RICHMOND HILL MINING COMPANY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 26, 30 January 1878, Page 2

RICHMOND HILL MINING COMPANY.

Directors' Report. la this, their second annual report, your Directors will pursue the plan adopted in the fir3t of reciting the proceedings and occurrences at the mine in the order of time. In the former Report it was announced that a contract had been entered upon to siuk the shaft to the depth of forty additional feet, and that the slabbing and puddling of the upper part, which was the most pervious to water, had just been finished under the direction of the manager. On the Directors going over, however, in January to view the mine, they found that water was coming in freely, and, in short, that the puddling, as executed, was practically useless. On this occasion the manager tendered his resignation without any demand for salary in lieu of notice, an offer which the Board accepted. Since that time the superintendence of the works has been entrusted to Mr W. E. Washburn, as managing Director, whose long experience in mining was placed at the disposal of the company on very easy terms. Since this change no shortcomings have occurred, and very material savings have been effected. After the shaft had been carried down ten feet beyond the contract, viz., to one hundred and six feet, a drive was commenced at that level, running under the river in a northerly direction on the lode, but a few feet from the shaft .t \va3 fouud that the lode was split by a horse, carrying pyrites on the east side and galena on the west. This state of things continuing to the twenty-third foot, it was determined to drive to , the south, where the lode was united and thicker than in the upper level drive. This was done for a distance of twelve feet, but under the overpowering disadvantage of an influx of water, increasing with every extension of the exposed surface, so that at last more than half the men's time was employed in raising water. Under these circumstances the question of employing water power for pumping, which Mr Washbourn had from the first indicated as desirable, was considered in all its bearings, and notwithstanding the expense, amounting to several hundred pounds, adopted after mature consideration. The result has entirely justified this course. A race 92 chains long brings the water to an over-shot wheel twenty feet in diameter, faithfully built, working with perfect smoothuess, and which besides driving the pumps, ventilates the mine by a fan-blast, and does haulage at an expense little more than nominal. The wages outlay for driving and sinking has thu3 been reduced by one-half, and the outlay has been more than recouped in the first six months. The power at command is not all required for pumping and hauling, the surplus remaining available for driviug stampers or other work when desired. In January an experimental shipment of two tons of ore from the upper level drive was sent to Sydney, consigned for reduction to Mr T. L. Eensusan of the Kangaroo Tin Smelting Works in that city at his owu risk but as it proved on assay not to run higher than 35ozs of silver to the ton, he did not proceed with it. This seems to be the proper place for an explanation of an error in last year's balance sheet, which it is incumbent on your Directors to notice. The late manager not having sent in, as requested, an estimate of the average value of the ore brought to grass, along with the other assets of the Company, the Directors had to make one, and considering Mr Morley's unquestionable capacity as an assayer, they assumed the results of his numerous trials as the basis of their estimate, and as most of them showed silver to bo present to the amount of several hundred ounces to the ton, they considered 250 ozs as a moderate average. It is but fair, however, to state that the sample forwarded to Sydney did not include six bags of the very best ore as selected by Mr Morley which would bring up the average to a rather higher figure than that of the shipment. Your Directors being anxious to avail themselvp3 of Me best advice as to the development of the mine, applied to the Government for assistance in this respect, a request which was courteously agreed to, Mr S. H. Cox, , Assistant Geologist, being instructed to proceed to Richmond Hill for the purpose. Pending his arrival, a small shaft was sunk on the outcrop in the bed of the river to a depth of twenty feet, and was found to carry for the first sixteen feet very rich ore, containing between six hundred to seven hundred ounces of silver to the ton iv striugs from three to seven inches wide, aiter whici} a barrpn patch waspngsed two feet in thickness, but under wh{ch the character of the ore changed, becoming still richer, and yielding the enormous quantity of 17920zs to the ton. By Mr Cox's advice this shaft was filled up, as its position made it unsafe to continue it. A handsome profit on the ouU lay for it will be afforded when the two tons it yielded are reduced. Air Cox further advised the ,56 foot level to be continued some further distance so as to pass close under this small shaft, and that cross-cuts should be made from it to intersect parallel lodes about thirty feet east and west of the lode on which the main shaft was sunk. This advioe has been followed as respects the eastern lode (which is slightly argentiferous; and was found in its proper position at the 56 foot level, thus giving confidence as to the reliability of the lodes as regards their dip. Iv December Dr. Hector paid a visit to the Mine, and has within the last few days transmitted his report in the form of a letter to the Chairman, which will be found appended. With respect to the prospects of the undertaking, while it must be allowed that a large body of the rich cupreous silver ore, or " richmondite," has not yet been met with, and the extreme hardness of the country reuders the progress of the requisite explorations slow and their execution expensive, your Directors do not consider there is any reason to relinquish the hope of ultimate success. They may refer, as an encouraging fact, to the case of the celebrated Cornstock lode, in which the average silver

