WEEK'S MINING NEWS

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 30

WEEK'S MINING NEWS

February 26. The Maslerton dredgemaster reporting on last week's run writes: — "Most of the gold was won from the western section. The water supply is abundant, and the whole machine working grand." The Hessey dredgenraster writes as follows: — "I have to report that I had a fair run for the week. The ground keeps about the same, very rough and tight, therefore it is very hard on the pins with being so tight. I will not be- able to. have a washup next week with the main friction breaking. I will be ready for a start on Monday Hight if it arrives m time." The total yield of gold in Tasmanian for January wa3 16430z 15dwt, of the approximate >lue of £6576. What may be justly described as a unique \oad of native copper was recently brought fnto CLoncurry (Q.) fron* Mount Godkin. It ♦onsisted of six pieces of copper, weighing yearly four tons, one piece being nearly vmeWang like one md a-half tons, with anpther pearly a ton in weight, and the others down «V» about on« hundredweight. They are Njearly pure copper, and show by assay that Xb«y contain 93 per cent, of copper. Tne dredgemaster of the Koputai iredge >port« that th« ground wh«r« fafeo ffrlss

is new working varies from 18ft to 25ft being best on the west side of the cut, and has a Maori bottom, red and yellow clay being m evidence on the east side. The face is now about five or six chains wide, end the buckets having been re-bushed, the machinery is now working satisfactorily. The secretary of the Nokomai Hydraulic Sluicing Company reports that at No. 1 sluicing was resumed on Monday, 17th. 'iho ground continues rough, and a number of very large stones are met with, and owing to slackness of water the progress is not *o good as it otherwise would be. There has been occasional showers of* rain, which may enable work ta continue for another week. The rainfall has helped the No. 2, but as all the water in -the Lion race was' turned into No. 1 the water is short for sluicing and the dam ran empty. The stones are still troublesome. The manager of No. 3 reports that he visited the race, and found that the rain of the 22nd had been pretty heavy, and thet he was hoping to have water to mata a start sluicing last Monday. February 27. The Brack's Flat dredge at Ophir is reported to have struck good wash. The Molyneux Kohinoor dredgemastei, in the course of his weekly report, says: — "The dredge is getting over the high r<»ef and the ground is more uniform than it has been, with soft bottom in parts of the cut. It is not quite an rough as it was. and there is not so much silt. Prospects show a slight improvement." The Manuherikia dredgemaster reports: — "If the river keeps down I will shift down at the end of the week to where I knocked off last year. I don't think the drift will be bad down there. The ground continues about the same, everything working well." As the Punt dredge works into the fiat she finds the top gravel very loose. This was considerably ahead of the dredge, so that not much bottom wash can be worked. When the bottom is cleared up the returns should show a material increase. The Riley's Revival returns are expected to increase considerably in the course of a, short time, as the dredge is now working a nairow cut which opens out on to virgin ground. The Rise aud Shine No. 1 dredge -worked 16ft on a cut 50ft wide, and from 25ft to 48ft deep. The bottom was hard, but there was some nice-looking wash, making about the middle of the cut. Four shifts were tost owing to boiler inspection taking place. The Rise and Shine