The Uncertainties of Quartz Reefing.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 239, 9 June 1874, Page 7

The Uncertainties of Quartz Reefing.

(Daily Tijnes.J |j. Quartz .and quartz workings ,are delicate \ things to write about, and equally delicate in \ which to invest money. A little knowledge ] of quartz is a very “dangerous thing.” ■ Mining Engineers and skilled geologists often i] find tlieir predictions falsified, and their hopes; , fallacious. A lode well defined has frequently been found extending over a long distance, i has been worked successfully to a great depth, ] \vhere lode and walls disappear as though , they never had a defined existence, leaving 5 no clue whatever ai to where they can .'again ] te found. In Cornish parlance,' they have ,J “heaved” away. ’ In a country which has had such, an unstable youth as New Zealand, * this “ heaving” may be looked for as common. , Again, a ulan may have the reef before him , at a considerable depth and of good quality, when the quarts willrup to threads, and “a horse” fill the place whore the quartz is not. ; These “horses,” which in this Colony are generally of soft.slate taking the place of the stone, are often uifiny fathoms in length and height, and you only know the ; r'dimensions when you have driven through them and had their boundaries defined, at a no iucousider ■> able cost.. Sometimes, when “ breaking” stone, youobservo it becomes easier “ t6 get;” threads of clay appear, and a little further the'quartz runs out and “ mullock,” rally worthless, is found in its place. A reef, ‘ some two or three feet in thickness, paying, say, 15dwts cr 20dwts to the ton, has often been found running for a considerable distance, when all once the wallq open ouj, and the stone becomes fifteen dr twenty feet 5 thick, yielding perhaps only.ldwfor 2dwts to the ton. Further, in the best paying reefs, . as in alluvial ground, there are blank patches. In lode working, a man can only‘bo certain of what he caii see.’ These difficulties' are ' common to all countries, and have been .manifested in our Provinces, frequently. In ad- . dition to the above obstacle, Ne\y Zealand i has had others to contend against. She has ■ had very few skilled men miiou.g her popula- ! tion fitted to fill the post of a mining manager. r These she has had, with one or two exceptions, ■ she has paid niggardly, and grudgingly, and. subjected to unwarranted interference. A tniningmanagerwho understands his business, ’ does not like to be told by a baker or a pubj lican how to manage a mine ; aud that more' I especially when his pay is small, and his skill I is underrated. He simply adopts another t means of livelihood, or goes to another - country.. Shareholders, ns a rule, only wish r for present dividends, careless of the future I and are like the daughters of the horse leech 1 crying, “ Give ! give i give !" Mining and » sharebroking are different occupations, but i when mining is made -subordinate to the 1 shareholder or broker, the almost invariable ' outcome is failure, or swindles analogous to “ that of “The Green Karp.” "The -battery is J the only test of a reef. Specimens are no; 3 guide whatever, their general use . being to-. 2 ensnare the unwary.. Not many months ; since your reporter saw some Upfccimena , wonderfully rich in a-broker’s window-. It , was in another Province in New Zealand.; • He looked at them carefully, and said to the broker, “ Please remove those specimens * from the case, so that 1 may see them through a microscope.” The broker was courteous, but decided. “Ido not wash to have them removed,” was his answer ; and then I knew t an artist had been at work. I have known s some of the richest specimens I have seen s come out of a.worthless and unworkable , leader. Even when broken out of a reef they f form no criterion, for gold is patchy. Let no 2 man buy into a reef on his specimen vision.