MINING MATTERS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1871, 7 October 1874, Page 3

MINING MATTERS.

Centbai, Italy.—fhe ouly : work'at .present going, on in the .Central Italy mine is the stripping down and re-timber-ing of about 50 feet of the ..shaft, where the ground has swelled. This will he completed by the end of the present week. Wo learn that a new plan of operationsis to be considered directors before work is resumed. This has reference to opening the mine from the adit level. Hitherto all the operations of this mine have been confined to the deep levels, and indeed latterly it has been.carried on.at the deepest levol of all, and. the adit level was only driven originally from the Moanataiari Ureek to the;shaft to servo as an outlet for quartz, and a moans of getting timber into the mine. It was not continued past tlio -shaft into- the hill. But in the meantime a ; rise has been carried up from the.i No. 1 level'to within 50 feet of this adit, and the .lode at the head of this rise looks better and'more promising than it has ever done since the run of gold was The scheme proposed is to coutinue this rise, to the level of the adit, and to continue the drive to the reef, and thence to the head of the rise. This would not only open up a large extent. of grouud ; for prospecting and working, but would thoroughly ventilate ;all the lovols and workings underneath. We have no doubt the scheme will be fully considered, and if the directors are satisfied that it will be the best method of developing the resources of their mine they will,adopt it. Meanwhile work will be resumed on the reefs in the lower level as soon as the shaft is fiuished, so as to procure' quartz for another crushing. • Cube,—Ketortiug for tho Cure Company took place yesterday at tho Tramway battery, from 28 tons of stuff, taken principally out of the stopes in tboblabk lode above the main-level. The resultwas moderate, only amounting to 14ozs ; 7-iwts. gold. But, in the a rather discouraging return, there was very satis-; factory news from the mine. A. winze I is being suuk in the biack lode below the! ,main level. This is now down B ! ;feet.; I fhe loader is from 8 to 10 inohes wide,! I composed:of uplendid looking atone, iaP

wliich there isagoo'd show of gold, and fwia this winze there are now to hand 401bs of picked stuff, including some fair specimens. The stone, in quality and appearanoe, as well'as in the class of mineralswith which it is impregnated,'closely ro« sembles that of the run of gold, and the prospects: as'• may bo imagined, are-very ; fail" when such a large proportion of picked stuff was taken out of a small sec-'-tionof reef. -: : ' f; -r r: ' ; "

Amuenu.—The gold lodged on Mpn-„ day was melted yesterday into a bar weighing 2450z5, the loss ; ' in 'melting on the whole parcelbeing only 2ozs.'" Bed White and Blue Tjubute.—A. crashing for the tributes of the Eed. White and Blue mino No. 2 section,'be. longing to Laphain and party, is now. g'oing_ on at the Prince Alfred battery, 1 ind is showing.up fora much better .veragc than previous crushings. ~.-. ■/&

Tookey.—-A. trial crushing fromjui Tookey liiihe is to be commencect tp;da] at the Prince Alfred battery". 'A crust ing for Long and 'party, tributers of a section of the mine, was completed yes. terday, aud the yield, after 36 tons had been put through, was 2<lozs gold. ImuN and ■NpNPißEiii.T-The. amalgamation between these two companies is likely to b'ccoiuo an accomplished fact, from tho vigorous' steps which are being taken by the shareholders' and management on each side to secure the co-ppera-v tion of the shareholders of each company/; Authorities, lmve been given';to : collect'-' proxies in favour of tlißi : and these have been "readily'givenrit'tlio. t Thames. The Auckland shareholders also to be waited on by. authorised parties on this subject, 'and-: every imeasure appears to have been taken, to secure the object in' viow-the : amalgamation of those two companies provided it meets the views of the shareholders.-'-

