DAUNTLESS AND MACEDONIA COMPANY, MURRAY CREEK.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 26, 8 June 1877, Page 2

DAUNTLESS AND MACEDONIA COMPANY, MURRAY CREEK.

(FBOM OtTR SPECIAL REPORTER.) Among the many mining enterprises k the Murray Creek district which hare ol late forced themselves into public notice there is perhaps none which at the present time holds a more prominent place that that of the Dauntless and Maeedonu Company — or as the venture will hence forth be known as— the Dauntless Extended Company. As the undertaking was first projected, it had little beyont perhaps its favourable situation to distinguish it from any other of the numerous mining adventures of this field, but th« original project has been so far enlarged upon*, that it now puts forth a more pretentious claim. Originally the company's ground consisted of 16} acres, siluatet north atKt3*djoining the Energetic Comrpany's lj|§M|Lbut this area was subsoquentl^|H3BM|d by another adjoining lease d||jj^^Hfet'eiit, t lie company now boldjJlll^^V or an area of 1200 feet bj/^*^ip|^HPfhe first work dono upor the grsungPras the sinking of a perpen* dicular snVt to a depth of 150 /'eat. This shaft which was started about twenty or ',£>£ tjuitfly yards below the Ea^rgetk ■JQflofeisf, on the south side- of Murray M^^^S? 9 made of sufficient sizo to be "Hf3pn& for hoisting by either steam or aiiwer power machinery. It contains three spacious compartments, special care having been taken with the timbering it is perhaps one of the very best works of the kind In- the district. The shaft being situated on tho un lerliy silo of the reef and 208 feet west of any stono found up to the present time on the Wealth ol Nations or Energetic lines, wiil bo available ia the distant future, for the purpose 'of working out tho deeper lerels, and so save the company the great outlay of long and expensive tunnelling. The next ■wp'-k undertaken by the company, was to drive a tunnel into what was once known as the Macedonia lease (now iueorpoag|a with the Dauntless Extended), Thj|Pattion of this tunnel, is east of tli^nsfiaffc, and it was driven for a distance of 120 feet, and intersected a well formed reef. A shaft was put down on the reef at the point where cut to a depth of 60 feet. FrotQktbis shaft about 120- ton? of stone was taken out, and has been paddocked ready for crushing. The quartz shows gold pretty freelyj and is estimated to ran an ounce to the ton. The next work taken in hand? by the company was a tunnel through the Dauntless lease, about 322 feet, down Murray Creek. In this tunnel, about 150 feet in, a small seam of quartz, about l,foot thick, was cut which showed very good gold ; about 138 feet further in, another reef 18 feet thick was cut containing payable gold, but the stone was not so free from slab as the Macedonia reef, but as a careful estimate shows that a return ofS.dwts per ton will pay tho company, the whole of this body of stone will be stoped out and sent down to the batteries. Tho||ljan©l has now beeii driven 10 feet .past th£ ; s^gnd reef, and there still remains 2t feef t fop6e driven to cut the Macedoftia reefi?* sbtot& : working out this level which gives 110 feet to the surface, it is intended to carry the tunnel in question still further in, in order to test whether there is any stone further easfc than the Macedonia reef, there being a very strong belief that there is. The entire length .of the fcfjnnol has been laid with iron rail. Some r eight g>v ten months back, the eornpany accomplished a masterly stroke of policy in securing the water wheel and battery of tho defunct Anderson's Creek Company. The battery, which is one of Langland's best, consists o/ 15-head of 7 cwfc stampers, with b^d .|pg3 and shaft already laid for th<3^ ejection of five additional heads. Th.o.- B'^ery is provided with all i t!io n quisifo accessories for the conduct of crushing?!, washing up, &c. The water wheel is in first class repair, and is capable of driving 30 head of stamps of the same calibre as those now worked. The water race ia one, of the best ia the Inacgahua,

