MINING.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 186, 14 May 1872, Page 3

MINING.

Dauntless. — A crushing of about forty tons of stone is going on with ten head at Souter’s battery for the Dauntless tributes. Nothing very good is expected from the show on the plates, which looks like about half an ounce to the ton.

Alburnia. —The mine is again fully mauned, and stone is being ripped down in good quantities. The battery which has only been able to work off and on lately on what soft stuff could be got out, will in a short time be kept full}' employed.

Waiotahi Battery. —The Prince Imperial Company is crushing at this machine a parcel of about one hundred tons of stone which is shaping for about the same yield as the last, that is abont an ounce to the ton. The Moanataiari Union are also crushing a parcel of about thirtyfive tons or so, but the show does not promise anything very good. A crushing of twenty-five tons from the company’s own tribute was completed yesterday morning and turned out fifteen ounces of gold. The dirt was partly brown stuff with a little blue mixed with it.

Bendigo Independent. —Yesterday morning six head which had been employed reducing Grigg and party’s stone, were started for this company’s tribute, making thirteen heads now working for them. The stuff still continues to show up well for a good return.

City of London.— Ten head are hard at work for this company, and with a very good show indeed, the amount of amalgam taken off the plates showing that a good yield may bo looked for, abetter one than the last, at any rate. Grigg’s (Tooicey Company) Tribute.— A crushing of about thirty tons for this tribute party was finished yesterday, and retorted at the Prince Alfred Battery. The result was fifty-six ounces of retorted gold. Cure. —The mine being now fully manned, and powder available, the manager lias commenced crushing again. The battery chosen is Brown and Campbell’s, at Tararu, and we understand that the stuff can be carted out to this machine and crushed as cheaply as it could be done at any machine in Grabamstown. About one hundred tons will bo put through before a clean up will take place, and the return may be expected to be equal to, if not greater than, the last. The reef lias been well opened up for working, and stone can be broken down in great quantities. The mullock next to the hanging wall at the part of the reef where work is now going on has proved to be worth nearly eight pennyweights per ton, so that it will pay to crush a portion of it with the lode stuff.

Imperial Crown. —The fine battery erected by this company on the beach is now nearly ready for a start, which will most likely be made this week. The manager, Mr Sims, lias a large lot of stone on the platform, ready to go through, taken from the Golden Crown reef, where it has been worked on from the Tookey company’s shaft. Wc perceive that Mr Sims has altered his intention of driving the eight berdans which are attached to the battery, by means of a side shaft, and that he intends to work them by means of belts from the main shaft. This, we consider, will he a great improvement on the original intention, and will give far less trouble as well as save a great deal of

power. United Pumping Association.— The pumps had to stop again yesterday for a few hours owing to one of the collar straps of the balance bob having given way, and this had to be repaired. It is becoming evident that theso pmnps are now getting as much work as they can well manage, the increase in the quantity of water being perceptible every foot the shaft goes down. The present depth attained is three hundred and five feet, and the engineer, Mr Ellington, is of opinion that he will require to have the large pumps started by the time the shaft is down about twenty-five feet further. When this has been accomplished, the reef will be near at hand, according to the position assigned it by many, so that ere long now we may look forward to the draining of the reef, and the consequent continuation downwards of both the Tookey and Caledodiau shafts. Add Nations. —Work is going on well in the low levels of the mine. The shaft is now down to a depth of sixty-eight feet below the Kuranui Tunnel level, and is in good sinking ground. The winze, too, near to the cross-cut, is getting down well, and the lode is well defined in it, being about eighteen inches wide, and

good-looking. Although no gold is visible in it, the country round it is also good for working in. Inverness. —Work in the upper stopes has been suspended, and is now confined entirely to the ground below the main low level. They are at present stripping down a block of ground so as to enlarge the winze and divide it into compartments, which will not only facilitate work, but will improve the air, which is very bad indeed down below. Don Pedro. —This mine, after a spell of idleness, for want of powder, is again fully manned, and stone is being broken down. Moanataiari. Work was resumed in the Kuranui Hill tunnel yesterday morning, and as soon as it has been j pushed in for a couple of fathoms or so I more the manager intends to put in crossj cuts right and left to intersect botli the j No. 3 and No. 9 lodes, which are not either of them far away from the tunnel. The pass from the one hundred and thirtytwo feet level to the main tunnel is being timbered, and will soon be ready for use. City of St. Andrew’s. —The party who purchased this mine when it was sold by auction have been busily engaged ever

since. They have enterwd a low level tunnel to cut the reef worked on above, which tunnel will give them backs'uf from ninety to a hundred feet on the lode. It is now in for n distance of two hundred and eighty feet, and the reef is expected to be met with in about a week or ten days’ move work. The old Union Jack lode, which was worked to advantage in the old shaft, will be met with in this tunnel, and they purpose sinking a winze on it to meet the tunnel, and opening up good blocks of ground. .

Durham Ox. —A contract has been let for continuing the main low level adit for a distance of fifty feet, and work will be commenced this morning, The price of the contract is 25s per foot. According to the survey made the lode is only ninety feet from the present face of the drive. It is the same lode which was formerly worked by the Southern Cross company.

George Stevenson. —The stone which has been taken out of the lode in band in the winze going down to the low level tunnel is certainly very good, and the prospects are most encouraging. There are no rich specimens, but the gold is very evenly and, at the same time, thickly distributed throughout the quartz, with which there is a good deal of mullock mixed, of a very kindly looking character. The manager reports that the lode, ns it approaches the lower level, is improving in size and quality, and shows very good prospects all through it where exposed. Some more nice stone was taken out yesterday. West Coast Tribute. —Some very good stone was taken out yesterday from the leader worked on by these tributers. They are working at a level about one hundred feet above where the company got such a good show lately, and in all probability it is the same run of gold that they are on. Crown Prince. —Yesterday about four feet more of the leader in this claim was broken down, and gold was visible throughout, and is still so in the face. The manager reports that about eight or nine feet of the lode have been broken down since the gold was first seen, and the show throughout was very good. Unicorn. —The crushing of about eighteen tons was finished yesterday at the Manukau Battery, and the amalgam was retorted. The leturn was a very poor one indeed, amounting only to about six ounces of gold. We cannot, however, consider this as a fair trial of the reef, as there was a great deal of mullock sent to the mill mixed with the stone.