PIAKO.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2951, 31 July 1878, Page 2

PIAKO.

The manager has men employed driving inland on the course of the Vanguard lode, and the hanging-wall only is being taken. He, however, intends to cross-cut the lode now and then as the foot-wall contains the best stuff, it being of a rubbly character. The stuff coming out is blocky and very heavily mineralised, and the manager says that the'reef is one of the fiuest he has ever seen. The minerals now seen are very favorable for gold, andindeed colors are very often seen in the stone. 30 or 40 feet ahead of the face of the drive there isa cross-lode, which may improve its value. The.last crushing (the result of which has not been retorted) was all but payable, the amalgam on hand being about equal to Sdwts gold per ion, which was sufficient to pay carting and crushing. 7dwt« or Bdwtß per tou will pay well, and enable the big battery to be started. In a few days the driving of the main cross-cut to intersect the No. 2 reef will be started. The workings are near the company's mill, and as there are no workings between the face and the Bird-in-Hand pass there has been some difficulty in keeping the air good. Two air boxes are now laid up to the face,-and the ventilation is perfect. The tributers, Wilton and party, are crushing a parcel of some 40 tons, and it is going very well.