LATEST MINING NEWS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 158, 15 March 1872, Page 6

LATEST MINING NEWS.

QTJAETZ MINING* , i; | There is every probability of quartz reefs in New Zealand coming to the fore, being the ultimate of gold mining, and ranking in the first class of legitimate and established industries. From the Colville Peninsula to Stewart's Island quartz dykes are known to exist in the gold-bearing strata, only waiting the.touch of the magician Labor to become fruitful sources of general prosperity, and a means of employment for numbers of skilled workmen. Nelson, so rich in mineral wealth, bids fair to rival the Thames, with her Inangahua reefs; and auriferous stone has been brought down from the head waters of the Upper Wangariui, by Colonel M'Donnell, giving Wellington a hope of the possession of a future goldfield, an easy means of opening up the Western Taupo country and putting a quietus on King Tawhib and his following. " . . Every month in our own Province witnesses the discovery, of fresh auriferous lodes in every direction from the head of Lake Wakatip to Portobello, from Shag Valley to Orepuki and the Longwood Range. Some of the finds are valuable, others reported valueless; but sufficient incentives to work and combination have already been manifest in our midst by these discoveries to induce us seriously to consider what steps should be taken to develope our hidden reefing resources, and what duties devolve on us in consequence of this new and confirmed manifestation of our mineral wealth.

Our position is not by any means singular —that of awakening to new responsibilities. From the northern regions of Queensland to the Gflenelg, and through a wide portion of California, men are seriously settling down and making it the business of their lives to pound away at the reefs. It was considered years since by many of the best informed that gold mining would only be of an ephemeral character —a kind of premium or bonus offered by JSature, to induce emigrants to first overrun and then settle our Polynesian waste lands. When gold was found in payable quantities in lodes, we were told, by those who should have known better, that these sources of supply were also limited, and that a few hundred feet in depth, and a few years' working, would witness their extinction. Twenty years' experience have brought to nought the sayings of savans ; and we are at present only imperfectly informed as to the general diffusion of gold, the best appliances for its collection, and the different conditions under which it may be expected to be found in different localities. Some few facts of grave import are placed, however, on record. The Amador quartz mine in California has found its best stone at a depth of 1400 feet. Half the people in Victoria have become frenzied with the lcnowledge that at Sandhurst the reefs with half this depth—or some of them, at all events—are as payable as when nearer tite sod. At a depth of over 200 feet, the Caledonian reef produced perhaps the richest specimens that ever gladdened the miner's heart; and on the Shotover, more than 320 feet from the surface, the Scandinavian Company have found their stone thicken and improve. We have learned beside, that .reefs continue in length as wdu as depth—that the abrasion of gullies affect not their continuity, and mining in 'parallel lines, their extension may be expected to be almost indefinitely protracted. Further, that the rude appliances adop-r •ted for gold-saving in vogue amongst us are utterly incompetent for the process; and that; our quartz-crushing machinery, as V < ute, resembles the early mode of w ,k i.. our alluvial deposits—obtaining }i>;U' ike gold from the material operated

on. It has been the custom hitherto to igDore the existence of reefs in Otago, or to declare how utterly dissimilar they were to reefs in Australia ; and every man calling himself "a practical miner," or having once seen a quartz reef, has helped to bruit this rumor abroad —from; Dr. Hector, in his report on " Colonial Industries," to the last imported Cumberland or Cornish miner. Now a constant iteration of opinions tends to make them widely believed, however monstrous or absurd they -may appear, or unfounded in theory or practice, they may prove. A liar, by constant repetition of the same statement, ultimately believes it himself. The safest thing.seems to be to have faith in Nature's uniformity. Quartz dykes being of common origin;-it is only reasonable to suppose that the laws : regulating their formation and strike should be analogous, if not identical, in one country to those of another. > We do not find in any part of the world coal cropping from granite or gneiss, lignite under!I lying anthracite, or oolitic deposits under the. Silurian strata. The same causes ; «nr der similar conditions generally produce the same result's. Like begets its likeness. Handsaws are not bred" from poodles; and woolly-headed, full-blooded negrohood is generally, regarded with suspicion when observedas the: offspring of those through whose veins is supposed to course the sangre azul of the Caucasian race. ' ,\ . '. ..\ , Throwing aside, then, all our.preconceived opinions, as true students of nature,; we should carefully ascertain what Experience can teach us in other and older mining districts relative to greater, working, land how we should best utilise the great trust reposed in our hands. Unlike alluvial deposits, which may be characterised as the calico age of gold mining, reefing affords permanent employment, and -in-" duces settlement. When a man; gets a payable reef he is like one who gets a good wife—he gets a good thing; what he hopes will suffice" for a life-time. His -path in the future is marked out for him, and, with ordinary prudence, easy- to travels There is not that eternal migration' about reefing that there' is about alluvial mining; and, without giving up their wonted mode of life, men may in this ; wise obtain a resting place. Quartz mining has been, and by many person's stillis,' considered a hazar? dous speculation'.' So to scores of retired tailors, grocers, and half-pay .officers, coal and tin mining have: proved .themselves to be in Great Britain. It is acknowledged to require skill and 'practice-to" cut out a dress coat to fit well, to sand sugar deftly, or to drill an awkward squad; but mining appears to be considered like the English Church in the commencement of the present century—a means of livelihood requiring no culture, and an asylum for the incompetent. When a man can obtain no employment on the farm',or r station in the"; Colonies, he goes on'the r "annoyed because he is found not to understand the business he professes. The Crown being the landlord of the property on which the miner has learnt his business,, has been more lenient than private holders of mini ing property 1 would have been;- as it 1 has allowed its occupants to work the ground as seemed best in their own eyes; the consequence being that labor, and capital have been expended fruitlessly, fand. often, to the landlord, in an injurious manner. Hence has arisen our crude and imperfect manner of mine'working. In addition to the self-interest of the tenant of mineral property in (J reat Britain, the Government considers it necessary to enforce certain provisions as to the manner in which mines shall be worked, while the' Owner of" the royalty prescribes stringent conditions as to its proper and effectual mode of work- . ing. Some glimmering of this necessity [ seems to have pervaded the minds of the

