OUR MINES.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4449, 9 April 1883, Page 2

OUR MINES.

BRIGHT SMILE. The manager to day banked 7Olbs specimens and picked stone, obtained from the second stope abore the intermediate level. MOANATAIRI. The manager reported on Saturday:— " Morning Star section: Our intermediate drive is being extended westerly on two small leaders, both of which produce a a few pounds of picked stone occasionally, and payable stuff is obtained from stopes , aboTe and below the drive referred to. Nonpareil section, 215 ft level: A leading stope is in progress on a reef 12 inches in thickness, and from which a little gold bearing stone has been secured during the week. The bottom level is being cleared and re-timbered for the purpose of communicating with the 215 ft level. After j this is accomplished, there will be snffi- J cient ventilation for working the block, or , any portion of it, between both levels. The leader is exposed along the bottom drive for a distance of 60ft or more, and it will average about 8 inches in width, and looks very kindly in places for gold. The stopes in Heldt's section above 132 ft level have not yielded well lately, notwithstanding their promising appear* ance. 80ft level: We are stripping No. 9 footwall leader, Redan section. No, 2, west of cross-cut, 80ft. level: Four men have been employed here during the week, but the progress has not been so good as I could have desired. The country is very congenial for gold, while it is not bo good for making headway. The reef will average about 3 feet in width, but it is split into branches, varying from 12 inches to 2 inches in width. These are carrying casings of mullock, varying in thickness. I think the quartz will soon become more compact, as there are two small leaders (apart from the reef) about 18 inches in the hangingwaU, converging sharply to the main portion of the reef, both of which have yielded a little picked stone since my last. The lode is not so large in the eastern drive, but it is more defined. We are getting on as quickly as possible with the wheel.—'J. G. Vivian."