THE SILVER AND GOLD OF OHINEMURI.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4388, 13 April 1875, Page 3

THE SILVER AND GOLD OF OHINEMURI.

(From the Southern Cross, April 5.)

The yield of the samples of gold and silverbearing ore taken by Mr. Masters, of the Thames Pyrites Reduction Works, with his own hands, from two of the reefs on the Ohinemuri goldfield, and carefully assayed by himself, is such as to invite further attention. If, on future testing, not by a limited quantity of the stone, hut by several tons carefully and trustfully crushed and assayed, the yield proves at all approaching to this first test, there can he no question that this long-looked-for working of the Ohinemuri will result in the establishment of a field, probably the most valuable producer of the precious metals that New Zealand has witnessed. Like the Thames goldfield, so far as it has yet been worked, the Ohinemuri district enjoys good water carriage to its very door. There is no long distance through rugged and unexplored country, no serious labor to miners of having to carry their provisions on their backs, or on pack-horses. Machinery can easily be conveyed, provisions of all kinds ai’e readily obtainable, and consequently cheap. 'Thus everything favors the great preliminary object in all such adventures, the reduction of first coat in the operations. If cost of working, and ’conveyance of stores and material, and the return carriage of ores is great, that of itself may, and often does, destroy the prospects of profit. Many of the goldfields in the Southern Island lie at great distances from populous centres, and are only reachable by long and arduous journeys, with rapid rivers and tedious mountain forests, or other rugged country, often almost trackless wilds, intervening. Sometimes the cost of conveying provisions amounted to from £BO to £l5O per ton; and thus, though the gold may, as it was in many an alluvial field so situated, have been tolerably rich, yet the prime cost of getting it took" much of the gilt off the gingerbread. In the silver mines of the Andes range, which have produced, in a great number of instances, some almost fabulous returns, the provisions and ores had to be packed on mules’ backs for many miles along dangerous mountain' passes. The cost of these operations may be imagined. All this is avoided in the Ohinemuri. A road is forming, and omuibusses wore running, in the locality within a few days of the formal opening of the field. All obstacles of cazriage, and the great cost which this item so often implies, are reduced to what might fairly be termed a minimum. 'This being so, it might be fairiy warrantable to say that the prospects which we were enabled to announce on Saturday as resting ou this now field, are of a really bright and promising character. A yield of bullion per ton to the extent of fully 3jo/, of gold, and nearly 18oz. of silver in the one test, and of about Ijoz. of gold and nearly 21oz. of silver in the other, is, in the circumstances of this field, with its ease of access and comparative cheapness of working, a fact so important that even a casual observer can hardly overlook it.

There is every probability that the presence of silver in the ore containing the two precious metals will be found to increase the farther northward that mining experience goes; Experience in New Zealand gold-mining seems to indicate the probability of this presumption being correct. In the Otago goldfields the gold generally has been found of greater purity than the produce of some of the Nelson mines, although on the Duller, the Grey, and other parts of the West Coast, some excellent gold has been found. Yet, as a rule, the price of Nelson gold has not ruled quite so high as that of the product of the Otago mines, situated a few degrees further south. In some cases gold from certain mining districts in Nelson province has ruled as low as 625. and 625. 6d. per ounce, others as high as 755. and 765. Whether or not the latitude of the site ha-s anything to do with this fact, is, of course a matter of conjecture. Something like the Cornish miner’s process of ratiocination regarding the presence of mineral lodes may be applied to this idea. “ Where it's—there it’s,” is the brief reply of the quiet Cornishman to any one asking the why and wherefore of the deposit, and so with the gold ; and so, doubtless, with the knowledge of the cause of northern gold-bearing ore being more impregnated with silver than that found in southern provinces. The fact itself remains, that the gold of the Thames district is alloyed with a large per centage of silver, much in excess of that of our South Island gold-fields. Still, if the produce proves to bo only nearly as rich—aye, half as rich—ns Mr, Masters’s assays disclose, then the miners and the people of this province may, with consider-

able gratification, accept the boon which bountiful nature in her wondrous operations has stored in the earth. This large per centage of silver is found to prevail in the mines in America. About a year a°"o we made certain extracts from the report of one of the best paying mines on the Great Comstock lode, the Uelcher mine. Ihe report of 1874 has just been published, and these show that the gross produce of bullion from this mine amounted to 9,151,146d01., or nearly £1,840,000 sterling. It will be interesting to many to peruse some of the statistics given in the report. The cash on hand on Ist January, 1874, was 980,165d015. ; the gross bullion products for the year amounted to 9,151,146d015., giving a total of 10,131,311d015., or £2,026,262, as the sum at the command of the company for the year’s operations. Ihe outlay for the year is thus set down J *■ MnltofO

Upwards of one million and sixty thousand pounds sterling was thus paid in one year in dividends, and the company began the new year with a credit balance of close on £50,000 at its hankers. The quantity or ore raised and crushed was 108,000 tons, so that the gross yield per ton iu money value was close on £lO 18s. During the three years, ended with December last, this company paid in dividends no less than £2,819,000. Previous dividends, paid iu 1861 and ISCS, raise tins amount to a total of £2,933,810. All the calls that were made on the shareholders amounted to a total of £132,000, or not one-twentieth of the amount paid in dividends. Besides all these, a dividend amounting to £62,400 was paid iu January last, and good prospects are reported for the rest of the year. The following is the respective proportionate yield of gold and silver, gold, says the report, running very

The annexed table, copied from the report, shows the average expenses and the profit per ton in the last four years, or rather three years and five mouths :

The report says there was a great deal of preparatory work performed in the first seven months of 1871, and hence the high average cost of mining for that year. The same cause contributed, in a measure, to increase the cost of mining during the past year. The cost of crushing, or milling, is seen to be considerably greater than it is in the Thames goldfield ; twelve dollars, or nearly 50s. per ton being something that would make most mining managers look grave. The subjoined figures show some interesting results :

By dividing the dollars by five our readers can arrive at sterling money. 'l'hese details deserve attention at the present moment, and we hope to see the test assay of Ohinemuri stone speedily followed by a similar assay in quantity. On the average the Comstock lode has yielded precious metal to the amount of £l2 4s. per ton of are. Mr. Masters’s assay shows £l6 7s. lOd. in one case, and £ll ss. 4d. in the other. May the large crushings be equally successful !

J Dollars. 1,152.215 Mine expenses 221,525 Discount on bullion .. Timber and wood Paid Crawn Point Mining Company Miscellaneous Total disbursements, irrespective Dividends paid. Nos. 22 to S3 5,304,000 9,680,232

high Dollars. Bullion yield in gold .. fj,08(5,004 Bullion yield in silver .. 3,437.503 Assay grains 27,549 Total .. 9,161,140

Mining. Milling. Average. Profit. dol. c. dol. c. dol. c. dol. c. 1871, per ton .. 17 22 12 00 54 26 25 04 1S72 .. 9 07 12 00 57 03 30 50 1873 .. 8 51 12 10 09 99 49 08, 1874 .. 9 80 12 97 54 20 31 49

Tons Bullion Average worked. per ton. dol. dol. dol. In 1874 160,739 9,151,140 . 54 In 1873 154,064 10,779,171 69 In 1872 83,195 4,794,059 57 In 1871(5 months) i 18,408 1,199,135 64 Totals 423,006 25,924,1X1 61