QUEENSLAND.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 683, 4 June 1870, Page 4

QUEENSLAND.

GYMPIE. In our last we mentioned the vague reports which were being circulated at Gympie Creek with regard to a new rush. We now give the following details regarding it from the Gympie Times of May 4ih :— Without noticing the various rumours of one ounce, twelve ounce, and twentyounce nuggets, which excited the town not a little during yesterday, and concerning which we have not the slightest reliable intelligence, we simply append the letter of our Imbil correspondent : — ; Imbil, May 3. Mr Commissioner Clarke has granted a. prospecting "claim to the prospectors of the creek situated about f our miles south of Boyd's ; he awarded them 600 ft. There was a little disputing by some parties who had pegged into the ground awarded. Mr Clarke, on the application of some few parties, decided to register the claims ' for ten days, ostensibly for the purpose of allowing the men to obtain tools ; and he issued notices to the effect that all claims on the Imbil Gold Field were so registered. When it became known, great dissatisfaction was caused, and imprecations loud and deep were indulged in ; to say the least, it was a most injudicious act, and, strictly speaking, illegal. It would be well if the Commissioner were to adhere to the rules, and not, as he has, virtually put a stop for ten days to the working of this field. It is preposterous to suppose that such a course was at all necessary. Registration on such grounds was a thing, unheard of on a gold field before, as, by the rules, any party who wanted tools could go for them, the ground being pro- ; tected in the meantime. No one that had not a claim marked before the registration could tell what to do, as it is impossible to distinguish between ground that is vacant and that which is protected. This matter will be the cause of endless disputes. In mining there is not much to report, for the reasons stated ; some men are sinking, others fossicking, and some cutting tail-races. Encouraging prospects are being obtained j some small parcels of gold have been bought by the storekeepers, amongst which are pieces from 1 to 6dwts. There is nothing new in Boyd's Gully. Some nice gold has been got in a gully called Brown's, the one Mr N. W. i Brown was working in ; it has been retaken up. I saw a few dwts. of round coarse gold and a small piece about 6dwt3 washed out of the surface j it was got by a Gympie man. It will be impossible to say what the capabilities of the field will be for a week or so. All who are here seem in good hopes ; people are arriving from all quarters— Brisbane, Kilkivan, and the Black Snake. The creek takes its rise in the same range as Boyd's Gully, and is about four miles south. It is rather steep, and strewed with large boulders and detached rocks. " About a mile from the head there is an immense bar of rocks crossing the creek, and a waterfall of some 20ft ; it is rather a difficult job to get up some parts of it. I saw one of our guardians of the peace come to grief with a very nasty fall through slipping on the rocks. Our town at present is at the bottom of Boyd's Gully ; though primitive, it shows the enterprise of tho storekeepers and others. There is no lack of old faces — Scoweu, Morwitch, Jones, Walsh, Ryan, Ellworthy and Mellor, Leggatt, Riley, and a number of others, are supplying the wants of the miners. Stores are coming in every day. We have five butcher's Bhops, ten stores, and some hotels. Flour is lower than last week; three'ovens are going up. The almost übiquitous Farrow supplied us with food for the mind on Sunday — " all the latest dates." Last, though not least, we have an accession to our population by the arrival of some ladies. The surrounding country will now get a thorough prospecting ; men are out in all directions, but nothing has transpired as to their doings. We are informed that the Chatsworth nugget of 1660zs turned out 107ozs of smelted gold — not ao much as was anticipated. The gold was not so fine as the proceeds of the large patch, the value in j the present instance being only L 3 10s 7d I per ounce. I Commissioner King is to resume his official duties on Monday next, Mr Ranken returning, we understand, to Brisbane. There is : enough stone raised now, thanks to the fine weather, to enable the crushing machines to resume work; but itappears that there has beena, " stampede" of men from the mills, and also that very few drays are available for cartage of quartz. . . . THE BOYNE REEFS. About 3 cwt of the tailings from these reefs Avere sent to the Mint, and assayed. The Mint returns were lOoz lOdwt 13gr to the ton of tailings ; the original yield from the stone being about 15dwt to the ton. Here is a problem — who can solve it ? "Referring to the foregoing passage in our Calliope correspondent's letter, Mr Dyson' Aplin writes to the Maryborough Chronicle of tlie%s"th as follows :— " Per-

mit me to suggest an explanation. All quartz reefs contain gold in two distinct forms, one most visible to the eye and the other enclosed in the iron pyrites of mundic. The first i 3 called " free gold," and should be saved by a good machine ; the second is pyritous gold, and its collection is beyond the art of the ordinary machine owner. The mundic in a reef is much less than the quartz, but often, weight for weight, contains a much larget per centage of gold, assays of from 15oz to 450z gold and upwards to the ton of mundic being frequent. Now, mundic being heavier than quartz, it will by gravity remain in the sandy part of the tailings, and this would be the material of which 3cwt was sent to the Mint. It is therefore probable that the high assay of these tailings was greatly due to the high percentage of mundic they contained. Of course the loss by a machine of 3001bs. of quicksilver in five weeks, condemns the maaagement. and implies the loss of a certain quantity of gold also ; but by no means (if the tailings sent to the Mint wero a fair average of a quantity,) a loss at all corresponding to the assay returns. It must be remembered that the Mint gives the actual total contents of the material operated upon. In this instance it does riot appear that it was instructed to distinguish between the quantity of free gold contained in the tailings (for the loss of which the machine was chargeable), and the quantity contained in the accompanying pyrites (for which it was not chargeable ; yet this double analysis was necessary to prove the loss due to the machine. How exclusivly in some auriferous material? the gold is confined to the mundic or other form of sulphides has been recently illustrated by the experiments of Ban Ban, where three tons of stone sent to the Mint yielded over 4oz of gold ; whereas another quantity of the same material, reduced carefully at one of the Gyrnpie mills, returned scarcely a trace of the metal." On the 22nd April, Mr Friend offered at auction the Boyne crushing machine, plant, tools, &c, and claims, on the ground, at Tyler's Camp. The attendance was fair, but the bidding was far from being spirited. Mr M'Ghie, of Gympie, was finally declared the purchaser of the whole concern for the moderate sum of Lsoo— terms, LIOO down, and balance on completion of transfer. It is said that the property is a gift at the money. Mr Tyler, we are informed is much the heaviest loser among the original proprietors. Mr M'Ghie, the new proprietor, being a gentleman reputed to possess considerable mining experience, wo may shortly expect to know the precise worth to the district of the Boyne reefs.—Gladstone Observer.