late Mining Commission in New South Wales, though they failed to point;.out'aj remedy for the evils of which they complained. The Crown evidently neglects its duty if it allows valuable mineral estates to be worked in an improper, manner, whether coal, copper, tin/- or gold be the product raised, as by iso doing a vital injury' is inflicted on the corpus of -the estate it!-, self; u It would be easy to aniplify. on this head hut it would be foreign to our prek sent purpose. —Special correspondent of the '.Star.' ~-.;'■'. /.':„'!?

A- private telegram, received from Greymouth this morning, states that the Energetic Company at Inangahua have had ten tons of-quartz crushed at Cement-Town, and that the yield of gold was forty-three ounces;

•The Hon. Mr. peeves and Mr..Haughton, .who ,are,at present in will most probably, start' for-Reefton on an early da'y, : from which place Mr. Haughton will proceed to Wesfcport, and Mr. Reeves will .come on to Hokitika, en route for Christchurch. Mr. Haughton, after visiting Charleston, will; leave for Nelson and Wellington. According to, the Grey ,'Argus,' two new quartz rushes taken place in the Inangahua district this week. . One is.to a place-about eight miles up the right branch of- the Inangahua fronr Reefton. and two miles inland to the'south, in th< Little Grey district. . The other is to tht Bald Hills, at the, head of Painkiller Creek; a tributary of the left branch of the Inangahua, and in the locality of M'lnroe's late store. The discoverer of the latter is Mr. Jenkins, the explorer of O'Malley and, Jenkins' new track to Reefton. The others has been found by At derson and party. - The Grey ' Argus ' of a late~ date, says : —"The lead was struck in Fagan and /party's claim, at,the new rush in the Teviot Ranges, on Saturday. The-ground is reported to be * therichest - yet discovered in that district. The shaft in which the gold has been found is sunk 150 feet eastward of the prospectors' first shaft. A number" of miners, representing .most of the claims in progression at the rush, came to the Warden at Ahaura, .on Monday morning,, to request him to cause a new baseline to be laid off. This is necessary to avoid further disputes, because the present and apparently true course of the lead is at right angles with the original supposed, direction. The new line will be laid out when Mr. Lewis returns from the Saddle."

A Victorian paper .says that a new reefing country, many miles in extent lias been discovered -about 100.. miles from Townsvillej and it is reported'as being very rick. Lumps of quartz, richly impregnated with gold, have been lodged in the bank More than 100. prospecting claims have been taken up. The place is named " Charles Towers." A rush is anticipated. The * New Zealand, Herald's' Thames correspondent,,in.his report on the Caledonian Mine ,on the Bth. instant, says,:— I had an- examination this morning of this mine, and can truly say that the report telegraphed last night as to the deterioration of the main, reef is ..fidly, ; confirmed. (With., the ; exceptionnpfpne. large; stone scarcely a speck of gold is to-be' seen-any-where.- • The correspondent adds " that the only chance to those who have bought in. pretty stiff figures is .tp, lipid,pn. until ithe next level is in*:. as. ; the best. informed men ■ here state that it will be picked up arid that rich; and, in all probability, at the iuconiing level.'' Some.:pl|-'ndid stone, was obtained:from the-United'Kingdom Claim, Majorca, on the 28th instant. One piece of 71bs. weight contained One pound weight of gold. , ' Advices received/m England from the

i Cape of Good" Hope represent that -rich I discoveries continue to be macte in the

Diamond Fields. Among others, two diamonds had , been found of 1000 carats each.