GOLD DREDGING.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 30 March 1901, Page 4

GOLD DREDGING.

' The Lady Charlton dredge had a preliminary run to-day, and worked satisfactorily. The directors of tho Waimea G, D. Cornpann have eouirnsnced to sink a prospering shaft on thoir property at Goldsborougb. The Grey Extended Gold Dredging Company havo a 5 last made a start to proipact'their ground. They have four men boring about a chain above the Wallsend.Taylorville footbridge and today are down about five feet with their firs > bore hole. The Dobson dredge is now within a chain of the bottom of Green Island and if it is to get on a patch of good ground it is now in tho vicinity of where it should be found. The dredge for same time has been working on rather shallow ground through the reef rising, but tho machine ha? now got over the bar and as the ground is deepening the rosults shoa'd bo it is held improve. Judging bv tho quantity of siuffput through, the dredge is either out of the run of gold or the g.-ound is not payable. Experts consider the centre of the river is tho place where s'le ought to bo at work, but the ladder is i.oo short to tackle this. Mr. Nowal the dredgemaster is a very capable and per severing man, and the results mast bo extremely disappointing to him as well as tho shareholders. The Keystone borer has finished boring on the "Woodstock GD. Campany's olaim and it is an open secret that the results obtained were highly satisfactory. The Kohikohi pontoons were successfully floated at 12 noon on the 21th inst. Mr Downie's time expired on tho 23rd, He was therefore only four hours behind timo. which we fancy, breaks tho record for the'West Coast. The river fell too quickly to enable the O'.d Diggings dredge to be floated down. It is now just about opposite M'Kay's. Mr. Freeman, the contractor, is making good headway with the pontoons for the Premier and Welcome dredges- He expects to have them launched next month. . Tne Bocklands dredge is now working across the shingle bank on ihe El Dorano's claim. It is not expected that gold will be obtained till the dredge has gone about two chains from its present position. The Perry's Reward directors expect to have the dredge working with 4s per share of the capital uncalled, which is in striking contrast with most of the dredging companies that have commenced operations. In most instances not only has the whole of the capital been called but in some cases they have started heavily in debt. The Perry's Reward is a Coast managed company. The Kanieri Water Race Company's contractors are making good progress with the work of bringing the water from the lake to the back of the Kanieri. The stone being taken from the Britannia mine is quite equal to tho best crushed, and it is expected a good return will be again got. Writing to tho " Otago Daily Times " with respect to thoLoe's Ferry, Wicklow, Golden Grey, and Tucker Flat Gold Dredging Companies, Mr Herbert E. Easton says :—" To those of the shareholders who have read tho reports of the prospecting operations recently receive:! from Mr Chester, and have acquainted themseves with the actual financial position of these companies, it must bo apparent that the only course left (with tho exception of the Tucker Fiat Company, in which the capital would have to be increased to £9000) is to liquidate." " Shareholder," writing to tho same journal respecting these companies, points out that of tha capital actually paid up, amounting to £190910s 43, perliminary expenses, broker's commission or floatation, and other charges have absorbed £1655 7s sd, leaving cash in hand and in bank amounting to £254 2i lid. Mr James W. Chester, in a lotter to Mr Herbert E. Easton, a director of Lee's Ferry Gold Dredging Company, statos that he has thoroughly prospected tho claim by putting down four bores, reaching the sandstone bottom with three bores, and in neither of tho bores did ho obtain payable prospects. From the position of the boroß it i 9 not possiblo, he considers, that there is any lead of gol 1 in the claim, and he is therefore most reluctantly obliged to report that tho claim is absolutely worthless for gold dredging purposes. An adjoining claijo, the Ferry Lead, he statos, was quite recantly bored, and found valueless. The London correspondent of the *'Otago Daily Timeg," under date February Bth, wrote :—" Among the registration announcements of new companies published to-day is that of the Westland Dredging and Sluicing Company. It has been registered by Messrs Kimpors and Boatman, of 79 Lombard street, and its capital is £40,000 in £1 shares. The object is to carry o'A -hr New Zealand or —ekevfliere- the business of miners, metallurgists, engineers, contractors, etc. The first directors (to number not less than three nor more than seven) are to be appointed by the subscribers. Qualification, £100; remuneration £2 2s each per meeting, with an extra £1 is for the chairman." Dr Black of Westport forwarded a small sample of mineral found when borin» the Wareatea claim to Professor Black for analysis. The report states that the mineral is is nitrate of strontium, with a trace of asium in it. The sample sent was very small, as unfortunately the best lot was accidentally thrown away. Asium is five times moro valuable than gold, the specific gravity being eight per cent more, and is mostly found where there is a heavy deposit of gold. Several bores have been put down since tho claim was reported on, and each one contained these minerals and also rich prospects. The question h, if thero is sufficient t) warrant going to the trouble of saving it. When the blow up was at work this mineral was mixed with tho gold and diffi cult to separate.—W.Z. Mining and Engineering Journal.