OUR MINES.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4348, 7 December 1882, Page 2

OUR MINES.

SOUTHXfiir CROSS.

Three or four feet more of the reef in the drive west at No. 4 Prince Imperial level were broken down yesterday, and 101 bs of good picked stone bagged. Gold was left showing in the floor, a.couple of feet back from the face, at a^p»*nt where there was a large quantity of dark mineral. In the face the lode is a nice-compact body of quartz. The hoppers at the , Imperial shaft were completed a day or two ago, and the quartz stacked,at the , No. 3 lerel has been hoisted and Hoped" . into them.

DART. . Bailing operations haresbeen steadily continued since a start was made early " last week, but the water has mot receded as quickly as the manager thought it would. This morning 'it was I24ft 6in from the surface, which left only "4ift on the flatsbeet. The bottom level should therefore be dry by the end of the week. The tender of Williams'and party,.for' sinking another compartment of thefshaft, was accepted, the price being £1 "9s per foot. Work was started on Tuesday afternoon and about fifteen feet has been sunk, bat it has yet to be squared up and timbered. The solid sandstone was met with last night, so progress will be slower in future., MOANATAIRL I visited this mine on Tuesday, and was kindly shown through by the manaiter,. , Mr J. Vivian. The workings at tunnel,, v level under the main elide where fiat "' s visited. Here ,a crosscut, was put iiio, the northward, and two good looking reefs were struck. The principal one was driven on north-east up to another slide, ' and as behind this a-hard bar of country is known to lie, work was stopped, The reef is a good looking body of quartz, well mineralised, and has shown good colors of gold, but the trial crushing did not yield payably. At some future date, however, the manager intends to try. this ground more thoroughly by extending the crosscut to the northward. There is a very large area of ground uoprospected-, - behind the slide, and should toy payable ; leader be come upon thers ftrHl be backs right to the surface to work ou£. It will be remembered that some time 'ago a very large reef was"* cat. under ;; the slide in the main tunnel, and risen upon some 50ft., but nothing payable discovered. It is hot improbable,., that this reef, and also others iv ihe Golden, Age section, will be payable near the surface, and in order to test theirNralue Mr Vivian intends at some future date to pat in a tunnel from the Point Russell section, „, 170 ft. above tunnel level. Thii.would be ~ a large work to undertake, but it p would prospect a considerable area of ground.,?. Should payable gold be got at this height, in the large reef referred to, the rise could be connected with, and made to serve as a pass for the quartz. It would also ensure . good ventilation. Winze on No. 2 reef, tunnel level: This was sunk to a 'depth of 22ft., when the slide was met with, and a drive is now being extended westerly on it, so as to get under where a little gold was got above. The reef is 3 feet wide, and is composed of good lookiug quartz, but no gold has yet been seen in it. Good gold has been got in this reef below' tunnel level westward of the winze now being worked from, and also above that point, so the locality is well worth pros*, pecting. Morning Star section: Mere stopingisin progress, above tunnel leVeL,. on two leaders which vary in size considerably. At some points they are a . foot wide, but then the quarts is not ■ payable. The best dirt is obtained where > the leaders are small, and carry a large . percentage of mundic. These stopes do not produce a great 'amount of quarts,. . but it is of payable grade. Stoping is ; also in progress from the 50ft lerel of the Morning Star shaft, on a number of small veins and leaders. These vary in size from 3 inches to half an inch, but produce a few picked stpue every breaking down. They are standing intact to the surface, a height of 60 or 70 feet, and eastward up to the slide. As soon as this block is nearly exhausted the manager will start work on the same reins at the Llsft level, which will give him another block 65ft in height. At the surface lerel in this section a crosscut is being put in north towards the slide to intersect any leaders in that direction. The face is in - good country for gold, Nonpareil sec tion : The only work now in progress is at the 215 ft lerel, where the manager is. driving towards the Waitemata on one q£, the-main leaders of the Nonpareil .^i*s/: This was a nice oompaot lode where #otk was started, but it has lately been somewhat mixed with clay, a peculiarity of. the reefs in this section. The quartz continues of gond quality, and small parcels of fair picked stone cbme to hand in breaking.

The direction of the drive is north-east, ftnd it will be pushed ahead as quickly as '- possible, so as to get into the Waitemata section, where the manager is confident of being able to get good quartz, as the ground was never thoroughly prospected. He cannot tell how much backs he has on

the leader in hand ; this will have to b;l^OTed^by working. At this level a' fewjpfeeks ago some capital stone was got from*! leader on the footwall of the one now? being- worked, but the drives on it holed into old workings. These, however, may not be of great extent, and it is quite possible that a good block of solid "ground will be found on the other side. From this level also Mr Vivian will probably crosscut tb'intersect a large reef out at the tunnel level, and which yielded , *bout 2dwts per ton. This is thought to '*!fbg identical with a body of quartz cut in pAe Crown shaft at a depth of about 180 "t'^feti in earlier days, but which, though >gsfld was seen it, was never worked. The proposed crosscut would give plenty of backs, and from it communication could be established with the Crown shaft,: which would ensure good ventilation. At the 260 -feet level some leaders were cut and gold seen in them, but nothing further has yet been done.- 80 feet level below tunnel level: Stoping is in progress here on • a leader in the footwall of No. 9 reef. "This

forages 15 inches in width, shows gold In breaking r and has been payable hitherto. A large block has been opened up • on it, and as it is intact to the surface, there is a chance of coming across good gold while turning over the ground. All XfatitinV lewder: The block on this is of great length, but is not intact above tunnel level. The stopes now being carried up have produced payable dirt hitherto, and the leader looks well, though somewhat split up at present. The footwall branch of IN o. 3 reef is being stoped above and below tunnel level. It- is about five inches wide, and is payable. Very little has been done on it above, and only the stopes now in han3, below tunnel level. Ait intermediate crosscut is now being put in to cut a small leader which dropped into the footwall at tunnel "level, and from which some good goldbearing stone was obtained. At the 132 ft level stoping is in progress oil No. 9 reef and branch leaders. These are standing . intact to the surface, so there is plenty of quartzavailable in this locality. A block about 30ft in length is being stoped, and a few pounds of picked stone come to hand almost every breaking. The gold is chiefly seen in the branch leaders, but lately more has been observed in No. 9 reef, which is about 2ft wide. In the eastward end of the stopes is the junction of Wallace's leader, which also yields some good stone. This appears to have carried through the large reef, as a leader was picked up in the footwall a day or two ago, parrying good blotches of gold. Should "this prove to be the case, a large block of ground ; can be opened up, as nothing has yet been done on the leader except in the hangingwall of No. 9. The manager, is also at present trying to pick up the Don Pedro leader, upon which the proprietors drove to the boundary. Soon after starting .a slide heaved the leader, and thtf drive being put in is expected to meet with -ifebeyond this. The country in the face is becoming more settled, and good white sandstone is making its ap* pearance, so it is probable the leader is not far off.