contents, as shown by authentic returns, is under 3lozs to the ton, which is inferior to the yield of the second-class ore at Richmond . . B^ doping there is a certainty of winning a considerable quantity of this description along with a smaller amount of the superior kind. The work the "Directors consider it will be advisable to pursue is as recommended by Dr. Hector, toiollow'the lode they have as closely as possible with the view of finding it at some point profitably productive of the richest description of ore ; and at the same time to avail themselves of one of the recently discovered processes for cheaply extracting the silver from such poorer ores as will not bear the costs of expoitation On the Company's lease further down the river from the mine a lode has been discovered yielding three per cent of nickel, a proportion quite large enough to admit of profitable sxtraction whenever the price of that metal rallies from its present very .low quotation. The shareholders are called upon to elect three Directors at the present meeting, of whom the Board nominates Messrs Oswald Curtis and John Oldham. Mr H. P. Washbourn has ceased to be one in consequence of non-attendance for three successive months. Mr W. E. Washbourn retires by rotation, but offers himself for re-election F. W. Irvine Chairman.

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Mine, tut I wished to have the specimens, of which, we have now a large series iri the Museum, more ; thoroughly examined than has yet been done. This examination I have not been yet able to complete, but the result so far confirms the impression I formed on ' the spot, that in the 56 feet level the proper lode has not been followed for morethan ' about 20 feet, and that the soft rock and smooth wall, forming the west or left hand side of the drive, ia due to the natural bedding of the rock. 'the general ..features of .the mine. I can add nothing of iniportance to Mr Cox's reports' bf November, 1875, and July, 1877, -which give a very. ifair and reliable description 'of its prospects ; the only point which is not^uite clear to me being his anticipation that the rich ore will deepen in a northerly direction. As you are aware, my examination of the mine was confined to the 66 feet level, the outcrop shaft and the bottom level of the main shaft beiug at the ; time of my visit full of water,* so that I ; have to be guided in forming my opinion by wh&twwas told me by. Messrs Washbourne, and. by the .specimens given to me as coming from other parts of the mine. • Thus informed, I am ; inclined to hold for the present that 'the rich. shoot carrying the cupreous silver ore dips at less than 1 in 1 to the south, and that it is underlaid, by the argentiferous galena, which again passes into ; ix°# Pynteß. If thiß view be correct the rich ore should be met with on following' the lode -south 'of the main shaft .on the 56 feet level, always provided that the shaft has "peen sunk on the true line of the lode. I mention this because galena, which is the onlyoreyet found in this part of the workings; is' Very apt to run in- irregular veins and bunches, which may occur more or less parallel to a true fissure lode, but not necessarily following or anywhere joining it, and it is only where mining operations have been extended ' for considerable distances that a definite direction can be predicted for the ore bands. The Richmond Hill Mine is as yet too limited in extent tb indicate the proper strike of the lode, and '.from the hard nature of the ground I should think it not unlikely that the 1 lode i 9 here pinched a'ud altered in its course, so that the ouly rule to follow is to get hold of the ore band and ; stick to it. It was of course impossible in this instance ;tb follow the ore from the outcrop to a greater extent \ than has been done on account of the ■ dangerous proximity of the river, and I assume .that every care was taken to trace ; the edge of the lode inch by inch for the 40 feet horizontal and 20 feet of rise between the original crop and the site of the new shaft, as the success of the further exploration depends maiuly upon this having been attended to. At the present time it cannot be affirmed that a body of ore has been discovered in such a position that steady mining operations can be profitably commenced, and the explorationjmust still be continued with a view of pick- * Owing to J)v. Hector's visit occurring in the Christmas holidays, when the men were off work— Sbchetaey.

ing up the continuation of the rich ore band found at the outcrop, or, on the other hand, proving that it is a surface deposit passing downwards into the poorer galena ore, which would certainly not be payable in such hard ground, but this latter result, though it should stop further underground workings at'thls point, would not' 'settle, the < question of the'value of : the |miae, (as such lodes are in all cases patchy, especially -where the " country " or containing rock is so hard and close. .. The work I would recommend for the present is as follows :— 1. To open a short cross-cut drive from tl^e east side of the shaft at 20 feet below the 56 feet level. '■ \ '■ '■ 2. Tostope the lode for 6 feet overhand where it shows in the roof of the 56 feet level, taking care to preserve the walls 1 intact for future guidance in ascertaining the strike of the lode. 3.. To put in a cross-but- at the. point on the west wall of the 56 feet level where the burst of water was niet with". The analyses of the samples Obtained in the cross-cut to intersect the east lode, are not sufficiently encouraging tb Warrant any further work in that direction for the present. The lode, as cut, consists .of compact ,blji6k mica, with a little carbonate of lime, the metalliferous portion being chiefly iron pyrites, and' carrying ; silver at the rate of loozs 13dwts 4grs per ton. It exactly resembles the material in ; the. "eastern' branch of the lode met with in the deep level, which yields, silver at th^e rate, of llozs 2dwts 9grs : per ton. ; ' ■■"■ •'■• ■■■:>■■■■' ■■" : ■.•■-• ? I remain, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully, James Hector. Db. Irvine/ &c, &c 7 iNelson. ;