No. 2 dredge worked 12ft ahead on a cut 200 ft wide, and from 38ft to 44ft deep, with a clay and sandstone bottom. There was a fair prospect the full width of the cut. The dredge was stopped for five shifts to enable the boiler to be inspected. The dredgemastei of the Lady Roxburgh dredge reports for week ended 22nd inst. : — " The average depth of the wa-sh is 3ft and overburden 30ft. We still continue close into the east bank, where prospects are good in fine gold. The bottom here is somewhat softer, but is still covered -with flat stones. Prospects continue the same on the west side. The river rose slightly towards the week-end, but made no change in conditions. The boiler inspection is due at the beginning of next month, and advantage will be taken of stoppage to renew the bushes of the top tumbler plates and main shaft, one end of which is bent." February 28. A return of 51oz 7dwt for 138 hours is reported by the Masterton Company. The dredgemaster of the Lady Roxburgh, in reporting on the gold-saving appliances on the dredge, ptates : — "The sluice-boxes are very satisfactory and treat the dirt in much larger -quantities than could be done safely "with the screen, apart from the saving in power and wear and tear, which is in itself * big it-em. What has been found to give the most satisfaction on the dredge after experiment in gold-saving- are deep undercurrents and separator oox, together with cross and longitudinal sectional ripples with perforated plates interspersed. The separator box is the surest catchment for drift gold. The gold on the bottom and in the wash gives me no concern, as^it is saved practically on the top section of the box.; it is the drift gold that sure catchment is wanted for. Any little difficulty I have had with the box is due to fine gravel. It was necessary to reduce, the force without altering the pitch, so that the fine particles got time to work on the metals." The Kcputai return is 550z 9dwt for 131 hours Tho Waikaia dredgemaster reports a washup for 460z 13dwt for 135 hours. The Kura. dredgemaster reports a wash-up for 220z sdwt for 188 hours. The Alexandra Herald understands that the Crewe Dredging Company has pegged off another claim on -lhe Upper Nevis, and boring operations will be carried on with a view ot testing the ground before erecting a dredge to work same. It is said that for four weeks' dredginpr the returns have totalled a'tcgether close on 2500z, and last week a dividend was declared, be-ing the first occasion on which the shareholders have for the past six years received any dividends from the company. The dredge i 3 at present working a rich lead, and there are prospects that it will continue for some time. A recent visitor to the Nevi says that this field h»3 never before presented brighter prospects, especially in the Upper Nevis. All the hydraulic sluicing claims are yielding payable returns, and the gentleman already mentioned considers that the Upper Nevis will yet rank as the foremost field in Otago. At a recent meeting of the Mount Ida Miners' Associations communication was read from the Minister of Mines to the effect that the Mines Department was prepared to sub- j sidise the operations of the Mining Association in testing -the deep levels at Naseby to the extent of £2 for £1, the contribution of ! the Government not to exceed" £250, and the work to be carried out to the satisfaction, of the Inspector of Mines. The Lake County Miners' Association was iscenlly granted a subsidy from the Government to help an individual miner in prospecting at Arrowtown. We (Alexandra Herald) would like to see the Central Otago I

