THE KARAKA DISTRICT. AN IMPORTANT MINING COMPANY FLOATED. Auckland, March 27.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 355, 30 March 1889, Page 6

THE KARAKA DISTRICT. AN IMPORTANT MINING COMPANY FLOATED. Auckland, March 27.

The intelligence that the Lone Hand and City of Manchester claims, in the Karaka Creek district, have been takon over and tloatccl into a company in Auckland, has been hailed here with universal satisfaction. Tho event is one of considerable importance to the whole district, as tho ground is unquestionably very valuable, having yielded handsome returns to the lucky owners for some years pa.st, and now that it has been acquired by a company and will bo woikecl on a larger and more .syslematio scale, thoie can be no doubt that it will . soon rank among our principal gold producers. Should this prove to be the case, it cannot •fail to have the effect of attracting outside attention 'to the Karaka Creek' district, which is one of the most valuable portions of the goldlield, ' but in consequence' ot the various claims in that locality being held by private parties, the public are not so well acquainted with its undoubted richness as would have been tho case had tho, ground been held by 'companies.. The LoneHand comprises four acres and the City of Manchester two acret,, in addition to which a further area of eight acres was iccently included, and 'named the C.O.INi. holding. The&e three claims having now been amalgamated, the newly-formed Lone I [and G.M. Co. .consists ol a fcocal ot 34 acies, anjd is bounded on,, the north by tho jThamcs f Mining and Prospecting special claim,, on tho south by the Adelaide, on tho east by the Prosperity, and on the west by the May Queen. Tho mine is very easy of access, being .situated in close proximity to Mr G. Bull's battery, near theen trance to the oieek, and there ib an excellent road suitable foi diay ti attic running right past tFvc. claim. Included in tho area held by the now Company is the famous Little Lizzie claim, the Little Prissy, (Jcncral Chute, Moa and Lucknow, all of which have pi educed good returns at various times. Of laic year:-, however, the giound has been owned by Mr Barclay (Lone Hand) and Mossrs Scutt and Taylor (City of Manchester), who have been most successful in their operations. For some time past woik has been carried on from a tunnel originally put in at the county rpad level by the old Moa shareholders, which was extondcd.ia distance of about '200 feet, when the Adelaide reef was met with and di i von .upon both hillward and seawaid, the Lone Hand'beirig in 'bhe former, and the City of Manchester in the lat # ter dhection. The hillward drive ori ' the course ot what is known as the Moa lodo, was driven from this tunnel for some 300 feet, and the block "beaten out up to the surface, the quartz throughout averaging ! about an ounce per load. Owing to the leef in the drive appearing somewhat poor at this point, it was not driven -upon any further by tho Moa shareholders, but spme years afterwards Mr Barclay decided to resume operations heie. The dri\ c. which had collapsed,, was picked up and substantially timbered,' and whilst the latter work- was being proceeded with and cuttings made for the reception of the stud pieces, portions of the reef had to be broken down, when dabs ot trold were fieely seen in the floor. Encouraged by the excellence ol these prospects, Mr Baiclay pushed the diive ahead on, the course of the lode for 130 ft., when a "break" was met with, and the reef disappeared altogether. Although nothing payable was found for this 150 ft., the drive was extended a further 70ft., but the reef not being picked ! up, a crosscut was started into the righthand wall, and tho lodo was intersected after diiving 30ft. A parcel of 151b. of rich specimens was obtained the first breaking down, and in opening out upon it both ways for a length of ]Bft. about J3olb. of specimens, worth loss, per lb., were bagged. The leef varies in thickness from 6 to 9 inches, shows dabs of gold freely, and carries splendid minerals, while silica is also present in abundance. No further' work has been done here, so that it can readily be seen that the Company's prospects irT this 'direction are excellent, especially ,as gold i£ now visible in both lodes, and there is •' a" good show ot tho precious metal in two or three places in the floor, inclining one to the belief that even better gold Will be found downwards. Proceeding back to tho main crosscut, another crosscut running at right angles with the other is entered, bavin y been driven into the left-hand aide. Here a largo" body of quartz, fully three feet thick, and altogether distinct from tho 1 Moa reef, was cut thiougb, and colours of gold seen in the quartz', but beyond this no further work hasvyet been done upon' it, as ib was only I'ecently intersected. Another crosscut is being extended on the seaward' side oi the "bieak" alluded to, which is being driven under the brow 1 of tha lull, 1 and here also several gold-beating leaders have been parsed through, but the ciosscut is still being pushed ahead to cut other leaders very successfully worked in the levels above. These are the principal works in the Loan Band claim proper, and a^ter letmeing one's steps back to the main tunnel, the City of Manchester mine as entered by means of a drive extended therefrom 'On the course of the Adelaide reef, upon which Messrs Scott and Taylor have stoped out a block 100 ft. in length by 80tt. in height. Tho reef varied from 8 - inchet- to 3ft. in thickness, and the average yield of gold per load was between 3and4o/5. , though the best of the quartz was obtained in the drive and the first couple of stopee, the indications horoalso being that the gold makes stronger downwards. There is still a block on the reel some 120 feet in length by 80 feet in -height to bo stoped out, in addition to which ,the Moa reef, -{Which junctions with the Adelaide reef, is almost Untouched. There are also other reefs and leaders to bo taken »ub by the Company a.b the present level, , all of which Ikhould prove, highly remunerative,; but' thir'e can be no doubt that the best prospects' exist downwards, whore, a View low level can easily be opened up which' will give 90f6. of backs. To thoroughly develop the Company's' property it' will be, requisite to put in a low level, which can be done by driving from the .Rocky Point tunnel— tho first I,oooft. or so of which is in the ground recently included 'in \,\\g former area — and in which the Moa reef has already been met with. The .Adelaide boundary .would be ieq.ched 4 after traversing P.OOft. on the line 'of reef, w,he,n the tunnel would then have to be continued 400 ft. to arrive at the Manchester boundary. Were this work carried out, it would give the new Company 1,200 ft. on the line of reef, while the block would be, .90ft. in height, so that there ' would be s a very extensive block available upon this 'reef, and the various other lodes and leaders known to l'un through the property. We understand that tho Company intend to commenco work on "a systematic scale almost immediately, when we have no doubt excellent returns will soon come to hand, and / the property will prove a profitable investment to tbe'shareholders, ,

The Prince of Wales' feathers, with the, Gorman phrase " Ich t)ien," were , first adopted by Henry Stuart, the' oldest sbn of James I. of England' and VI. of Scotland, '