GOLD DREDGING.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 24 October 1901, Page 2

GOLD DREDGING.

The Caledonia dredge near Aharua will have a trial run of her machinery to-mor-row. The tables have not yet been erected so that it will be a couple of weeks yet before the dredge commences active operations.

Thera was no wash up of the Hau Hau dredge last week the dredge being laid up undergoing the erection of new and improved tables. She was expected to resume work on Tuesday. The work of placing the machinery on the Kohinoor pontoons is being vigorously pushed on. The Island Creek dredge was jambed with tailings, The result of the washing up was, consequently small. For 98 hours’ work soz 14dwts of gold was obtained. The dredge is not even yet on the lead. The dredgemasser lias met with a great deal of trouble. Iu addition to the block of tailings, the pontoons were iu danger of sinking, a hole being knocked in them.

The master of the A 1 Company’s dredge, reporting under da'e October 14th states that during the previous week the machine had dealt with 7000 cubic yards of wash. 2000 cubic yards of which were tailings which had boon wheeled out by the Chinese, who were previously working the ground ahead of the dredge. He anticipated that after last week he would bo through the worst of these tailings. Taking the above facts into consideration the return from the dredge last week is a strong indication of the richness and evenness of the wash.

The dredgemaster of the Hokitika River reporting under date Octjber 12th, states that it had taken longer to open up than ho anticipated. On the date mentioned the dredge had dredged to a depth of 35 feet, but bad not bottomed, and the material treated had been mostly silt and large stones. The machine worked for about sixteen hours at the depth mentioned. Mr Tough says : —“I was astonished to see any gold at all from the class of stuff treated, as it has been mostly of a silty nature.” Mr W. Faithful, Messrs Cutten Bros’, representative, in a communication to the secretary, Mr W. Kollit, which is dated October 17ch, says that the whole of the machinery is in excellent order, and is working well. No extraordinary boulders (meaning those ‘as large as four-roomed cottages”) have been encountered. The secretary slates that the dredge commenced working with one shift on the 9th inst., and started running throe shifts on the 14th. She lost three days owing to floods.