MINING MATTERS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1781, 6 April 1874, Page 3

MINING MATTERS.

Old Whatt.—There was a retorling for the Old Whau Company at their own battery and also the Manukau machine on Saturday, from which a total yield of 958 ozs gold was obtained. The crushing at the Manukau has been a fortnight's run on the general stuff from the mine, after all which showed had been selected out of it, and the result was 4700zs lOdwts retorted gold for 20 head of stampers. At the company's own mill only five head of stampers have been at work for a week since last cleaning up, but these for the last few days have been exclusively employed upon picked stuff and specimens, and consequently the return is a heavy one, amounting to 4870zs lOdwts, thus making the total above referred to. The whole of the picked stuff and specimens which were to hand up to Friday has been put through the mill, but there wa3 a large out-turn of superior rich stuff on Saturday, which will largely swell the result of the next cleaning up - the final one before i the dividend—taken place next Saturday. In. the. forenoon the, first instalment of what afterwards proved one of the richest hauls of picked stuff ever before taken out of, the mine, came to hand in the shape of 2cwfc of very superior picked stuff from.the hanging-wall reef. In the afternoon another lot of 3cwt of equally rich stuff was taken out principally from the same lode, but there was a fine, rich show of gold in the main reef as well, and indeed in all the workings of the mine. Indeed the' prospects of the mine on irrespective altogether of the large quantity of gold obtained were as rich as ever they have been. We are informed that a dividend of £3 per share is now a certainty, and it would have been larger only for the stoppage of ■crushing at the company's own mill in consequence of the scarcity of. water in tho creek.'

_ Black Angel.—According to expectation the manager broke down another section of the new 'reef on which a rise •is now being put up on Saturday afternoon, but the show of gold was not nearly so good" as "that produced when the last lot was broken down afew days ago.,. There was nevertheless;a. little gold showing in it, but the lode is not so compact as it was. There is a slight alteration, but in all probability it will not seriously affect the reef, and it is just as likely as otherwise that when the remainder of what has been stripped is broken down to-day tnere will be a better show of gold than that whioh came to hand on Saturday night. i BiRD-iN-.HAND.--At present the manager is only driving on the course of the reef, which is, being left stripped on the hanging-wall without breaking down any stone, and he,has now reached a position under one of the winzes,, and is making, preparations for putting up a'rise, in order to form the connection. The reason why the' quartz has not been before broken down, is that. there is not any place yet ready for its reception, but when the quartz hopper, which is now in'course of construction is completed there will be a good strip of the reef ready for breaking down and putting into it. The company's surveyor is to visit the mine to-day or to-morrow, in order'to mark'the spot from which the rise is to be put up. There is only a height of from 25 to 30 feet to reach the bottom of the winze, and as the country is good and the lode will be carried up in it the connection will probably.be completed by the end of this week. This will immediately open up a good section of the lode from wnich the manager will be at once be in a position to break out stone for the crushing mill.! '

West. Coast Thibete.—A parcel of 50 tons of stone has been crushed at the Shamrock battery for Morrison and party, tributers bf the upper seotion of the West Coast mine. For a consider: able length of time the party has worked their section with a very reasonable amount,of success,'but their term of occupacy has expired, and the stuff just treated was only the cleaning up of the workings. The result was a poor one, only amounting to 15ozs 13dwts melted gold.

Montooubey Bbos. Tbibitte,—The Montgomery Bros, mine has been taken on tribute by a pushing party, for whom a first crushiug was completed on Saturday at the Shamrock battery. A' parcel of nine tons of general stuff yielded 6ozs 15dwts gold, and B|lbs of specimens yielded 9ozs more, thus making the total return from the nine tons 15ozs lodwts gold. •/ ■

_ Messenger's Tbibote.—A parcel of six tons has been put through at the Shamrock battery for Langford's tribute. It was finished on Saturday for a handsome return of lOozs 2dwts 6grs melted gold.

Oitiop Londoh.—A discovery which may prove to be of very great importance occurred on' Saturday afternoon in the City of London mine. It : was a_ new reef which was met with while following the course qf the No. 2 towards the City of fork. As our readers are already aware, the manager has for some days past been driving on the course of the No. 2 reef, beyond its junction with the large crosslode. The reef has only been small—B or 9 inches—but it had a fair show of gold, and recently there was a very remarkable improvemsnt in the country the reef. From this the-manager augured that the lode would increase in size, probably also improve in quality, but up to Saturday afternoon there' was no important ohange. At that time the new reef alluded to was found striking across the face in a course exactly parallel with the large cross-reef, and on picking into it, it was found to be of considerable size, and composed of quartz of a good-looking character, intermixed with rubble and sandstone. The stone contains a fair proportion of that class of mineral which always accompanies the gold in the lodes in this, mine, and altogether its appearance is very promising. The men cut'into ic for a depth of 20 inches on Saturday night without reaching the second wall. What the reef, for reef itno doubt is, it is impossible to say, but if it turns out of anything like equal importance to the cross-reef which has been already worked with such advantage to the company, it will very greatly, enhance the value of' the company's mine. ,

! Obown Prince.—The gold resulting from the recent cleaning up and retorting for the Urown ; Prince Company, was melted on Saturday at the Bank of New South Wales into a bar weighing 171ozs 18dwts. The loss in melting .was comparatively small, aud the gold appears to be of very fair quality. Very good progress is beiug made by the contractors in sinking the new shaft, but the other works in the mino show- little change of moment. ' '

CoLißAir.—Before breaking down the reef or continuing the drive along its course, the manager b,as had a piece of work to perform which he did not antioi-

pate. After cleaning out the drive which had at the 100-feet level followed the course of the reef for a length of about 30 feet, it was found that it was too narrow to run trucks in, consequently the timbers have to be taken out and the drive enlarged, but the delay caused by doing this will not be very great, and no doubt before the end of this week the men will have fairly started operations on the lode.

Long Deive Tbibutb.—A parcel of 2610zs lOdwts gold was lodged- at the Bank of New Zealand on Saturday, as the result of a crushing for the Long Drive Tribute Company.