The Diamond Drill at Ballarat

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 162, 24 July 1886, Page 9

The Diamond Drill at Ballarat

Some excitement prevailed in rßallarat East when it became known that the diamond drill at work there had struck goldfbearing Quartz ata depth of 879 fee * f Where bor-. ing operations are being carried on the ground has already been proved by mining companies to a depth of 600 feet, and not a few old miners were not long ago of the opinion that the diamond drill would be of : no avail in the work of further prospecting. The quartz struck thisl morniugi however, shows ap parently that the "knowing ones" have been all astray in their predictions, and that^ the many persons^ who held to the opinion that, although many thousands of ounces of gold have, since the good old days preceding the Eureka riots up to the , present time, been raised in Ballarat East, there are still immense quantities of treasure yet remaining . unearthed within thje town boundaries, it appears that the gqid' struck this morning is part of the celebratod Indicator lead, and if a good run of payable stone be obtained by the first cornparty that sinks on the "find' of the diamond drill, a strong revival will at once set in. Qf course miners are not creed on the point as to whetner the quartz found by the drill is a large body or otherwise, but the majority are of opinion that, judging by the geographical history of the locality, the stone will prove to be a big body. Upon taking the quartz bore from the tubing this morning, Mr Thomas, bhe foreman of the diamond drill, interviewed Mr W. Scott, J.P,, the mayor of the town, and the gold-bearing quartz having been examined by his worship, the sample was pronounced a valuable and highly satisfactory one, and it, was decided to forward it to the Mining Department by the afternoon train. The next lot of stone raised by means of the drill will be crushed and otherwise tested at the Ballarat School of Mines. The future operations of the drill in Ballarat East will be watched with considerable interest.—" Melbourne Age."