MINING MATTERS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1804, 4 May 1874, Page 3

MINING MATTERS.

: -MiNUKAU.-Qtiite a sensation ; was created in town on Saturday evening by the, report that a, large, quantity of extraordinarily rich specimens were'obtained from the Manukau mine.. The rumour was f perfectly correct, for- such- was the case;' : In the face'' of the drive southward in the foot-wall;seam of quartz to which we alluded in our recent report a rich show of gold ,was met with in the course ofl the afternoon, and in a short time after a splendid lot of 2cwtof ipecimoiiS we're 'taken out. ' They web' richer than anything ever before seen in "tliis reef.'' In'fact it' is seldom "that.'stone as rich' has' been'found' any where since' the rich.run of gold in the Caledonian 1 was worked out, and we. would 1 not'.be far wrong in estimating:that gpm'e l 6f the stone would average 2bzs'to Indeed, the' manager ; is of that the whole parcel would average this, and perhaps he is right. At 'all "events it was a magnificent find, : arid, there is still a splendid show left standing ih 1! tho face, so that in alHikelihood there' Will be a further' haul' of equal-.richness 1 this mbrning.- In our last report on this mine in alluding to this, portion of the re'efwe predicted 'they-were coming • on to something-rich. .We are glad td'fihdjfor the sake'of the'company; that this prediction has turned out correct so soon. 1 P c '

. Central lTALv'.'-Grushing;'for the Central Italy mine was Friday night with ten'head-of stampers at the Manakau battery, and-'there are'upwards of 290 tons now ready' 1 for the mill. The stuff made a very fair show on the plateson Saturday, and the •present crushing is likely to'-bea'very handsome one. < A'considerable proportion of the stuff has been taken out of.the two fdot-wall reofs, the No. 4 level, and in both of those there has been { a very good'and continuous show of gold .while; ..the i. present,*, crushing was [being takei put.., ; Mo3t,,of",the specimens; .on hand, and there is a very considerable parcel of-them,; have^als.q: come to/;hand from these lodes. The remainder of the stuff is from the main reef at and above ,the. No. 3 level, and in this .stuff also there was a moderately good show of gold, jo tbatoa.the whole reason to anticipate a fair average yield (from-the (entire" parcel. t -'■.-. Cube.—As might have been expeoted from the show of gold found in the -winze-which-is-being .sunk, on .the fook ■ wall. reef of the Cure mine, there was a fine lot of rich stone taken out on Saturday, when the manager breaking down j that portion : of it which-was stripped!' l 25lbs'ofWeryi richi specimens came to hand, and there was" a good show through the general crashing; stuff which, will undoubtedly yield weU'when put through the mill, and gold was then left standing in the face. In regard to this .gold and its discovery we may- remark V that' the -manager is .strongly of opinion tliat the main shot of gold formerly, worked in the Cure mine has struck into the "foot-wall reef, 'where it'will be ultimately discovered. ''In fact, there is 1 good'reason 'to' believe that the sold which'came to hand on !: Saturday is part of this run, and that the shot of gold in the No. 2>reef was after all caused.; by a junction with the foot-wall reef.' 'At all events the specimens found on Saturday were as similar to those of the main-shot of gold as' Stones could.be. The gold was surrounded by the same olass of mineral, the texture* of Me stone, ■■ audi the very appearance of the gold itself, was 1 similar. Further;operatiohs will be'.oarried'out on this. reef, tprday.and is a„g<)od prospeot;of more specimens. In'the b ( look of the No. 1 reef, which; is" being" 'opened up. for working'close'to.'the Manufciiu boundary, {here was also" a fair-show of gold on Saturday, and. on the wiiole tlie prospects of this mine have very greatly improved: during the last fortnight. .{ ff : Keo Whiib and.. BtuE.-fhe ..gold resulting from the.reoenb,, crushing; for -Skidmore, tributer of the and Blue mine, No. 1 section, was melted into a bar'' Weighing' 28ozs J 'l6dwts. The average is a moderate • one, but is nevertheless payable. • . dir oe : London.—Eetorting;for ; the City; of London took place, on Saturday at the Tramway battery, after 4j days run witb six head of stampjh, for a very moderate yield of-17ozs Biwfcs gold. The stuff crushed, as we before.stated, consisted of : stuff obtained when cleaning down tb.e old atopea,. a,ad a proportion from -the., new reef..- .Crushing is now terminated for the present until such time . as there is sufficient;quartz in paddock from the new reef to enable the manager, to([employ a larger crashing: force than thafc'empl'oyed during the • last' week.

