OUR MINES.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4282, 21 September 1882, Page 2

OUR MINES.

BEIGHT SMILE.

Mr James Garvey, one of the proprietors of this piece of ground before it was formed into a company, has taken over the management of the mine. He is at present pushing on the stopes on the leader from which he got such good yields a short time ago. Five stopes are now in progress, the total length being about 90 feet. The leader varies in size considerably, in places it is fully 18in wide, but in others not more than 8. For the whole length, however, the quartz looks well for gold, and the country, although tight, is

of a spleudil class for the existence of the ' precious metal. At the western end the slope is within 20ft of the level above, but eastward the block standing is fully 60ft in height. This piece is sure to pay well, because the crushing dirt taken from the level above yielded Bozs per load, and the ' average yield of all the quartz" Messrs Garvey and party have broken from this leader is sozs. The drive eastward at the main level is being pushed on again to open up a fresh block of stopes. The reef in the face does not look so well as in the stopes, it being disturbed considerably by a flinty, but it will probably soon regain its usual size. There is a very large block standing on the leader here, some 3C3 feet in length from the present face; and 80 feet in height, which has hardly been touched. It was from this end also that Mr McCabe got a good patch of gold in the Multum in Farvo. ground at the Bank of New Zealand level. Good gold was left by him in the floor of that drive, and Mr Garvey hopes to be able to pick up the run of the precious metal at the low level. The Jamaica and Candlelight claims also got splendid gold in the upper levels. -Westward from the block of stopea now opened; up there is a good block of ground standing, which will shortly receive attention. Nothing has yet. been done, below the floor of the low level, so when the blocks now being opened up are exhausted, all the company need to do will be ' to go further down the hill a^£ put in another tunnel. The quartz taken out by the late proprietors if now being carted to the flat, so in a day or two the hoppers will be free for the use of the company. NEW COLUMBIA.

This mine is a comparatively new one, operations having only been started about two months. It has hot been formed into a company, but is owned by a number of shareholders, chiefly Thames men. The first work decided on was the continuation of a small tunnel put in some years ago to connect with a rise from .the Euby tunnel. By driving ahead some 160 ft it was expected that Dison's reef would be to band. The strike of the reef is due east and west, and as the tunnel is going in -north the reef should be met with at right angle 3. The calculations of the manager, Mr Bowler, as to the underlie of the reef, are under the mark, for up to yesterday the face had been advanced 170 ft, and the reef is not yet to hand. Another week's driving, however, should meet with it. The country passed through is congenial for gold, and easy for working, only requiring an occasional shot. A leader was met with soon after starting, and carried .._ along in the drive for 15 or 20 feet, where' it turned into the leffcyhand side of the drive. It was four or five inches thick, and composed of favorable quartz, but no gold was seen in it. Another small leader about li inches thick was cut yesterday. It also carries good mineral. Both these are undoubtedly feeders to the main reef, and it is likely that at their junction they will make gold. The prospects of the mine are very encouraging, and there is reason to believe that tbe enterprise of the shareholders will be handsomely rewarded before long. Dixon's reef has been worked to a considerable extent from a level about 60ft higher than tbe one now being put-in, and a large amount of gold was got from it by the Columbia, Star and Garter, and Nil Desperandum claims. The reef was worked put right to the surface in the two former mines from the top level, but it was impossible to follow it down on account of the water. Some splendid gold was got both from the main rref and a hangingwall. leader, in a shaft sunk to a depth,of 60 feet by the Nil Desperandum claim, but they too were forced back by the water.. The level now being put in by Mr Bowler will drain all this ground, and he will theu be able to stope out what should prove a very rich block. A gcod feature of this reef in the upper lerel was that it always showed some gold, aid the lowest yield from it was an ounce to the load. : It is about 3 feet thick, and aa the company has about 500 feet in length upon it, a large amount of quartz will be available from the new level. The quartz can easily be got to the County ro:.d by tipping it down the pr.ss into t'ue Euby tuanel,. and from there a hopper would connect with the road. The manager estimates that the cost of carting and crushing will be £1 per load. The Baby tunnel referred to cut the reef, and was pushed on some distance beyond it, but no work was done further. Tbe countiy above did notdraiu because a clay band or s'.ide held the water back, and until the reef is driven upon, and this band passed through the water will not be able to get away.

