MINING NEWS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XX, Issue XX, 14 May 1898, Page 608

MINING NEWS.

SHAREMARKET. THE gold returns for the past week have been satisfactory, the yield from the Waihi mine being again a record one, totalling £‘22,852. The immense ore reserves in this wonderful mine may be estimated from the faet that during the 28 days 6690 tons were treated. The March yield from this mine was £18,445, which was considered a record, but it is evident the new battery was capable of treating a still larger quantity of ore. If the same average is kept up for the succeeding six months, the yield from the XVnihf mine for 1898 should be near £300.000. The return from the Waitekauri mine was also a good one, and the. developments in this mine are of a very satisfactory charactei;. At No. 2 level the reef has been driven on for 310 feet, and is intact for 100 feet overhead. The ore has been of high grade the whole distance, and, as Ihe lode is from 8 to 12 feet in widtii, there should be a large body of payable quartz to be worked from this part of the mine alone. It is also worthy of note that in the official gold returns for the quarter ending March the output from Auckland is greater this time than from any of the other districts, although the West Coast makes a very good second. The report of the annual meeting of shareholders in the Hauraki Company, to hand this week by mail, shows that a dividend of 6<l was paid upon the 2/6 shares, which is very good interest for original holders. The prospects of the mine for the future are also spoken of as very encouraging. The return from the Woodstock mine this month shows a slight increase on the previous four weeks’ yield. Mr McCombie having resigned his position as manager of this Karangahake mine, his place has been filled by Mr Rieh, a gentleman with American experience. Several parcels of picked stone have been obtained during the week from the Queen of the North mine, and as the property adjoins the famous Royal Oak on the Tokatea range at Coromandel, it is quite possible that a rieh patch may be discovered. An important development has occurred in the Owharoa Syndicate's property. After the expenditure of a lot of money in opening up this mine, the company have at last cut what is known as the Radical lode, in the drive from the bottom of the shaft. The reef has already been cut into six feet, and the ore looks promising-, but sufficient work has not yet been done on the lode to properly gauge its value, but as the reef produced a lot of gold in the upper levels in the early days of the field, there is a good chance for the future when the reef is driven upon. Business has been quiet on the Exchange during the week, few transactions being reported, but notwithstanding there were no noteworthy alterations in values, Monowai shares had most attention owing to samples assayed from 20 tons of ore sent Home for treatment having shown its value to be from £8 3/9 to £9/10 per ton. As the Waiomo ore is of a refractory nature, this parcel is being despatched to London in order to ascertain the most suitable method of treatment. WAIHI RETURN. £22,852 FOR THE MONTH. TOTAL OUTPUT, £702,837. The return from this mine for the past four weeks was bullion valued at £22,852 the proceeds of 6,690 tons treated. This is the largest output, from this mine for any four weeks. The previous month £18,445 was obtained from 5,660 tons of ore treated. This brings up the total output from the Waihi mine to £702,837 2s lOd. The following table shows the return per year from this mine since 1890 : —

WAIHI - SILVERTON. £1,025 FOR THE MONTH. The Waihi-Silverton Company bad 23 stamps working for 26 days in April. They crushed and treated 775

tons of ore for a return of 7130 z, estimated to yield £1,025. WAITEKAURI RETURN. £4,851 FOR THE MONTH. The month’s return of the Waitekauri 0.. M. Co. shows that 1.680 tons of ore were crushed and treated for a return of £4,851. Tn March 1,675 tons of ore were treated for a return of bullion worth £4,760. WOODSTOCK. THE MONTHLY RETURN. For the four weeks ending April 23rd, 582 tons of ore were crushed and treated at the Woodstock battery for a return of bullion worth £924. During the month previous 310 tons gave a return of £782. WAIOTAHI. THE MONTH’S RETURN. The Waiotahi monthly cleaning up resulted in a return of 1430 z of retorted gold from 85 tons of ore from all parts of the mine. The value is about £389. MAHARA ROYAL. THE MONTH’S YIELD. The result of the monthly retorting of the Mahara Royal claim (Tapu) shows 325 tons of ore was treated for a yield of 1760 z Idwt melted gold worth £3 Is Id per ounce, or a total sum of £537 13s 9d. IRENE G.M. COMPANY. RESULT OF CRUSHING. A parcel of ore from the Irene mine at Kuaotunu was crushed at the Great Mercury battery, 163 tons giving an approximate yield of £290. BAY VIEW. Penman and other tributers in the Bay View mine crushed 5J tons of ore for a return of 22ozs8dwtsof bullion, estimated to be worth £63. KAPANGA. The Kapanga mine return is 21oz 18dwt of gold, the estimated value of which is £65.

