MOUNT RANGITOTO SILVER MINE.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 553, 27 March 1876, Page 4

MOUNT RANGITOTO SILVER MINE.

We extract the following from the report of the special correspondent of the West Coast Times;— After descending, as I have already stated, seven hundred feet to Mine Creek —which creek, during ordinary weather, is a very small tributary or water fall, emptying itself into the left-hand branch of the Waitaha river—we reached the outcrop of the galena ore. Here it appears cropping out of the mountain with a thickness of only two or three inches. From that point the vein is easily traceable without any break for a distance of between forty and fifty feet, thickening gradually as it is followed, until it reaches a thickness of nine or ten inches. A few feet from where the vein is first visible, it appears to have an inclination of dipping from east to west, at an angle roughly of about twenty degrees to the westward, but on proceeding further along the line of the ore, and reaching what we may term for the present the main lead—that is, where the vein is nine and ten inches thick—there is a fall in the lode, and the dip appears to be tending southward, at a much greater angle—an angle of about sixty degrees. The vein disappears into the hill, and at the thickest portion a large quantity of debris has fallen, apparently from a recent land slip. Palmer informed us that under this debris the vein was exposed at a thickness of three to four feet. 1 should have no reason to doubt this statement, but, judging by the manner in which it is dipping and gradually thickening as it goes into the hill, should accept such as highly probable, more particularly as I found in every other respect that the statements of the prospectors were fully verified. To ascertain this, however, would not cost the shareholders or a company any large amount, as the whole of the debris, I daresay, could be sluiced away by hydraulic power, and this is one great advantage for the future working of the mine, that a plentiful supply of water can be obtained from either of the two creeks, only a few yards apart from each other and which unite close to the mine. The vein of galena, containing the silver and lead ore, is imbedded in a layer of ferruginous quartz in clay slate. Below and the vein the reef is soft, and offers little or no resistance to the extraction of the metal. Even at the present time, without any other than the common appliance of a pick, a man could knock out two or three hundredweight of the metal in a few hours. We contented ourselves with a half dozen specimens each, Which were obtained with the greatest ease, fend there is no necessity for, or apparent benefit from, pick ing the pieces, as all along the thickest part of the vein there is little or no dissimilarity in its parts. Above the lode, about fifty feet or so, is a thick reef of white quartz, and beyond that again, to the summit of the hill, is the granite rock. In the course of a few minutes Palmer took out about thirty pounds weight of ore, which he brought to town. I may state also that there are from three to four tons of the ore already heaped up on the side of the cliff ready at any time to be taken to town, or to be smelted on the ground whenever means or ways are provided for ascertaining its value, or reducing it to pounds or shillings sterling. To the right of the creek the prospectors have put in a tunnel of sixteen feet, thinking to catch the lode, but in this they were not successful. They subsequently sunk a shaft of about ten or or twelve feet in the same direction, and have cut the vein about the same thickness, thus proving tlat the metal exists on both sides of the creek, besides being visible in another vein in the bottom of the creek.

Being satisfied that the ore in quantity is there, as far as can be judged by the amount of work yet done, my nest desire will be to become equally convinced as to the quality. With that view I took half a dozen fair sized pieces promiscuously from the mine, not from one block but at various points along the lode. Bach specimen I carefully marked and brought to town. These I propose having melted and assayed, and the public will at some future date have an opportunity of comparing the same with the analysis made by Mr Kirkland, of Melbourne. Not that I for a moment doubt the correctness of Mr Kirkland’s analysis, but in such a matter as this corroborative evidence by an equally experienced assayer will put the subject of value beyond all question. Palmer was anxious that we should visit a creek named after him and about two hundred yards round the hill, where another vein of the ore presents itself, but the track being very rough, and the rain then coming down on us in torrents, we deferred the journey, hoping to have another and more favourable opportunity before returning to town, in which, however, we were disappointed. There are four distinct galena reefs exposed on the prospectors’ ground within a distance of three to four hundred yards, and there are likewise indications of copper in two places on the same lease. Three or four samples of the copper ore were taken down by Palmer, and they may be seen at the office of Messrs Pollock and Sevan, in Wharf street. I took down a small sample of the copper ore, and likewise one showing a large quantity of malachite on quartz, found about a hundred yards from our camping ground. In the galena there is evidently a large proportion of sulphur. We put one of the pieces on the fire at the hut, and it gave forth a blue flame with a suffocating sulphury odour. The bed of the creek at the mine smells strongly of it for some distance. When the prospectors mature their plans, should they determine to work it on a small scale as a private company, I understand their first step will be to put in a tunnel a few feet below the first outcrop of the lode, by which means they hope to get into the main body of the stuff, after driving a hundred feet or so. Should, however, they determine upon floating it as a joint stock company with a larger capital, their line of action will, of course be regulated by whoever may be ap-pointed-as mining manager, who will doubtless be a man of thoroughly practical experience in the working of mines of a similar description.