OUR MINES.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4335, 22 November 1882, Page 3

OUR MINES.

NEW PRINCE IMPEEIAL

Mr Clark this morning received orders from the directors to put all Ihe specimens on hand through six head instead of the single stamp. Every precaution was ' taken to save the tailings. These were being ground this afternoon, and the amalgam will be squeezed to-morrow morning.

KUBANUI HILL

The manager of this mine, Mr T. H. Crawford, has since his appointment done a very large amount of prospecting work, some thousands of feet of driving- or cleaning out old drives having been accomplished. On the wlnle his efforts have been successful, no call having be> n necessary, and thouch for the last two or three months the crushing has not been so good, the large,; blocks now being opened up should produce remunerative dirt for many a month yet. The first working I visited yesterday was a drive north on the Oddfellows' reef at the shotover level. There is about 120 ft in length on this reef before the Moanatairi boundary is reached, and » good block overhead to take out." X block 40ft in -height is also standing on it from the Beach level to an intermediate' ]cvi 1 half

way to the Sbotover level. It was stoned out above this intermediate level," and yielded well, so there is a good chance for the other blocks turning out well. '"• The manager is also carrying along a leading stope over the drive. The reef varies in size; in the stopes it is about five inches, and in the face 9or 10. It lroks well, and colors of gold have been seen in breaking, but it is hard to say what it is worth till crushing is started. From this drive Mr Crawford is putting in a crosscut to iutersect'Dabb's. leader, which he has ascertained junctions with the main reef in this section a short distance from the crosscut. He expects the leader will be to hand by the begining of flext week. There is a very large block standing on it. fully 190 ft in length, and 100 ft vertical below the Sliotover level to the beach level, and 50ft above it. This block should prove a good one. as the leader has yielded well a little higher up. In the bottom of the company's winze on it it was 9 or 10 inches thick, so there should be a large amount of crushing dirt available. The block on the No. 1 reef in the Junction section is now worked nearly to the level, but as there is a block 50ft in heigth. and 200 ft in length above this, the stopes will simply be continued, the crushing stuff being passed down to the tunnel level and thence trucked to the mill. Tbej|e is about 9 or 10 incheß wide of crushing dirt available here, and as the reef is very patchy, and the ground easily turned over there is a chance of coming across rich dirt any time. The manager will shortly commence to continue the crosscut in which this reef was met with, so as to cut some leaders in the footwall which, have yielded well in the past. rJ here is also a good block opened up ready for working on the hangingwall leader below the Shotover level r to which the manager will no doubt turn his attention before lonp. New level opened out from the Albion" shaft: At this depth the No. 1 reef lias been' driven upon a distance of 430 feet north-east from the Long Drive shaft, and another 40 feet should hole through to the All Nations' shaft, which would effectually open up an immense block. The reef here is composed of blue quartz Tery heavy mineralised, and would average 10 inches in - width. Close to the crosscut it yielded an ounce'and a half to the ton, and a winze was sunk on it there to the depth of 20 feet, the-dirt from which was equal to an ounce per ton. Along the drive, however, it is not so rich, but as the block is situated right under where rich patches were got in earlier days, there is good reason to believe it will at least be remunerative, with the chance of unearthing a good deposit of the precious metal. The backs available here are about 90ft. From this drive also the other leaders can be intersected by means of a crosscut. Cook's leader: This is situated in the Poverty section, and strikes east and west. It yielded well about five Tears ago, the last crushing taken out being worth about 2ozs to the ton,- but since then has never been touched. It is thought to be identical with a leader known as Kelly's cross reef, which also gave capital return s. The manager cleaned out the old drive upon it in to solid country, and started driving. He has now about 75 feet opened up, and should the lead yield well enough be will continue to extend the drive, ca-rjing along the leading st pc over* it, which gives good ventilation. In both slopes and drive thfe leader will average 8 or 9 inches wide, and looks well. There is an immense amount of ground unworked on this leader, some hundreds of feet standing intact between the present face and Kelly's section. A run of gold was followed up in this leader, on the back of a slide, from the beach level, and good gold was also got in the floor of a level 80ft above the one the manager is now working at, inside this 'slide, so that the chances of getting payabte dirt here amount almost to a certainty. Crushing - will probably be started about the beginning of next month. BRIGHT SMILE.

The lead in the intermediate diive and stopes produced 501 bs of specimens yesterday, a fair show of gold being left.