been absolutely nothing done in this district in the way of quartz-mining, and there is nothing at present to indicate that a revival will take place in the near future. O.P.Q. (Waipori) Gold-mining Company (Limited) (A. E. Inder, manager). —After about eighteen months' crushing with a ten-stamp battery, which produced gold to the value of £15,000, it was recognised that cartage so increased the cost of fuel that radical alterations to the power plant were necessary to enable the mine to be worked to advantage. With considerable reserves of ore in sight, operations were suspended, and a proposal submitted to the board of directors to replace the steam plant with water-power, and the rights were acquired to enable this to be done. Another power available would be electricity, obtainable from the Waipori Falls Electric Power Supply Company. Little difficulty was anticipated in raising the capital necessary to carry out the proposed alterations and to develop the mine to a greater depth. The returns from the mine and the favourable opinion formed by the chairman of the board when he visited the property with an expert adviser were, it was thought, sufficient guarantee that the money would be forthcoming. The scheme submitted to shareholders provided for the raising of £15,000 by means of preference shares, which should be entitled to the whole profits of working until the money so raised was returned, after which preference shareholders were to rank as half-owners of the property. Unfortunately, the fortunes of the O.P.Q. Mine were so involved with those of other ventures in New Zealand, Victoria, and British Columbia, that capital was not so readily obtainable as it probably would have been had the mine stood alone. A large proportion of the shares were subscribed within a very short time. The balance, however, failed to go off, the antipathy of the English investor to things New Zealand dooming the scheme to failure. The main shaft on the property was sunk to a depth of 285 ft., inclusive of a sump 15 ft. deep. The lowest level driven is therefore less than 270 ft. below the shaft-collar. The mine had previously been worked from a shaft, the bottom of which corresponds to the present company's 180 ft. level. Thus the new ground opened up by the present shaft is less than 90 ft. in vertical depth. The continuity of the quartz chute has now been proved from the surface to the lowest level, where two veins of rich quartz continue strong underfoot. Although