( drawing its supply of water from tho 1 river Inangahua at a very low level, and running almost entirely through flat country it is removed from the possibility of breaking away or from interruption from " landslips, &c. It has a carrying ' capacity equal to the maximum driving power of the wheel, and is in every sense a thoroughly safe and permanent work. In addition to these, the purchase also included all the tramways, paddocks, shoots, trucks, wire rope, and other peraphenalia previously used by the Anderson's Company. The machine, which was admitted to be the best found in the district, with tbe subsidiary works ' originally cost the Anderson's Company something like £8000, and the Dauntless Extended Company became possessed of the whole of this splendid property for the insignificant sum of £620. Fof tunately for tbe Dauntless Company, the property was put up for sale at a time when the mining industry o( tbe district was laboring uuder the greatest depression, and to this circumstance alone is. to be attributed tho fact of their acquiring the property upon such immensely favorable terms. Another important advantage which the Dauntless Company dropped into by (his purchase is. that the batteries are connected by substantial tramways w th the Anderson's Extended Company's i mine, and immediately that that Company is ready to crush, stone can be sent down to the battery. Tbe battery, which is as good as new, is n.pw being thoroughly overhauled %&f&jMtt|t long spell, and it is expec^MH|B|wrork, with the addition 9lwl&fflSfpto provements to the tablesjKCsjlgjp be com* pleted and ready to ssjrt fegjflhing in the course of the ensuing The battery is connected with the "Dauntless mine by meaW of a tramway 45 chains in length. This tramwayihis proved a most expensive 'undertijMg. Five bridges were required oa tawine, tw"o of which being 45 feot h%h and 120 feet span. Two tunnels were required, re* presenting a length of 300 feet thrangh hard rock ; and in addition to wa numerous deep cuttingsV Jl^i i&wibpw remains to complete the frt^ltiluji'^^tL erection- of a bridge of abo^two in length . The work is now in projjM^E and together with the whole of the oufe|H|f works of tho Company wiH be eompleteih by the Ist of July Eext, when the trucks will be running through from end to end. This tramway, or rather railway, has no equal in the Inangahua. It is laid throughout, with iron rails, with a grade of 6 inches to tbe 100 feet, and is about ono of tho mnst courageous undertakings yet started in tha InniK'ahua. Had itboon constructed for a steam loeotn olive instead of for quartz trucks it could 1 not have been made a more permanent and substantial jo!> The line runs through a splendid maiden bush with abundance^ of excellent timber for mining purposes, and this timber growing on the sideling can be transferred to the trucks, at the smallest cost and conveyed at once mi© the mine, the railway being upon the level of the main tunnel already referred to. At the Black's Point end of the railway a shoot 312 ft long has been con* structed. This shoot, which has also been cons' ructed with the same regard to permanency, is floored with end on blocks of wood five inches thick, to resist [ tbe scomof tbe quartz. The floor of the -shoot baa also- be«n so* arranged that rshjijkl any of these blocks require re* jtl|gijyhe work can be easily accombWHK: *.t the bottom of the shoot a p^^H^Beo. constructed for the passage , of ike^BPlte, and beneath it a spacious paddock h|£vboen excavated oat of the solid hiir Wto> storaftfe of stonis.. The, space ,(130- |wi)' between th&bJ^iry and; the paddock referred to i» cohered by a tramway Isn.d tunnel into the hill. The gftoot "Bias been completed, ,and the paddock and tkmways are-now-under construction; and as already -stated, these works will be out ol hand by Ist proximo, ii b^v^B^beeu so atgsnged "that the whole-^lgfeworfea Vifibe the reward of their coUragefl^Pßß^sily •iterprise* The Company will co^mnj^ifce its career upon more farourabl© -tetms-, than perhaps any similar one in the Inangahua, the whole oi the works executed | having been, paid- foi; by the shareholdersi. so that tbere is no liability to face— no "dead horse," to be liquidated, but all t profits over^bsolute working expenses tf wiil flow "%Bt "once into shareholders ?pos^J4tas.> The whole of the Company's works bavetbeem carried out by contract under the personal supervision of Mr Mathew Byrne, and to his unremitting attention and appU£«ißn tho' shareholders are indebted ftf <Bexfaithftd and substantial mannei in wSioh theiwhole of the work has been carried out. There is yet another important item in connection with this undertaking which has yet to be mentioned. Some few months ago a new reef was discovered upon the Csmpany's second' leasehold. It is situate about half way between the battery and the Dauntless mine proper, and about 280 feet abov,e/ the^ present line of railway The reef has been stripped on the surface to a distance of twenty feet, and shows a thickness of about 5 feet 6 inches., The Jode is largely impregnated with antimony, an! the stone in appearance has that delicate bluish tinge, the infallible harbinger of payable gold. All who have examjflcd the reef ptonouaco it to be in

appearance the exact counterpart of the Hopeful reef as first opened on the «ur«* face. I saw some blocks of stone broken i off, in several of which a fine course sample of gold wa« plainly to be Meiu I also saw a prospect roughly trashed on a shorel, from the casing of the teef, which gave a most excellent prospect. Little is yet known of this reef beyoad what is disclosed upon the surface, bat it has about it a moat healthy and compact appearance, and itt permanency cannot be questioned. About 200 feet higher up the hill on the line of the reef, some magnificent spedmens have been found at different times by various parties, but up to the present tiro* no stone in the solid has been got higher up than the present outcrop, but that may be due to. the fact that the reef has not yet been sought for below the surface. The Dauntless Company, however, will not allow this valuable dis* covery to long remain unproductive. A» has already been stated, owing to the great facilities which the company possess for conveying stone to the battery and for crushing, 5 dwts per ton- will cover alt cost, and leave a respectable margin of profit, so that the venture considered only in relation to this latter discovery commends itself at once. The whole of the 'outlay of this costly undertaking has been * . borne by comparatively few individuals, and the names of the shareholders then* selves miy be taken as a pretty good crit^jon of its genuineness. The entire cdffipany is divided into four shares, of which, Messrs Ferotti, Byrne and Kilgour,, each hold a fourth, and Messrs M. Levy^ JDr Morice, G. W. Moss, and W. D. Banks, a fourth conjointly. All the work* enumerated ham taken something tike efgnfeen months to accomplish, and are now being brought to completion, and the heavy draw upon the shareholders consequently is at an end. The mine having been well opened nothing now remains • but to frup^the stone (or ward. As regards, the prclj|^jftjy^gj^re, the battery alone cbnSM^9|HHßrketable asset may be said wSww^ull value for the , entire capital expended by the company. As a public battery its situation is, superior to that of any in the field; and* i eommandi&g a» it does with the railway EJust laid down, the whole of the mines in. t^e lower portion of Murray Creek, the * 9^ is not far distant when its present ; crushing power will have to be doubled-; As to tho Ihantbss and Macedonia* mine proper, the* number of reef* alreadyj opened, the character and extent of the stone all point to the almost inevitableconclusion that before another year is. over, the underta'cin j will take its place ! with the best on the field. ' .