QUEENSLAND.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 695, 2 July 1870, Page 1 (Supplement)

QUEENSLAND.

[dates to the Ist june.] ■Gympie. May 28. "We have to chronicle the finding of a splendid nugget weighing 730z 4dwt, and "estimated to contain 60oz of gold, in the claim No. 1 north, Russell Reef. The claimholders, Kirshaw and party, have, from time to time, found several small nuggets on the surface of their ground varying from loz to 14oz. It appears that the nuggett reported to have been found on the Louisa line in March last, amounting to 530z, was got in this claim ; the finders who were at that time per-mitted-by the shareholders to work the surface ground on the claim, have since admitted the fact. The present nugget wag,- found entangled in the roots of a treej only six inches from the surface ; a shaft was sunk some months ago only a foot from where it was obtained. The whole of the surface, ground in the claim will be sluiced, and there is every reason to believe that more gold will be turned up. A gold-bearing leader has been found dipping to the eastward, and the party are now putting down a shaft to catch the underlay of it. The good results got by this party has caused the re-working of other claims on this line. New Zealand Prospect Claim : Although this mine has always been looked upon as one of the best paying in the district, the prospects at present being got are even superior to any yet found in the claim. The working party are driving at a 143 ft level, the reef at this depth being 3ft wide, and the stone is unusually rich. The manager anticipates that the next crushing will give a larger return than any of the previous ones. A large amount of specimens is on hand ; some of them appear to contain as much gold as quartz. The stone at present got from this reef very much resembles that found in the Smithfield prospect claim, being a white quartz intermixed with slate. ■-.;. A teleg.am was received in town on Thursday from Gayndah to the effect that there are 1200 men at the Kroombit, and that most of them are making wages. The escort which left for Maryborough last Tuesday, conveyed 47310z 3dwt sgi of gold, of which quantity 31046z Bdw< 20gr was sent by the Joint Stock Bank, and the remainder by the Bank of New South Wales. Considering the frightful weather of the past few months we arc not surprised that the yield of gold is not increasing. . ... The 730z nugget found in the 'claini No. 1 north, Russell, has been smelted by Mr Joseph, and found to contain 620j of gold. We are informed that 12 tons of stont from M 'Mullen's Reef (prospectors). Black Snake, crushed at the Hope machine, yielded 640z sdwt. This highly successful and encouraging result will

formation is very different to the ironatone almost invariably met with in the 'Black Snake claims, being in this instance, composed of granite and slate. ; We are sorry to hear that mining in the. Black Snake district has been greatlyimpeded by,vthe heavy .and continuous falls of rain. .Oh Saturday ilast a man named W. K. Jones applied at the Gold Commissioner's Office, Gympie, for a prospecting claim for a new reef discovered by him and his mates, situated on the West Coast Creek, RUkivan. We are much pleased to hear that Mr M'Ghie's purchase of the Boyne Reefs and crushing plant is more than likely to turn out a highly remunerative speculation. So convinced are the original owners of the paying character of the enterprise that three of them have taken the whole into their own hands on tribute, Mr M'Ghie to receive 25 per cent, of the yields, and 10 per cent, of the earnings by crushing quartz for the public. It will be remembered that the tailings from this machine yielded at the rate of lOoz to the ton when assayed. Mr M'Ghie has brought another parcel of tailings which is expected to yield a still larger 1 return. ; The following returns of late crushings are to hand : — 18 tons of stone from the Rose of Australia Reef yielded 260z ; 200 tons from No. ] south, Monckland, yielded 1970z ; ,45 tons of top stone from No. 4 north, Lady Mary, yielded lOoz 17dwt of gold (smelted) ; 50 tons from ' the Lady Mary, prospecting claim, yielded 34oz2dwts. THE IMBIL RUSH. May 30. No doubt there is a good deal of poor ground on this creek that would be worked if there was anything like a chance ; as it is, a great' many men are literally starved put in endeavouring to beat the water, , and of course cannot get any gold. I have be~eh t6ld*ijy"matiy that, could they have found "tucker," they would not ' have left ; for the want of funds they were obliged tD give up, but they were