Ohinemuri Goldfield.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4410, 21 February 1883, Page 2

Ohinemuri Goldfield.

(fbom oub own cokbbspondbnt. )

.Kabangahake, Mpnday.

>;• Haying just visited some of the mines in this much neglected district, a brief account of what I saw there may not be uninteresting to some'of your readers. .

Haubaki G-.M.Co. —In this company's ground a large amount of prospecting, as

well as permanent wort lias been accomplished. Iti fact a sum of six hundred pounds has already been expended in its developement, and the results so far augur well for the future of those who are interested in it. "Five different reefs hare already been disclosed by means of trenching and tunnelling, and all of them carry more or less gold, accompanied by a fair per centage of silver, which here occurs in the stone in precisely the same manner as that obtainable from the celebrated Gonastock lode,"California. rnJeed it has often been asserted by those who ! are competent to judge of such matters j that at least one of the reefs above re» • ferred to,—which traverses the whole of i the Maria, Hauraki, Noble, and Diana i companies' ground—would yield hand- „ some dividends if treat' d for sil ver alone, aud I have no doubt that the time is not far distant when even the people of this happy-go-easy country will tumble to the fact that silver mining will pay as wel! if not better than mining for gold. Of the reefs in this company ground No. 3, averaging 4 feet in thickness, may—so far as present operations are concerned—be said to be richer in the precious met I than any of the others. It has bt en driven upon fbr 80 feet, carrying jgol throughout for the whole of that distance. In the slopes which have been carrif: i right up to the surface —a height of 30 fett—gold showing freely in the stone has b/' ;u s ~n at etery breaking dor^n, aid t'.e whole of the crushing dirt obtained theretrom prospects for a highly remunerative return. From the winze, which is now being suok from this level to connect with the low level, scwt. of good picked stone hare already been obtained, and Ihe lode grows richer and richer as sinking is cootinu d upon it. At the time of my visit to this mine I broke out from the bottom of this winze a piece of stone that was so rich in gold arj to appro; eh more nearly what is known as " specimens" than anything I havr» hitherto seen from the district. Besides the work goi^g on in this winze, there are two tunnels in operation.. One of these is being driven along the cource of a load about six inches in thicknt cs. It was from this lode that the trial orush'ng (ireat i at \he Albcrh;a battery some time ago) was taken, which yielded at the rate of 14ozs per load. The other tunnel ia a crosscut from the low level, and is being (irlven along the course of a X «c about one foot in thickr' ss. This lode is believ Ito be identical with that...in the Maria claim which yields so large : a pereenlajze of silver, 80 per cent, of the proceeds of stone treated in Auckland being composed of the last mentioned metal. .

In my next I shall speak of the claims south and east of the Hauraki, and I shall also have something to say about the battery business, roads, &c.