AUCKLAND.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 626, 22 January 1870, Page 4

AUCKLAND.

# .» Dates are to hand to the Bth inst,, from which we extract the following items regarding the principal claims at the Thames:— We ar j in a position to ba able to place before our readers the exact amount of the gold ruNurns from the Shotover Claim for the year ending olat December, 1869. Tlie produ«e of tiiis lino mine during the twelve months fiom the Ist of January to the 31st December, 1869, amounts tv the magnificent total u£ 16,163jz melted gold, or an average, of 13470z monthly, The month's return was melted yesterday by Mr Muir, of the Uliq i Bank, and lost nearly 7 per cent, in the process.. The company Have every reasoi to be sa.tis.fied with the. continued richness of tlie mine, as exemplified by the returns published. The GQldfindeJ" battery, -vvhioU was first erected and started to work m\ the 2.oth of July, 1868, continues to da jjood service ; and the addition of a complete set of WUoeler's amalgamating pans recently erected, as well as the latest improved gold-saving apparatus, make it a,a complete a plant of its. description as, haa yot been started on the Thames gold, field, Previous to h.e erection of. the machine the whole of the gold obtained from ilie. Shotover was the result Qf: specimens, crmhed in a, very small hajid berdan, except a. parcel that was put through at Fraser and Tinne's battery, before, it w^s purchased by tlie Kur^uui co l upa,ny, It is worthy of remark that the first sixteen, hours' crushing at tie Goldfindep battery gave a return of 150CQ3 of gold, Under the able management of Mr Greenville the mine is in good working order, and we have no doubt hut it will continue to tur,n out large returns and dividends, fop years to come. The co.npany's, ground, only covers an area of 303 by 3QQft, or a.n original claim of six men's ground, but this has been subdivided into 224,0QQ shares on the formation of the company, We are indebted to Mr John ' Brown, the Kuranui company's manager, far the following returns of the amount of stone crushed at this battery during the year 1869, from the Ist of January to the end of the present month, The figures s^re as nearly correct as possible, and a.re,, if anything, rather under tha,n over the ma.rk, There were 78. 5 tons of stone crushed during the year, which gave the splendid result of 42, 2460z of gold, or an average of a fraction over soz. 7dwt to the ton throughout. This yield taking into consideration the large quantity of stone disposed of, and leaving aside altogether the number of claims that have, contributed their quota to the tutaj, has, we believe, never been excelled, It must be recollected that during the first nine months of the ye*r the company's plant consisted of only twenty-eight head of stampers, but during the last three months, since the additional twenty head of stampers, have heen erected, there have been fortyeight head of stampers almost coutinually employed, except when stopped for necesjjgry repairs and cleaning np. The . returns from the Golden Crown mine from the 6th of Aigust, 1868, to the 31st of December, 1869, or a period of about 17 months, was 3i,4210z 7dwt lbgr of melted gold., These, returns speak for themselves aa to the richness of the mine, The amount of gold taken out of the mine during the month ending 3 1st : December, 1869, was 193Q0z 4dwt 2^r. These returns speak well for the continued prosperity of the mine, In the Long Drive Company, stoping out is still the order of the day in the upper part of the mine, and much good: stone is extracted, Another apeoimen, crushing Is expected tv come off shortly. On the lower level, in the Lonjt Drive proper; two. chambers are being excavated —one at end cf a cross-cut that turns out of the main tunnel at a point 457 ft from the entrance, and cuts the vein at, about 40ft ; the other, in the main tunnel, 5.00 ft in, near the main shaft th,a,t h/a£ been gunk from the sin-face, of the bill. The first chamber is nearly finished. Three galleries will bo opened out^ — one of them ' to the eastward, to prospect the country in that direction ; the other two upon the leader which there crosses, the chamber on a 25" strike almost direct for the Poverty and Cbarksto i Claim oiie way, aud the lower part of the Junction 'CJ[aim the other. The voin looks, well here ; two hundred pounls of rich specimens were taken out of the chamber and a. drive, a yard or two long running out of it, aud a streak of gold is distinctly; visible running along the vein where it cross.es the ruof of the chamber, in which it is, frum, six inches to nine inches thick, : The Young American has already ;v large paddock of stone <>n hand, and this js rapidly increasing. Wo understand that in a few d.iys a crushing will be cony. menct'd for this mine, ai the Thames, Crushing Company's Uattery, The Hazelban^ have put down a shaft almost in the creek bed ; to a depth of nearly 100 ft without the ai*d of pumping or other machiuery, and, when ailttost flooded with water- have succeeded in driving it back and puddling the shaft. The Moanakaiari Company keeps 13 head of stampers at the Victoria Company'? battery constantly employed cm. good payable stone obtained from diffe.re..u parts of the company's ground. The Juat-in-Time commenced cyusln'ng at the Tramway hattery yesterday morning and tlie plates soon began to give evidence, of the richness of the stuff going through, It is a great pity that owing to the quantity of water that is making in the shaft the manager is unable for the present to continue work until such time as preparations are made for keepVig the. water down. .';.;. The Morning Star continues to ■ look well, and yesterday morning another tine, parcel of : specimens weye brought ty grass. The Edinburgh Castle : There, is ft good paddwek of stone on Hand, from which profitable returns are' expected; : The Mocking Bird is about to commence a crushing at Weston's . machine, The Vale of Avoca will shortly commence another crnslvi ig. ' The All Nations ■ The two levels that have been entered from the main shaft are pushed forward briskly. The main lode was cut in tU'J 100 ft level at a length of about 135 ft. The leader is from six to eight inches thick, and is composed of very promising stone, Previous to reaching • the main lode, two smaller ones, eftch j about three inches thick and of the Ba,me description as the large one, were gut through. The level at the lsoit is not yet into leader, and no work is at. present going on ut the 200 ft level, A slight accident occurred to the : pumping machine uf the Imperial _Crown ? 'M.

which stopped th j works on Wednesday. We believe the feed-pipe became choked. Owing -to this stoppage, the TrauiWW battery, ■ which draws it* sqpply of water from .ihe Imperial Crown shaft, is rendered idle, and the crushing for t]je Just-in-Time was, delayed in consequence, although the stone has been sent down, The Redan ; The promising claim h«id by this Company is at last in a fair way of being properly worked wid. managed, and we belittve the day is not far distant when the pleasure of recording thing good" in connection with it will fall to o»»r share. The company has called for tenders to increase, the siae of the. shaft, The lode, both on account of its sige and the g0,04 appearance of the stone it bears, ia worth testing, and to tuatend the company determined to either strip the old shaft or sink a new one, and s,o open it up [ properly,