THE BROKEN HILL SILVER MINES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1753, 30 January 1888, Page 4

THE BROKEN HILL SILVER MINES

One September day, as one Charles Hup was mastering m the v'olnity of Broken Hill, its mineral appearance atruok him forcibly. He and the manager, Mr George M'Culloch, laid their hetida to gather, and pegged oat broken Hill. Tin was what they thought to get out of the plaoe, and they took op two miles along the line of reef. A email syndicate was formed, »nd after several months' prospeotlng without a great deal of suc:eae, two of the little band told out, and when aboot £4000 had been expended, the " Brr.ken Hill Proprietary Company, Lraltfd," was formed, with 16,000 shares, 20fO being issued to the public, while 14,000 were retained by the original disooverera them* aelvea. lo Seperaber last— four years after Charley Rasp'e first happy thought, the va)u« of the oompany at current rates wa« £2,240,000. Calculated at a little lest than the " extraordinary prloe" paid for the shares m AdeUide the other day, tha mine at the present moment is worth Id the market more than three millions and a half of money. But that is by no meant all. The 'cute station manager and his little " proprietary" company oiily worked a very small portion— Bo acres out of 320— of their extended claim. The other blocks have be<*n parted with to other onmpan'e* with capitals v "-y'tig from £76,000 to £250 000 or £300.000. Altogather, the capital represented at 8 Iverton must amount to many millions sterling. Life and bustle, business and population, H'>iey tteam power, and straining, tolling human workmen h»ve I ant into the •oiitade, and awak<-.n< d it to nokuown energy. Clothed * ith fcan'y scrub, th<' Brokftfl Hill risos rugged y from the surrounding o ut-try Plodding wearily up the s'eap o lUiuy <<» th« er«nt r.melHng works, wh-«re the ro-tr anc 1 fl :m« and thr- b of the bin furn-c^B nev«r crates week f t> •nd week oat, go the pitieat teams, bringing c -Itp, machinery, a<:d ftupp]<>-sj •nd t*king b>ck button to OooUbu n, the railway tt-rmtMUs nearly 40 milei away ! Fi' t^Oaijh tho Hnirb Auslralhins, In ' their fier^ft deairj t ••• dra* the ku-»<ues» ( ( f the pJaco frra h«v« pu -h«d oi thfilr N'>rth- -ftßttr.. linn h still «topr nf ihn inloes. But a town ".■ rmini.rupidiy arjund «he l;r kfii Hill, and g»o* ln« (»pac^, *nd 'bo railway o*nnot bo d. l'-yed roach 10. ger. Whrre all wars Mun 'tr hoh years n^o thnro is a t'>wa (if i» m 6000 i h^biiauts, with all iho bm'ike a" vitality that the rough and read\ I miner brings along wl'h him. The sme!| j log fornacea tarn out 1000 to 1400 ha>-» of bullion per day, e»ob bar weighing 87 *» and varing In quality from 150 z to 350 z of silver to ihe ton. One week winanother, the Boken Hill Pnjprie arj Olaim alone — only one out of many now existing be It rememfterer* — turns out between 40,000cz and GO.OIO z of silver Tie sinkings are not deep — varying from 100 to 300 feet, thoogh the greatest atnouut of ore has been ttken out at a depth h»]f-way between there two ex tremef. Little diScolty appears to be met with from water, and carbonate of lead manganese, ironstone, galena, and other ores are anßooiated with the silver, which U easily separated from its base surroundings. The lead, indeed, is % difficulty, the men suffering badly occasionally — out principally through their carelesaeas— from Jest? -poisoning. But when wure men deterred from seaklng wealth by trifle* small as that? "Every inch of mineral groana for mites around has been pegged cur. The great Broken Hill lode and its offshoots may be struck any w.. ere In these eight or ten miles nf oonntry. Strong oompin'es are being floated "by the doz3n," and, with such wild ezoitenoent as now prevails, there is Ifrtle wonder that ihe Government of JMew South Wales reckon upon deriving a dear million of revenue from the plaoe tbii (