sure that they could make at least Ll to LI 5s per. week, with the chance of small patches. Notwithstanding all difficulties, how- , ever, a fair amount of gold was purchased ■ by the storekeepers on Saturday. Yesterday I saw a few parcels, one of soz 2dwt, another soz I7dwt, and one 7oz lot; amongst which there were pieces of from 5 to 18dwt, — altogether it was a fine sample. All the cash of the storekeepers ; was absorbed in their purchases, and many diggers -could not find buyers for their gold. Though I mention particularity the three lots, the large majority of parcels range from a few dwts and upwards. I was shown a. nice specimen weighing 9dwts. Nearly all the gold was got somewhere up the creek ; it had the appearance of not having travelled far from the matrix ; I hear the finders are now searching for a reef in the neighbourhood in which they discovered it. In the flat below the upper township nothing has . been done, as the parties, sinking have been obliged to. get slabs to secure their shafts on account of the rain. The flat behind Morwitch's store (now called " Boiling Down Flat ") has a rather lively appearance ; a good many holes are being sunk^and the ground is marked out for a considerable distance on either side of the shaft first bottomed, and called the prospectors. The latter have only an ordinary claim ; it is within 400 yards of Boyd's, therefore, they were not entitled to an extension of ground. The gold got here is quite flat and scaly and of a very bright color. It greatly resembles the gold obtained in the leads and some of the creeks in New Zealand ; it must have travelled some distance, being very much waterworn.arid looks as though it had been beaten flat between the boulders. The "wash in which this gold is obtained is frpm two to, three feet in depth, and yields from 1 ito 2dwt to the trough; in one or two other shafts the same amount is being obtained. Some shafts have been bottomed near the creek at about 9 feet ; they must be on a high bar, as the average sinking is from 25 to 30 feet ; the holders have some water to contend with, though, strange to say,' the first shafts have not above a bucket or two a day to bale. Our hopes of a continuance of fine weather appear unlikely to be realised. It commenced raining yesterday, afternoon, and has continued at intervals since, and now looks as if we shall have more yet ; the delay caused by it is becoming wearisome in the extreme, besides the serious loss of time which presses very heavily on the miners who are unfortunately short of funds. The amount of gold obtained .last week is an improvement oh "'-tn*eT 'yield of the previous week. About 75 or 80oz were purchased by the storekeepers on Saturday and Sunday. Some nuggets, varying from to ljoz 1 have been unearthed within the last few days. Several of the claims on the creek > are yielding pretty nearly the same number of ounces each week, that is to say, between 5 and 6oz. It is rumored i that a party got 20oz, but I have not heard of so much being sold in One lot to 1 any of the storekeepers. 1 A shaft has been bottomed in the flat ; below the Upper Township at a depth of l 40ft ; the party did not get a fair prospect, • only a few colors. It is their intention to i give the flat another trial by driving some * distance each way across in the hope of - coming upon, the run of gold supposed to ; exist. ■ i A shaft hos been bottomed in Boiling- ; down Flat, near the foot of Brown's » Gully, being about 250 yards south from 5 what is called the prospectors. Theprosl pect obtained is about Idwt to a small trough ; the washdirt being three feet i deep. Several other troughs have been '' washed with a like result. Mr Commissioner Clarke has paid us a J visit; while here he granted two quartz prospecting claims, one situated on the i south side of Brown's Gully, to Marshall c and party. This is the claim I spoke of t some time ago ; the holders have a leader . about three inches thick, with casing of f mullock on each side about the same 1 thickness ; there is coarse gold in the b stone and a nice sample of gold has been s , washed from ; tlie casing. There is a good , deal of very fine flour gold, which they :i tell me they cannot save without the use 1 of quicksilver. The leader runs rather z flat and they are sinking to catch the underlay. The other claim is situated on c the north side of the gully higher up ; the , present holders have been surfacing somee time with tolerably fair results, and y whilst so engaged came across a nice 1 leader some four inches thick, showing 8 t, *„,"■,, r,,, 0 1,1,, r£ rrrJA Tlio r>aoir»rr io oWtrd