Miners' Association approach the Mines Department with a view to receiving a subsidy to assist a well-known miner who has for years been prospecting on the Old Man Range in the hope of discovering a payable quartz lode. The matter should receive the e-arneat consideration of the Mines Department, for at present the only possible chance of opening up this locality for quartz reefing is by conscientious individual miners being assisted by the Government. February 29. The Chicago dredgemaster wires that the ground is deep. The New Fourteen-mi]e Beach dredgemaster advises that he commenced dredging yesterday morning. The Bignell's No Town dredgemaster reports as follows: — " Since writing my last report we have had a great deal of timber to contend with nearly right across the face. In both north and south corners of the face there is worked ground, while about the centre of the- face there is a fairly wide tailrace. The north side of the fa.cc oa-rries a, greater number of stones than the South side. 1 am of opinion that by the time we put in another two weeks' dredging we ought not to have so much timber to contend with. Where there is so much timber it is of course impossible to put through the usual quantity of gravel, and, in addition, the gear gets very much knocked about." There was no wash-up on the Electric No. 2 dredge, the master having been engaged in putting in a, Ha<meld lower tumbler. Dredging' was resumed on Thursday evening. The annuaJ statement of affaars of the Molyneux Hydraulic Company shows that the amount of gold produced last year was 884oz lGdwt igT, valued at £3446 7s 6d. The total yield is 70070z 9dwt 22gr, valued at £25,901 3s lid, and 32380z 2dwt 14gr, valued at £12.523 19s lid, obtained by the old company prior to re-registration. The expenditure during the year was £3124 10s 2d, and the total expenditure £23,600 14s 4d, and £20,044 11s pievious to re-registration. The company w«3 formed in May, 1900, with a nominal capital of £6000, divided into 6000 shares of £1 each. The amiouni of capital subscribed was £5896. The number of shareholders at the itme of reregistration was 95, and the present number 86. Since re-registration £3685 haa been paid in dividends, in addition to £3095 15s paid by the old company. The amount of debts owed by the company is £216 18s Bd. The annual meeting of the Olrig Dredging Company, called for last night, lapsed for wa-nt of a quorum, and was adjourned for a week. March 2. The Pactolus dredge started on Thursday. The master of the Rise and Shine- No. 1 dredge reports that he has stopped for repairs. The Manuherikia dredgemaster wires : — " Shifted down river yesterday. Starting Sund<ay night in the river." The Hessey dredgemaster reports under date, 28th ult. : — "The new friction drive arrived at the claim, and I resumed dredging on Tuesday night." The half-yearly statement of affairs of the Otago G.D. Company shows that up to the end of last year the total quantity of gold won since registration was 17,0650z, of the value of £65,980. Dividends, paid to date amount to £14,750. The dredgemaster of the Kura dredge reports for week ended 26th ult. i — " Dredging was resumed on 18th ult., "and winoh collapsed at middle joint on the 25th ult., 12 hours being lost taking down, repairing, and re-erecting it. A new one will be required. Depth of ground, 26ft to 32ft; width of face, 140 yards." The return from the Golden Treasure last week was 970z. The directors have decided to put a silt wheel on the dTedge. The construction of th« wheel is being pushed on as quiokly as possible. Its erection on the dredge i» expected to occupy about a fortnight or three weeks. The manager of the Gold King dredge reports for the week ending February 28: — "We dredged 1 134 hours for the week, and are still opening out the cut towards the west side _of the river. Prospects ere improving oaT that side, but as the ground is about 45ft deep and still dipping, it is slow work opening out- However, I expect to be through the dip and strike rising bottom in a few days. The dredge is working steadily. The return was 15oz 6dwt." March 4. The dredgemaster of the Rising Sun reports for the week ended February 29 &a follows: — "Dredged 128 hours, and worked ahead 20ft in the- river portion of the cut. The depth is about the same, and the sandstone bottom is again making on the west side. Prospects continue fair, and the machinery is running well." The river took a sudden rise during the week end, a.nd yesterday morning registered 7ft above the normal mark at Alexandra, as against sft bin on Saturday. Rain fell steadily all Sunday night, and yesterday the Manuherikia dredgemaster wired that the river was rising too high for dredging. k lh« Blackwater" Company's dredgemasrter reports that he is now up to the bore hole which gave the best results when the ground was prospected, but so far there has been no improvement in the wash. At time of writing the scarcity of water, owing to the abnormally dry reason, was grea-tly retarding the work, the dredge being hampered with silt.' Bush fires were burning in the neighbourhood, and at one time threatened the company's buildings, but fortunately the danger was overcame. During the past six months Fraser's mine, Southern Cross, Western Australia, has been treating monthly about 700 tons of stone from the bottom level for a return 'of over 40a per ton. This is the best record put up for many years. In places the ore bedy ftorn which the ore is being^ broken is over 40ft wide. Scheelite is being obtained in. laige quantities, and there is a prospect of it being concentrated and exported to America. — Australian Mining Standard. The Victorian gold output for January was 45 6760z gross, or 42.5780z fine, valued at £180,862. Compared with the return of Jar.vary of last year an increase of 2055 fine ounce 3is shown. The usual return furnished by the New South Wales Under-secretaiy for Mines chows that the gold yield recorded for that State for January was 29,361 ounces crude, equal to 26.033 ounces fiiie, valued at £110.583, as compared with 37,584 ounces crude, equal to 29,839 ounces fine, valued at £126,750, for the same month in 1907, thus fhowing a decrease of 3806 ounces fine and £16,167 in value. The Queensland gold output for January amounted to 23.923 fine ounces, valued £101,618, against 31,550 fine ounces, valued £134,016 for tho corresponding month in 1907, showing a reduction of 7627 fine ounces, representing £32,398.