OPUR MINES.
Consideeable curiosity was evinced a few days ago as to what the clay slide which cut off the reef in the Deep Level C^oss ground was, and the following information may therefore be of interest to some of our readers: — The large band of clay cut lately in the Deep LeveKCross drive ab No. 4 level of"''thb"lmperial shaft is "probably the continuation of a similar formation met i with seaward of the Crown Princess shaft. I at; Nos. 1, 2, 3, and, 4 levels. ,At No. 2 j level, when driving west on No. 1 reef, it i was cut at a distance of 90 feet from the crosscut, while on No. 2 reef, 70 reet to the northward of No. 1, it was 110 feet distant. At No. 4 level, 325 ft from the surface; it had dipped seaward considerably, and-was 340 ft from the crosscut; At No. 1 level of the Imperial shaft also one _of the lodes was driven on westward till drift was broken into, from which a small stream of water issued. It .was owing to this fact that the manager objpeted to -Mr. Coutts driving through the clay seam, fearing he would by so doing tap water and perhaps flood the lower workings. In the Crown Princess mine this clay band was never driven through, it evidently being considered that the re.efs did not carry beyond it. When sinking the Piako shaft the solid sandstone was touched on one side at a depth of 27 feet, but it was not til! the men were down over 50 feet that the wholeof the shaft was in settled country. When the mine was afterwards opened up drives were put in westward, and a similar formation to that met with in the Crown Princess cut at Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 levels. From this shaft, however, it did not lie so flat as at the former one. It is therefore inferred that the clay band, instead of being a slide, behind which solid- country would be found, is really a deposit on the edge of the hill formation below the surface. ! This theory is also borne out by the (fact that in the early days of the field a shaft sunk in search of alluvial gold close to where the Old Men's Refuge now stands, bottomed, at a depth of about 120 feet, and another'sunk to the south-east of it in 90 feet. A third one, started opposite the S.hortland Wesleyan Church was put down 130 ft, but even at thai, depth nothing but drift was ; passed through. Another shaft was also started near where Mr Martin's draper's shop now stands, and sunk 70ft.: from the bottom of this a borer was put down over 100 feet without anything in the'way of settled sandstone being met with; Supposing that the hill maintains the dip it has had hitherto in the neighborhood of the. Crown Princess, ifc is apparent the claims recently taken up on the foreshore will have to carry on operations at a great depth, but the formation may lie flatter than it has yet done, or the bottom of the basin between the two ranges of .hills may be found at a greater depth than tho present underlay would appear to. indicate. A better idea will no doubt be obtained when it is driven out to at the Imperial No. 5 level, or the 640 feet level of the Big Pump shaft. . . ■
NEW. PEINCB IMPERIAL. The;leader.,'.in : the, wjnze WAJLIM^Bn down last night and to^day.^prgfood strong dabs and colors*Sf'gQld"were seen through,the stone'/: The'*ifew reef has been picked up ,««BtWard of the break,and Mr Clark has started to drive upon it, I The quartz is fully a foot wide, and look's kindly for gold, though none has yet been seen in it. ' ' - • CALEDONIAN. The manager'reported on the 10th inst.:—" There has been no work done in the stopes at No. 2 or No. 1 levels this week. The men hare been employed in opening out the 60ft chamber—three^ shifts this week. The chamber has now been excavated ; it is' 10ft wide by 10ft deep, and Bft high. I have started the north crosscut, which is now in 6ft, and in a good class of country for leaders. Shall start the south crosscut next week, when' they shall be kept constantly going with two shifts. The rise in No. 1 old:level is still going up through a large reef -fully sft in thickness, which looks very well, but no gold has beeu seen. Both drives on leader, Bed Queen crosscut, are : nowdriven 26ft each way. The leader in the east end has opened out to about 15 inches, and showed good dabs of gold when taken down on Thursday last. The leader is smaller in the west end, about six-inches when last taken down; some nice stones were taken out, some 4or slbs. There is only oae shift working here on account o.f the air being bad. The three reefs inter* seoted in the New Maoukau will run into your ground some 250 or 300 ft east of their crosscut, and when this crosscut is holed through they might be worth looking after.—T. B. Hicks." KARAKA. The manager reported for the past ' fortnight on Saturday:—l am happy to inform you that I cut the shaft leader i yesterday, and on breaking it down got some good dabs of gold. The leader would average about four inches, and is composed of kindly looking quartz, carrying a little mineral. The sandstone looks very well,' with a good many mundic veins running through it. I have had three shifts on the crosscut for the past week. I will keep these men driving on the leader till I get in about 30 feet. I will then carry up a rise to the upper level, which will give us good air, and enable mo to get on to the shaft. I have had two men carrying in a leading stope on No. 2 leader, but it does not loot near so well as it did in the drive. Some of the quartz not being woi-th saving, lam getting my owd timber; it will not cost the company more than"one-half of what it would if I was to order it,—D. Ceawfoed. QUEEST OF BEAUTY. The sha't is now down a total depth, of 656 feet from the surface, or 16 feet lower than the Big Pump bottom level. The contractors sunk 10 feet last fortuight, besides timbering up 15 feet. They are now on a level with where the top of No. -10 chamber will be, so there' is only about another 10 feet to sink before a start will be made to cutout the chamber preparatory to driving on the reof towards the shot of gold. As soou as the.ebam.bb? is cut out a well-hole will be sunk. The ground jln. the bottom is a fine white sandstone ; if is good shooting ground, and tears out in large lumps. Two leugths of pipe have been put on in the fortnight, and oh? length of the pump rods.' Stoping is being continued on the main reef east above No. 9 level and west above No. 7. In butu places colors of 'gold' are seen in breaking, and some stones showing good dabs of the precious metal have been obtained from No. 7, where the reef is improving in quality as the stopes ascend. Crushing is proceeding as usual.
at the battery, and. is shaping for a fair return. ■i THAMES GOLDEN CROWN. The contractors tor the battery level tunnel are pushing on with the work and are now within a short distance of the rise on No. 2 reef. Work is being con * tinued as usual in the other portions of the mine, but no change of importance has taken place lately.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THS18830213.2.14
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4403, 13 February 1883, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,312OPUR MINES. Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4403, 13 February 1883, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.