MINING.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 277, 28 August 1872, Page 3

MINING.

Caledonian. —Yesterday being reporters’ day for this mine, our reporter made his usual visit, and after a thorough inspection,- finds very little alteration or change in the prospects of the mine.. The rise on the vein lying on the No. 2 reef at the mid-level, going up towards the Cure comer peg, is up for a distance of some eight feet above the roof of the drive, and the vein lias undergone no change in appearance, though it is perhaps a little smaller than it was where started on. The men at this part of the mine are now breaking out a portion of the No. 2 lede for a trial crushing. The stone looks very good, and we should not be at all surprised if it were to crush well. The rise going up on the No. 3 lode, as it is called, is progressing, and there is as much as two and a-half feet of crushing dirt in place. The stone here, too, looks exceedingly likely for gold, being full of good-looking base metals. The leader being worked in the old broken ground above the hanging wall of the main reef at this level is turning out a good deal of stone, which crushes well. The cross-cut now going in for the No. 2 reef from above the Utago run stopes has been driven for a distance of some 25 or 30 feet, and the lode is not yet to hand, though it cannot be far off. Water is coining in here pretty freely. The Otago run stopes are turning out still very large quantities of stone, and though little gold was visible the stuff crushes well at the battery. In the No. 2 block on the main lode the reef looks uncommonly well, and from this place some of the best stone is now coming, there being a vein of very good looking quartz on the footwall side of the reef. At the lower level the cross-cut behind the shaft, going through the No. 2 lode, has penetrated the lode for a distance of 27 feet, and there seems to be signs of the hanging wall close at hand. It was in this cross-cut that gold was found a few days since. The gold was not seen in the reef, hut in the stone after it was broken down, and as powder has to be used in quantities it is impossible to see anything in the face at all. The lode being sloped on the south side of the No.. 1 winze is turning out some very good stone, there being a vein of good quartz on the hanging wall side. We reported some time since that a third winze had been started from the low level, and that a nice lode some 2 feet G indies thick was in hand, in which good gol i had been found. We found the chamber filled with mullock yesterday, and no work going on. The manager informs us that a winze was not started at all, but that simply a winze chamber was cut, in which to stow some mullock lying in the drive, and that the winze will bo started some time shortly. The annual meeting of the company takes place in Auckland to-day, and we expect there will be some pretty warm discussion, as many of the shareholders are sure to have grievances. Several shareholders have gone up from the Thames to be present. We trust that Mr Bleazard will be elected a director and thus give the Thames one man on the Board. The Company’s stock is still firm in the market, few shares being sold at present prices, and indeed, from the appearance and prospects of the mine, we are of opinion that there is a good future before them, aud that good returns of gold will be the order of the day for some time to come.

Cuke. —Yesterday a parcel of about 1001 b of specimens were taken from the run of gold in this mine, having been broken down in the morning. In the afternoon there was really a . splendid show of gold in the face extending from close to the footwall upwards to the height of more than 24 feet, so that when this comes to be broken down another haul may bo anticipated. The appearance of the reef leads to a belief that the run is a well-defined and it may, as we have before reported, go right up to the surface as well as downwards. Some repairs are being made to the tramway leading from the brace to the paddocks, so that no stone is now being brought out. Everything will, however, be in order again in a day or two. Uniting Pumping Association. — The new cover for the air pump was finished yesterday, by the Messrs Price, and a start was made with the pumps again. The water had, of course, risen considerably in the shaft some 80 feet or more, but this can he taken out in a very short time after the pumps are set moving. Rose and Shamrock.— The drive on the reef in this mine is progressing apace, and yesterday morning some very nice golden stone was taken out, in which the metal showed well. The battery is to start to work again in a few days, the necessary repairs and alterations having been completed. Both Dixon’s No. 1 and the Rose and Shamrock will crush. Messenger’s.— Yesterday morning, the tributers who are working the upper portion of this mine came on to a nice patch of gold, and some 201bs or 301bs weight of specimens were obtained, some of them being very rich. They have done a considerable amount of work in opening out for the run of gold, and are now, we trust, about to reap the reward of their labour.