ing good prospects ; they have got some nice pieces of gold from loz to 6oz 7dwt in weight. lam told they have half a sackful of specimens, but the owners are very reticent on the matter. Some parties have left here for some creek on the Übi station ; from what I can gather, it seems that a blackfellow and several miners were working in a creek, and that they warned him not to toll any white man about it; consequently the first thing he did was to make the most of it, as he was sure of getting something for showing the locality. The party that went with the blackfellow have returned; they state that the parties must have been working there some time; they have cut a long tail-race, and were sluicing. They did not find out whether the diggers had got payable gold. On the way back the excursionists prospected down the creek, and could get a coarse color to the dish anywhere ; they once succeeded in raising £dwt to a dish. The creek is a wide one, running between two high mountains, and about twenty-four miles from here. It has been known that parties have been a long time prospecting on the Übi Run, but it has always been said that they were not able to get anything payable. I have been told by a man who professes to know some of the parties, that they have been working about six months and have not been making 30s per week. There is no great excitement about the matter ; all seem contented to wait for further news, which is an indication that the miners do not put much faith in the locality. In a few days we shall get an idea of its capabilities. It seems that there are many creeks in this portion of the country in which gold can be got ia small quantities, but nothing like payable. About thirty men are working in Browne's Gully, and from fifteen to twenty in Boyd's.and Duffer's, making from a few pennyweights per week up to wages. The 15oz nugget which was said to have been found in Browne's turns out to be one somewhere near 35dwt. THE KROOBfT. A correspondent states that there were, 1200 on" the ground 'and that the population was rapidly increasing. Three Moon Creek was being " profitably worked " up to its sources, about eight miles. It appears, however, that the phrase profitably worked means simply making wages. The 80 or 90 men who were there were working under great disadvantages, provisions and tools being scarce ; iv general they were too poor to do much prospecting in the adjaoent gullies, which, iii the writer's opinion, are auriferous, but shallow, and likely to be worked out in a short time. The creek itself might maintain a : large population for 'some time, provided the water held out and that there was not too much of it. The present workings are on a spur of the main range, the bed rock being principally giranite, the wash yielding from fair wages oh an average ; occasionally, nuggets have been found, the largest weighing five ounces. The two best claims averaged nearly LI per man per day. A quartz reef, called the "LadyMona" has been taken up ; good prospects have been found in the casing, and fine gold in the stone. Writing on the 23rd, the same writer states :— -Heavy rains have fallen, and there is now more chance of trying the surrounding district. Another reef, named " The Gormans," with gold visible in the stone, was found yesterday. THE STANTON HARCOURT RUSH. Stoney Creek, May 18. The population on the ground does not exceed 150, of whom several are dissatisfied with the aspect of the place, and preparing to leave. The extent of the ground actually opened is very limited, and but little work has been done to fairly prove even this. The gold obtained by those who are fortunate enough to find any, varies in character from fine to coarse ; but it has all manifestly proceeded from some reef at no great distance from the alluvial site. Two nuggets were obtained yesterday — one of an ounce, the other half an ounce in weight. Some very fair results were also obtained from a tin dish of washdirt ; but I was unable to ascertain the exact quantity. Although individuals have been lucky in dropping on payable gold, 1 must allow that the majority do not appear to have met with like success. Auriferous gullies, it is true, abound in every direction, but many of them have as yet yielded only "the color," whilst in others gold is found in slightly larger quantities, but still not payable. I cannot at present recommend anybody to rush hither, as the population already on the ground i 3 quite sufficient to develope what may exist here, as well as to thoroughly prospect the surrounding country. — Cot. respondent of Chronicle.