Bbiust Smile.— The manager of this company lias now resumed the system of fortnightly rotortings instead of monthly, and made commencairient on Saturday under very favourable auspices. At the Imperial, Orow.n battery, .where the com-pany-employs'ls'head of stampers','the fortnight's crushing yielded 2660z*, and at the company's own mill, late Vickery's, ;where,on-an\ayerage, there have been 10 head of stampers at work for the fortnight, a result of 18/ozs was obtaiaoJ, making the total yield;for. the fortnight froman average of 25 head (light and heavy stampers) 4530zs gold. In the mine the work's are'progressing well. The sinking of" the shaft; is making fair progress; aud it-is expected'that by Wednesday next the" requisite" depth will ! _be reached at which it has, all alongbeen intended.toopen out the new level/ The falling off ia the inflow of water to which we recently referred has enabled the manager to gotidown the other 6' fee.t. The sink-, ingof'all the Winze is carried on briskly. Iu fact the larger proportion of the stuff crushed'haS'' ; been obtained from thosewinzes, and the excellence of r the average yield is a'good criterion of; the .'.worth of the' blocks.whioh will be 'opened by the pew level to be opened up from'fche shaft. For some' time .past.an .opidioa "vailed that the lode in the shaft was the No. 2 reef, 'although of. course'.-to havel cot into this • position it must of course' have; completely < : changed ; its: underlie.! The opinion was in a measure justified' by the appearance of the reef in the No.! 1 winze.., There were indications of aj change'of v some sbrfc, ; 'the lodo 'beoanie pinched up, and it was quite, possible! that'there might ensure;a ohange o| underlie, but there is now no doubt the lode's are distiuot. Ihe- No. 1 winzj is now down 50-feet, and'tho reef which ;has entirely..recovered its former appearahQ3 ; 'is' now six feet wido» aad ia to orccy rosgoot a : 'i:: .v.;- ;-. \ v- f <i s

rery excellent lode.,■. it-.uga nut cuauged its underlie in any way, and it is therefore impossible that it can be with, the'reee ;Bhaft. £: : The latteri Uss. no doubt far as its.course to the westward is'concerned,'although it, w|U in all likelihood join in with'the'Noi 1 -' 2 'to the eastward.

i Albion. Tbibutb-Kblly's.—The final cleaning up for Oatra'a and party produced about l£ozg' iJ inore 'gold, and the whole parcel when,meltcd/was ajbar weighing tf4oM ! l'dwt'. ul ''" ''* I A. parcel of gold.weighing 22ozs 15dwt after melting, was lodged in the Bank of New Zealand on v ßaturday, on behalf of the MeHenger'a Company. jO'iib v 'WHiu!—Cleaning up was not completed in sufficient time, at the Mann* kau battery on Saturday night" to.permtym of retorting'taking'plaba s fb'r the WliaV' f Company, arid* it has therefore* been $ostpjmed .until tfttday.ii will be only a moderate one. This will conclude the .crushing for. tHigl'company.. dyh. o tfaittery/liut they ( head this'week at the Moad'ataian battery. j CotißAN.—Tho manager broke dowu a j,further r iectiori A 6PtKo' reefon'Saturday'," and through the quartz"'takeu out there wob a "fair show of gold,-and a few goodspecimens came to hand.!; la future there! will be some,quartz coming to,hand everyi day, 'and by the,ehd;of this week thepad-j dookjwill no doubt be well filled. ,Orush-jj nig will;then be commenced,', and. will; probably be, a continuous oho.;"., ; ',',,„•: i