THE BRUNNER MINE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 119, 22 May 1877, Page 4

THE BRUNNER MINE.

The following description of this mine is from the pen of a correspondent of the New Zealand Times :— I was courteously received, furnished with all the information asked, and conducted over the mine, which exceeds in size aud importance anything I have seen of the kind before in these colonies, and hot a few of those I have visited in the old country; and as a | man born and bred in a cbul county of England, I ought to know a little about edal mines. Under Mr Elliott's guidance, and armed with a long tallow candle, the tunnel, which burrows deep info the side of the mountain is entered, and in a few minutes almost total dar_hesß succeeds, the light of the candle just enabling one (o see that one's (pet keep tbe right track, and don't stumble over the tramway rails laid down along the floor of the tunnel, on wiiiioh the trucks are drawn up and down by a wire, trope wound over a large drum, which we presently come to as we proceed along the tunnel; and es one' "gets accustomed to the absence of daylight, tbe objects around us become more distinct. On either side of m (is a thick wall of coal, and over our head and beneath ouf feet is ooal also, and there are some miles of tunnel drives and workings which are all coal, ano(; coal of a splendid quality too. Ms, Elliott escorted me into some of the drives, where the men are at work hewing but the coal from tbe surface of the" seam, whilst others close at hand place it in the trucks. After proceeding. some , seven hundred yards in a straight' direction from the entrance of the tunnel into tbe heart of the mountain, a. barrier of rock is reached, which ruos through the company's leaso at about the middle of if. This is technically known as a "fault," and the mine bas so far only been worked between it and the river; hut it is the opinion of competent authorities, Dr. Hector 1 among the number, that the beam of ceil will be found again on the other side of thw "fault," at a lower level, and it is intended to test the question; bat should it turn out to be case that eoe^ioetnot exist beyond the "fault,'' —a seemingly improbable contingency —there ia yet a vast quantity of black diamonds, to be brought to the earth from the other part of the mine before it is^exfiaasted. The company's lease aoifiprisea about 13fJ0 acres, and since it was first worked abotft 150,000 tons of coal have been taken out, and it ia said that as. much more could be obtained from the present workings alone, without trenching upon the large extent of coal country not yet touched in that portion of the mine between the •• fault " and the river. Dr Hector, in *his report of tbis mine in 1872, aays : The coal seam is 16ft thick, and. has been proved by underground working to be of a uniform gravity, without admixture of slack or other foreign, matter throughout an area of thirty acres, in addition to which tbe surface indications Jead me to estimate the quantity of coal which is available without sinking, at at least 4,000,000 tons, the. area of undisturbed coal above water level being more than half a square mile. In addition to thie, a much. larger quantity of coal can be obtained jby sinking." Notwithstanding Dr Hector's favorable report, founded undoubtedly on correct data, the mine, from all I can learn, was not a success until 1874, when the Brunner Company purchased the property, from which time its career has been one of perity ; and at the present time it is flourishing, and likely to flourish for many years to come.