THAMES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 351, 16 March 1889, Page 7

THAMES.

! fFrom our own Correspondent.] Thames, Thursday. The aerial tramway erected by the iParoquet G. M. Co., Waiomo, is not working at all satisfactorily, and a number of necessary alterations are now being made. As soon as these are completed the Manager will be able to forward the quartz to the battery, and crushing will be at once started. Meanwhile, very little work is proceeding in the mine. The old Flora McDonald battery at Tararu, which consists of 10 head of stampers, has been purchased by the Australian G. and S. Extraction Co., and will be removed to the site at the Snotia Creek, Waitekauri, by the manager (Mr Heighway) in the course of a week or two.

Thames, Friday. What may prove a valuable discovery has been made by Messrs Harcourt and Bennett at Tararu. They have traced the outcrop of a graphite, or plumbago, lead on the surface For a distance oF about half a mile, and so far as can be judged it will average 18 inches in thickness. They have applied to the Warden fora mineral lease of 30 acres, which is, I believe, the first application of this nature that has been made in the Colony under the new Mining Act. The owners are sanguine that their discovery will prove nn important one, and are hopeful of establish- ! ing a local industry of some consequence ! in out midst, as several tests made of the i stuff have proved very satisfactory. The market price of plumbago is from £25 to £30 per 'on. Further tests are now being made of the ore, and the result is awaited with some interest. The Askham-Molloy Co.'s plant, re- ' garding which such great things were ' expected, especially in dealing with the immense deposits of tailings on the { foreshore, promises in the course of a few days to be numbered with the things i of the past, as men are now engaged removing the whole of the machinery \ connected with the process from the ! Herald battery, whe-e, it will be remembered, it was erected. The foreshore, however, appears to possess a peculiar attraction for outsiders, and notwith- ; standing the failure of the AskhamMolloy plant, another process is to be ! tried, in which Messrs Ralph and Jesse | Percival, a gentleman who has just returned from the Melbourne Exhibition, are interested. The new company i\ however, I believe, to be called the " Onflow Gold Mining Company," and it is quite evident that they mean business, as a portion of the plant has already arrived, although it has not yet been opened up. I hope at an early date to be in a position to give your readers some idea of the nature of the process. ! The Saxon Company have at last cut the main reef at the low level (No. 5), but it will be a few day 5 ? before tl riving is in full swing upon it. Crushing is shape ing payably, 160 loads having during the past week yielded 4210zs of amal-