THE QUARTZ-REEFS of VICTORIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1128, 9 March 1872, Page 2

THE QUARTZ-REEFS of VICTORIA.

In Victoria, a few years ago, serious doubts were entertained touching ' the permanence of the reefs, and the payable character of the deeper lodes. This feeling of anxiety as to the future prospects of the mines then was in a great measure due. to a theory advanced , by Professor M'Cay, who, at the head of a commission appointed by the Government to report .upon the stability or otherwise of quarts^ reefing, gave it as his opinion that the reefs would get poorer and poorer, and cease to be remunerative at a depth of, say, 200 ft or 300 ft. This opinion, coming from such a scientific source, had considerable weight, and the effect of arresting to some extent .mining enterprise. Thanks, however, to the pluck and energy of a few leading miners—nonbelievers in this theory—shafts were sunk and deep-sinking continued ; and with the reouit of completely overthrowing' the scientific conclusions* Amongst those who would not be deterred by reports or influenced by doubts stands prominently forward the private firm of Latham and. Watson, of Sandhurst, who, after working out surface lodes, continued to sink through barren rock, and where there was no reef whatever, for a depth of between 200 ft and 300 ft, until they were rewarded, at 700 ft, by discovering a block of stone richer and more massive than any they had previously met with in their upper levels. This discovery.; gave immense impetus to mining ; and,' following, quickly upon this, the Great Extended Hustlers struck very rich.' stone ,on the same line of reef. The Garden Gully line, which was patchy near the surface, has proved exceedingly rich for • a distance of two miles and upwards. The Golden Fleece Company, which is on the . ; Staflord line, and considerably distant from the. others, have discovered a block, in their deepest level, very rich and very massive. They are taking out over

twelve feet, whereas in the upper levels the reef was only about three feet thick. These are only a few instances of the many in which deep-sinking has proved to us the almost inexhaustible character of quartz-mining. In California they are considerably ahead of us in the depth they have gone. In Grass Valley, in the State of Nevada, the oldest and principal reef there is the Eureka. It issunk upon to the depth of 700 ft, without any material change in its character, except that the deeper it is worked the more massive the stone. The Amadore claim, in Amadore county, is a more convincing proof of the stability of oar mining prospects. It is worked at a depth of 1300 ft, the reef varying from 6ft to 16ft in thickness, and yielding handsome returns — dividends of lOdol per share per month. The miners in California, like the Victorians, do not give up in despair at reverses. In some of the mines they had considerable breaks, notably amongst those is the Dowenville, which had an intermittent break of 400 ft. How would an Auckland proprietary bear up under a like reverse ! The firm of Latham and Watson in contining their work through barren country spent over L 12.000. It is to such enterprise as this we are indebted for the development of our resources, and not to those men who are to be met with at the Corner or under the Verandah.