MINING INTELLIGENCE.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2032, 9 November 1869, Page 2

MINING INTELLIGENCE.

THE QUARTZ REEFS. (FROM our OWN CORRESPONDENT.) We have the following information from the Bendigo Gully and other reefs in the vicinity of Grom well:—Goodger and party washed up a ten days crushing on the 30th ultimo, and realised close upon 300 ounces. The quantity of stone put though the stamps has not been definitely ascertained. Still, the following facts may be taken as a fair criterion of the yie’d per ton. The mill consists of five head of stamps, of SOOlbs. weight each, wrought night and day by three shifts. The stone varies from a soft decayed slate to a hard cemented stone, so that as a whole the 'stuff may be said to be ordinarily good for crushing. Under these circumstances the yeild per ton could not have been less than five ounces ; at all events, that is the lowest estimate placed upon it, and the probabilities are that it will be found to have been something more. O’Donnelly and party, the lowest claim’on the Auro a line of reef, struck gold on the evening of the 30th ult., on a vein 20 inches thick, which showed a splendid stone for crushing. Berry and party, at Pipeclay Gully, on the Bannockburn side, are taking out magnificent stone, and if the crushing comes out at a'l up to the prospect, something like seven ounces to the ton will bo realised. At present they are engaged putting in a tunnel, and expect to catch the reef at the lower level at from 50 to 100 feet from the mouth. The indications of this claim are highly satisfactory, and the shareholders are sanguine that it will yet turn out as rich as any of the reefs on the Bendigo Gully side. At the Upper Nevis Range, Grantham and M‘Morran lately met with a break in the reef. They have now struck it at a lower point, the vein at their present workings being three feet thick. They are engaged bringing a supply of water on to the ground, for the purpose of clearing away the slack by hydraulic power, and thereby save the expense of manual labor. -At Mr W. J. Barry’s New Bendigo Reef shafts are being sunk, and so far as the stone taken out has yet been tested, the opinion is that it will run at least three ounces to the ton. Mr Barry, who is well known in the district as an old Californian and Victorian reefer, is about to proceed to Southland for the purpose of testing the capabilities of a reef situated near the Doon, between Nokomai and Switzers. He has promised to furnish us with the result of his tour, so that our readers may rely upon being put in possession of the particulars at the earliest opportunity. The report from Skipper’s is that prospecting is proceeding rapidly and the rush going on to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. The machinery for the Macrae’s Quartz Reefing Company (registered) left Dunedin a couple of weeks ago, and arrived we are informed safely on the ground. No time will be lost in getting it fitted up and the machine set agoing. At Ida Valley matters are proceeding cautiously but satisfactorily. Great complaints have reached us of the exorbitant charges exacted by the company for public crushing. About twenty different reefs have been taken up on the ridge, but only two or three of them are wrought. Twenty shillings per ton is the price charged by the company, now this is a sum which bears very heavy upon prospectors. Were it reduced to 10a or even 12s, a great deal more work would be done’ and the probability is that reefs on the Rough Ridge would soon get established in public estimation. The district itself is very anxious that a head of public stamps should be erected, and from what we have ascertained from 80 to 100 tons of stone per week would be guaranteed which at, say 10 s per ton, would leave a v ery fair margin after paying working expenses. This is a subject to which we would beg to direct the special attention of speculators. A battery, capable of crushing 100 tons of stone per week, could be constructed for something like LI,600; and as the neighborhood abounds both with water and lignite seams, motive power might be safely calculated upon. Another view of the subject is the assistance Government ought to render such undertakings. Nothing could possibly contribute more towards the progress of the mining interest than the erection of public stamps. There are hundreds of men throughout the goldfields who would go prospecting for reefs had they any certainty of getting the

value of their stone tested at a reasonable rate. Indeed Government could not possibly do better at the present time than hold out s ime sort of encouragement for the erection of batteries. As yet the speculation that has gone on at the Cromwdl reefs has been confined to the district. A vast number of enquiries have been received through private channels, and although shareholders are not bv any means disposed to sell, it is not improbable that ere long a large extent of new ground will be opened up by public companies. Mr W. G. Gooden, of Cromwell, with whose name quartz r efing in Ot igo richly deserves to be identified, was lately offered LIO.UOO for the leasehold, by him adj fining his present workings at Bendigo Gully. The offer was a bona fide one, and it is a bona fide fact that it was refused. This goes far to prove that quartz mining at Cromwell is a wellestablished fact. At the present moment there is only one share in any of the reefs for sale. A bid, one hundred per cent, higher than the price asked a week ago, was refused the other day, plainly showing that, so far as speculation goes, these reefs are decidedly showing an upward tendency.