Biiid-in-Hand. — Crushing .for, .the Bird-in-Hand Company has been commenced \at the jlmperial Crown battery/ with 20 head of stampers, and the "stuff* 'from the new level is,' we are glad to find, showing up.in. a highly satisfactory manner on the plates., .Tlie ; new..j level : is now admirably opened 'up-for."'., steady systematic work, and it'is'quife,'' possible that the company; !might"'cbnv tinue to employ such a force as thi's per-'. 1 manently upon payable"stuff.'but'we be--' lieve some of tho directors would'wish to■» employ a still larger force if it was;pos-'o sible to keep,them all : at work...-There appears to be a.sort, of division oil. the,., directory on,this subject,.and we sume this has something id'dowith, tlie'r .advertisement Icalling for applications for the'officb'.bt." mine manager to the company; 'but J '' surely the directors' will ; recbtisidor any question which will cost them the services'of "a : mauager of- Mr'? ! -Dunlop's - lability, and sterling,worth; v.who;, has proved himse}f a thoroughly-reliable servant of the company, and wlibJiaVin fact developed- theminei ' Since s writihg : the •above,we furnished withsome iof the partieularsjjf a meeting iheld last night, by Mr J. A. Fryer. There were .present—Mr T. Kennan in ichair, •' Messrs J. Macky,'D. Murphy| Charles Murphy, and J. A. Fryer. After 1 the ordinary routine business'connected' with the mine had been transacted.. Mr :D. Murphy proposed 3 that,.they'should have a change in the' management of the mine; that the present manager should be discharged, as ho. considered heihad not pushed theworks ahead/arid that his |pay, £5' per week, was too high';/Mr :J)unlop was called in and questioned 1 regarding the works carried ,out. The* complaint was that stoping. had not been.? started as ;; soon as the drives',, broke 1 '; through to the winzes.. Mr' IJunlop','. ;atated that the drives only broke tlirou«U'.';' 'to the winzes on the 29th and 30lh of last; month, and that contracts for, ■stoping..? .were called on the Ist instant. He-,ex»< plained that it was necessary that 'somo') room should be left for the contractors to continue driving.—Mr Fryer stated, 5 in answer to Mr.Murphy, that the manager had been instructed by the directors to | break down up'quartz hi stoping until, such time as' the drives; 'reached 'the- : wiozea.—-At'tei* a-', lengthened;_ 'discUssiqd", 1 Mr Fryer/proposed, as an' that Mr Duulop's services bo Mr J. Macky secohdedjheamendinenti.; which was then put, and two.votediorlt.' The original:motion,was-then: put>-and;,;;, the Messrs Murphy voted 'for-it* viThe-; chairman gave his; casting vote in-favour>' of the molionj; which was"-then carried!-'. Considering the amount of work which has been carried on'.by. Air. Duniop since ■ he took charge 'of this mine,' and especially during the last five weeks since starting, toopeu.lho new leijel, we certainly? there.wasnocause of'.'complaint-on, the.'! score of not pushingaheadi, .As a.matierj of fact there has beea an enormous; amount of work performed,.Knd;it u : .tiie fault ot the directors, not of the mauager,. that there is not at least one gold return to hand from the present level. During the five weeks referred to a total of 263 feet lias been driven; as follows 1 ::ir-39.feet double drive, 40 feet cross-cut into the hanging-wall, aud 184 'feet of driving on the course of the.reef., In addition tOitlnV a winze has been sunk'6o feet, 4 and. two others have been cpmmenoed. There are 24 men howi employed : stdping/tin'd 15' driving, and all these works are goinif on by contract. Besides a.large quanl/y of" crushing stuff at the Imperial Crown battery, there are 87 .loads at the Una battery, so that'there is'no lack of .stuff. In fact, for a month, there would be ample stuffs to keep 30' : head '-of -stampers at work, but it would be hopeless to think of keeping 30 head of stampers permanently, employed with only a 10-iueh-reef to work upon. : In"tho inter--ests of the company, 'we regret the action which the meeting took last night, and hope that they, will, upon more nature consideration] reconsider their asiwu. u\ir Fryer assures us that the works of the mine have been :on ;;ru aimanner which was not only creditable to Mr Duulop's ability as a manager, but highly satisfactory to him as a director and largo shareholder; and'' withftiiuVoMr Macky heartily coincides. Tho mine is now thoroughly developed,' aud there is ample opportunity for working to advantage.' " j ' ' ''• ''' : ' : ' : ' ■)-'-l ! ' :"iU