MINING ITEMS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 648, 18 September 1874, Page 3

MINING ITEMS.

CARRICK. Watson and party are now crushing nt the Royal Standard Battery, and the plates look remarkably well. It is expected that there will he an ounce and a-half to the ton; and judging from what I saw on Wednesday last I think the stone will go that. This party may be said to be over their little difficulties, to which miners are subject, and it is therefore more pleasing to find that their luck has taken another turn. The Bannockburn Water-race dam is progressing favorably, and w ill be finished in about six weeks. The race broke away on Wednesday last, but was speedily repaired. At Pipe-clay, Bannockburn, a dispute between the sluicers and tunnellers is inevitable; but as I know that the solicitors arc already retained on both sides it would 1 e unfair to write upon the merits. The sluicing, if continued, will block up the mouth of the tunnels, when it is not improbable tlmt upon the slightest damage being sustained by the tunnellers legal proceedings will immediately follow. KAWARAD. On Sunday last the Defiance Company, ■Roaring Meg, sustained a heavy loss through the flaming across the Kawarau River giving way, about 250 ft. of which fell into the river and is irretrievably lost, Mr Lansburg, is the manager. There can be no doubt but that it was the rottenness of the props that caused the accident. This loss will he seriously felt for some time, as it is a ten-acre claim, and pays about LlO per man per week. ALEXANDRA. During the past week wo visited the sluicing claim of Air Michael Kett at Golden Gnlly, Half-mile Beach, Alexandra, and we could not but wonder at what we saw, and expressed our surprise that so little should be known of what must be considered the largest single handed undertaking in the district, the work now in hand being the formation of a tnnnel, Cfeet high by 4feet wide through as hard a bank of rock as we should care to have anything to do with, and is already in a distance of 145 feet, hut before it will he finished, a distance of 200 feet has to be|reaehed; how--9 er, before the tunnel was commenced, an

open tail race, 250 feet long, the whole through solid rock, with a varying depth of from 10 feet to 10 feet had to be constructed. On the completion of the tunnel a further piece of open tail race through the same strata has to be made for a farther length of about 300 feet, making in all a solid rock cut and bore of 250 yards before the face of the auriferous drift is reached that has to be sluiced away. To complete this work, day and night shifts have been employed since last New Year’s day, and Mr Kett computes that fully another three mouths will be occupied before the whole is completed, and as, for the whole distance, powder had to be used, and from four to six men employed, some faint idea of the cost of the undertaking can be formed. The ground to bo worked by means of this piece of work is a gutter of about 40 feet deep witn a width of about 70 feet, however, of its richness we can say nothing, but as Mr Kett is satisfied that his fortune is before him, we can only hope that his utmost expectations may be realized, and that it may prove more payable than the Half mile Beach river claim, which, ho and two others some four years ago purchased for the sum of L 2,500. Mr Kett may bo remembered, by many as the managing partner of the famous Frenchman’s claim opposite the town of Alexandra

The tributers of the Alexandra Corporation water-race (late the Ovens) are sticking close’y to the banks of the Molyneux about a mile above the township, and are reported to ho doing well, the only wonder is that they do not make a trial for the main bottom ; no systematic trial has as yet been made to properly teat the river beaches on the East bank of the Molyneux, we should not be at all surprised that while the European part of the population are thinking about it, their Chinese brothers will step in, as tiiey have done in many other places, the more noticeable of any place in the Alexandra district, being the Manorburn Flat, which has kept a largo Chinese population in profitable work for the past two years and more. The Manhuherikia Company, who are working in two parties a short distance up the Manuherikia, no great deal is heard, though from the steady manner they are working, the only conclusion to bo drawn is, they are being paid for tbeir labor? On the west bank of the Molyneux there are a few good parties working, lint 1 do not hear the results. DUNSTAN. M'Nally, Hastie and Co., have got through the Gorge of the Wai Kcri Keri with their race, a rather tall piece of work, and are now ploughing the race on to their claim at the back of Clyde ; this section of the race is expected to ho completed, and sluicing started in about a fortnight. Anderson, Lindsay and Co., (known as the Shepherds’) are making hay while the sun shines, that is, they are taking advantage of a plentiful supply of water, and are working away a lot of ground ; their next washing up is expected to astonish the natives. The other parties on the Commonage are working steadily, it is consequently inferred profitably. BENDIGO. A splendid cake of gold was on view yesterday at the Bank of New South Wales, weighing I ICG odd ounces, being the yield of some 300 tons of stone. There is at present a largo quantity of quartz at the mill, but water is very scarce. The cake referred to is from the Cromwell Company’s Mine, Bendigo (known as Logan’s), and we are happy to add that there is plenty of ato’ eat grass, which is very rich, so that the next crushing will doubtless produce something out of the common.