MINING MATTERS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1869, 5 October 1874, Page 3

MINING MATTERS.

Bied-in-Hand.—On Saturday a nice promising leader was met with in the Bird-in-lfand mine, striking into the main reef near the seaward face of the bottom level. It has not yet been opened to any extent, but tho stuff taken out of it shows gold freely. It will in all likelihood form a junction with the main lode, and the addition of such feeders as this will not only have tho effect of increasing its size but its richness also. Stoping on the .reef is now going on briskly, and stuff is fast accumulating for tho next crushing, but when that is to be started haa not yet been decided; Kuranui Hill Tunnel.—This tunnel, which up to the present has been the joint property of several -companies through whose mines it passed, has now ceased to be so, for by arrangement with the other proprietors it has been taken over by the Moariataiari Company, whose exclusive property it now is. Tho terms of the arrangement have : not transpired, but. we have good reason to believe that under the. present ownership it is much more ! likely to be extended than while it remained the joint property of several companies; but it is not intended at present to take any steps towards extending it. The greater' portion of the stuff conveyed through this tunnel, for. some-time past has been from the. Moanataiari workings. Of course a tariff was charged, but the payment of this in future is obviated - by tho. tunnel: having become the property of the company. _ J town-Time Claim.—ln' this claim, situated on the Karaka, and forming a section of what was once the Lord Nelson claim, the manager ■ and ..proprietor,'. Mr Greenville, while waiting the completion of the wire tramway, wliieh has been .erected by the Provincial Government for the use of this arid a few of the. adjoining claims, has driven a lower level in which the reef is now intersected. On Saturday there was a very nice show of gold apparent in the lode' itself which is 18 inches thick, and some stringers at the foot-wall side ofit. : Some of these are very rich, and a few pounds of very nice looking 'specimens were taken out. There is a six stamper battery connected with the: claim, which is now in perfect . working order, and as soon as the tram•way is in working'order crushing will be .commenced; • The mill is, it is estimated, able to treat 40 , tons of stuff per week, and. there will be no difficulty in keeping up tlie requisite supply; addition to the 35 feet additional backs afforded by the new level, there is a large extent of unworked ground above the old level. . Golden Cbown,—A survey has been made by Mr Wright of the drive at the 170-feet level of the Golden Crown mine on the course of ,tL,e foot-wail of,the: Manukau reef, by which it has been ascertained that on Saturday the drive had reached to within 4 feet of the line of the No. 2 winze of the Manukau mine. The distance driven during the last week was 16 feet, and considering the hard, tough nature of the ground, this was very good progress. But before breaking out any quartz, or, in. fact, breaking into the reef at all, the drive will be extended 16 feet beyond the : line of the winze in order to reach that .portion of the lode which at this level should contain the dip of the shot of gold which was carried for some depth in the winze alluded to,: and which afterwards dipped out of.it with a south incline. There, was no retorting for the company last week. In fact there was very. little crushed, ex-, cept a small lot from the hanging-wall leader as a trial. Thisdid not show well except during the last two days, and the manager, who was inclined to discontinue work on that lode altogether, has determined now to give it a further trial before doing so. Caledonian.—ln this mine the No. 3 reef, which it will be recollected was cut off by a slide in the north drive, was recovered on Saturday at the other side of it in a cross-cut ,14 feet in length. The heave was to the eastward, or a right hand heave. This is not a very common occurrence on the Thames, it being more usual to have the heaves of the reefs after any break, to the left or westward side, but although uncommon, in this respect it is not by any means a singular instance, as several other breaks have acted in other reefs in the same manner. At all events, tho reef has been recovered, and shows a thickness of 16 inches of quartz in a remarkably well defined lode, which underlies at an angle of about 42 degrees. Very little has been done on it yet beyond stripping the face of the quartz, but so far no gold has been visible iu it. In the east cross-cut which, as our readers are aware, has been continued up to the Cure corner boundary, after intersecting the No. 3 reef, another lode, 10 inches thick, and similar in formation to the No. 3 reef, has been cut just near the boundary. It is well defined, but its courso being considerably east of north, it will form a junction with the No. 3 reef in its south strike, somewhere close to the Golden Crown boundary. It is also lying, more flat than tho No. 3 reef, so that it will join into it at greater depth. Waikobomiko Gold,—A small parcel of gold which, after melting, weighed 13ozj Sdwts, was lodged in the Bank of New Zealand by a party of prospectors from Waikoromiko Creek, near Coromandel. . Albion— Kelly's Teieote.—A crushof 30 tons of stuff was completed on Saturday at the Prince Alfred battery, for Oatrau and party, tributers of Kelly's old claim. The yield was a payable ono, amounting to 23ozs 7dwts melted gold. Dauntless Tiiibute. — The gold resulting from the crushing for Sawyer and party was molted on Saturday into a bar weighing 81ozs 7dwts. As the result of 24 tons of stuff, this return is a very handsome one. Bbight Smile.—To-day there will be 20 head of stampers at tho Imperial Grown battery will resumo crushing for the Bright Smilo Company, in addition to the company's own mill, which was working during last week/

The filling up of the stopes has now made sucli progress that there is no likelihood of any further stoppages accruing from..- the- same cause which necessitated the stoppage on the last occasion. Centbal Italy.—Retorting for the Central Italy Company took place on Saturday forenoon, at the Manukau battery, aud the yiold was rather better than, was anticipated. There were 86 loads of stuff put through the mill. This produced 91ozs retorted gold, which, when melted, was reducod to 88ozs lodwts. ■ ■ . City of London.—The shaft has now reached a depth of 350 feet on the level corresponding with the 270-feofc level of the Queen of Beauty mine, and the ■i manager has discontinued operations ; pending the erection of the winding machinery for hoisting- purposes. It is understood that arrangements satisfactory to kith parties Into bceu entered in,t >;

between the City of London and the Queen of the May, whereby the whole of the stuff from the latter mine will be hoisted through the City of London shaft at a moderate cost, thus obviating the necessity for erecting hoisting works on the Queen of the' May shaft. Cube.—A little gold was. visible on Saturday in the reef formed by thejunction of the black lode and the Manukau reef in the slopes of the Cure mine. The show was not rich, just sufficient to prove that it is auriferous, but there was better and richer stuff from some of the veins on foot-wall side. Crushing for the companyis progressing at the Tramway battery, but so far the stone from the black lode does not appear rich enough : to warrant anysanguine expectation as to, the result. •; Exchange.—'The drive on the No. 1 reef in the Crown Prince has now .reached close up to tfie Exchange boundary, and this point will probably be reached .on Tuesday or Wednesday. • Arrangements, have been made by the manager of the two companies that when the boundary is reached the drive will be continued into the Exchange to meet the drive'of -tho latter mine, which is now up to within 32 feet of the boundary. It is confidently expected that in the course of thepresent week, or at all events very early.next week, the communication will be effected which is so much required for the ventilation of 'the Exchange mine. We have already/referred so: often to the necessities of this case that we need not now allude to it further than to say that'wlien this communication 1 "is effected the manager of the Exchange will -be in 'a position to ■ start breaking down quai'tz from a large strong auriferous, reef, a considerable section of. which is. stripped in this drive. ' ' '