QUARTER’S GOLD RETURNS. The values of gold entered for export for the quarter ended March were as follow :— Auckland £110,872 Marlborough 597 West Coast ... ... 100,829 Otago ... 59,512 Total £271,810 For the corresponding quarter of last year the total was £275,816. This quarter Auckland heads the list. ALPHA. About £5,000 worth of machinery for this company is at present awaiting transit to the mine and batterysite. MONOWAI. A parcel of 20 tons of ore from this Waiomo mine has been forwarded Home for treatment at Swansea. Assays made gave the value as follows: — £9 10/, £8 3/9, and £9 7/7 per ton. QUEEN OF THE NORTH. The manager of this mine at Coroniandi I telegraphed this week: — “Broke down reef in Day leader. Secured 1011® fair picked stone. Gold showing.” The Queen of the North property is situated next to the Royal Oak. HARBOUR VIEW. Stoping operations have been continued on the Blue Peter leader. A small leader has been cut and is running along with the Blue Peter leader, which is carrying gold. A few pounds of picked stone have been obtained. WOODSTOCK. At No. 5 level a main branch made its appearance on the hangingwall side, and effected a junction with the body of stone being driven upon. The

lode is from 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet in width, and some of the stone carries nice gold. PURIRI GOLD ESTATES. Six men are engaged in driving a main tunnel to catch well-known existing reefs running through the whole length of the property. Assays of stone taken from the outcrops of two of these reefs gave a return of 17s 3d and 21s per ton. The cost of the development of the property is being done with English capital. TE PUKE GOLD REEFS, LIMITED. This Company has l>een registered with a capital of £20,000, er 160,000 shares at 2/6 each. One hundred thousand shares, paid up to 2/, have lieen subscribed anti will be issued to the three proprietors of the freehold estate of 1,100 acres, who have conveyed it over to the Company unencumbered. There are 60,000 shares set aside for future sale, and the Company will have ample capital for developing the property. It is intended to call for tenders immediately to cut a low level tunnel 300 feet below the present lowest level in order to open the 22 feet reef on the south side of the hill. WHANGAMATA PROPRIETARY. Worksof an extensive character are being carried on at this mine. All the contracts have been let for the construction of the water-race and erection of reduction works Two tunnels have been completed along the line of the water-race. The third tunnel will lie finished shortly, after which the water will be carried on wooden fluming along trestle work The No. 3or western crosscut is in about 570 ft, and it will only require the shaft to be sunk another 60ft before a crosscut can be started to connect with this level. At present the shaft is down 165 ft. Excellent prospects were obtained, some of the ore assaying as high as £lO per ton. The average value per ton of the lode is estimated to be about £4. At No. 2 level the reef is over 10 feet wide.

Bullion won £ «. <1. In I860 .. 21,112 13 6 1801 23.035 5 11 1802 44,888 2 4 1803 01,000 10 11 1804 82,827 2 2 1805 120,334 2 2 1806 . 137,321 8 2 1807 . 143,201 17 8 1808 to May 67.226 0 0 Total .. £702,837 2 10

WEEK’S GOLD RETURNS. Company. Tons. £ s d Waihi . 6.690 22,852 0 0 Woodstock 582 921 0 0 Waitekauri .. 1,680 4,851 0 0 Waihi-Sil verton 775 1,025 0 0 Waiotahi 85 389 0 0 Irene 163 290 0 0 Kapanga 65 0 0 Bay View Tributers 5i 63 0 0 Total £30,459 0 0