REUBEN PARR. ; The crosslode met with at the low level will be opened out upon both sides of the crosscut, but the drive south-east will bo pushed ahead most. At this end the , company hare between 300 and 400 feet , in length upon the reef, but westward : only a small block of ground can be takeu I out before the Alburnia boundary is met ! with. It is expected that between 90 and i 100 feet of backs can be obtained from the I new tunnel. A lot of work was done | upon this crosslode from the old adit j level, and it paid well. The last tribute upon it was that of Downie and party, \ and they sank a winze to a depth of about , 70ft, the quartz from which gave 3ozs to , the load, but they were diiven out by the water. The total distance driven by the company since last starting work is about "* 350 ft, over 100 of which was through a hard bar of blue rock. This bar is running toward the leader, and will strike it a considerable distance eastward of the crosscut, but the manager does Wt think it- will at all decrease its value. The quartz now coming to hand is being saved, and a trial lot will shortly be put through.

ALBURNIA. The manager has started work from a drive put in in an easterly direction opposite the old adit level of the JJeuben Parr. This drive is 123 feet below the level of the Sons of Freedom tunnel, and as it is advanced must pa3s through a number, of reefs and leaders, some of them sft. wide, worked very successfully in the upper levels of the Watchman ground.' The loader now in hand is about 18 inches thick. The Reuben Parr crosslode enters the Alburnia ground somewhere near this drive, and it is possible it may be met with while extending it. At the intermediate lerel opened out from the winze sunk some months ago on the Sons of Freedom reef from the 160 ft. level, the manager is extending the eastward drive. The reef, which is about 3ft. thick, is very hard and ™ggy» but during the last day or two has shown a considerable amount of antimony. This mineral has never been seen before in • the drive, but what it will lead to is uncertain. From the Whau level, the manager ia rising on the seam of clay mixed with quartz which'

he belieres to be Dixon's reef. The face is now up 18ft, but no change has taken place, except that a little more quartz is showing. S'tiould nothing be met with in this rise soon the manager will have a sunrey made, and find the true position of Dixon's reef, and McLean's leader. QUEEN OF BEAUTY. The crank pin was fitted in last night, and the pumps started at 8 o'clock this morning at a speed of 7 double, or 14 single strokes per minute. The machinery ig working as usual, and a fins stream of water is being thrown out. During the stoppage the water rose to about sft above No. 8 flatsheet, but judging from the rate at which it was reduced after the .'sl turbine was mended, No. 9 will be dry by ; to-morrow. HAUEAKI (KARANGAHAKE). The manager reports: Since writing last week I have kept the mortar and dish going on No. 1 lode, which is 20 feet in thickness, and find that at least 5 feet of the footwall portion will pay handsomely for working. During the week good progress has been made with the work of ■ extending the low level, which is now in a distance of 193 feet, the country in the 'present face being much easier than anything hitherto met with in the course of : ■■' the tunnel. I expect to meet with Nos. 2 and 3 lodes in about another 20ft of driv. . ; ing.. In the intermediate level going south, Nqs.,2and3!odeß huye junctioned, forming a large body of stone, which promises to . yield an abundance of 1 payable crushing • . dirt. .The indications in the present face ... ■ of this level are such as to warrant the . belief that a rich shot of gold may be met > with at any moment. The hopper built near the entrance to the low level and the shoot connecting the hopper, with the intermediate level were completed last week. This hopper is capable of holding 300 tonß of quartz, and in future all crushing dirt broken out from the intermediate . . level will be shot into it. awaiting comple- .' tion of tramway and repairs to battery.— j John M'Combie. GOLD EETURNS. I City of Manchester.—Scott and party haye 1 banked Bozs 9dwts gold, the, result of a crushing, from their reef.

On the 4th of July, 1789, Bonaparte baring stormed and taken Alexandria, visited the forts. The French soldiers made immediate use of the public baths to wash their linen. The army bivouacked within the walls, and immediately experienced one of the plagues of Egypt, having been bitten by scorpions—a gloomy presage of the sufferings the conscripts ■ were afterwards to encounter. .No sooner were the French in possession of Alexandria than they were seized with melancholy and the desire to return to the green slopes of France. No symptoms of doubt or despondency, however, marked the proceedings of Bonaparte; he expected the appearance of Nelson and his fleet every day. The transport service - and artillery were therefore disembarked from the French fleet, to strengthen Alexandria as bis base of operations for the conquest of Egypt. It was at the beginning of the period of the greatest heat that the French entered Egypt, and ophthalmia at once crowded the hospitals with patients. Leaving the sick at Alexandria Bonaparte put his army in motion on the 7th at spm. en route for Cairo. Besting for two hours in the middle of the night, - the French thus pushed on by night to avoid the heat. The arid soil soon exhausted the strength of the soldiers, who, overwhelmed with thirst, drooping under the weight of their cumbrous knapsacks and accoutrements, seemed to see the mirage of a lake before them, the waters of which would quench their thirst. Amid these sufferings discipline was destroyed.. Damanhour being reached at last the officers expected to meet with some necessary comforts for themselves and men, but were doomed to disappoint* ment —(From " Arab and European Memoirs, Oral Traditions and Researches.")