OUR MINES

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4667, 19 December 1883, Page 2

OUR MINES

NEW PRINCE IMPERIAL

[ At No. 5 level the No. 2 reef in thi eastern drive continues to look well; in th< : face it is quite 18 inches wide of solu i quartz, showing gold each breaking, anc carrying good minerals. The country is also favorable. A leading stope is being brought along, and here also gold is seen the reef being the same size as in the drive The drive has now been advanced quit< 50 feet past the end of the block beinp stoped. "Westward of the shaft, One stop* is in progress between the break and th< winze, being about 30 feet from the latter i The reef looks well, showing gold freelj each breaking, and also yielding smal ' parcels of picked stone and specimens From the back of this stope there is abou Bft. to the level. Seaward of the breal two stopes are in hand, the lowest being some 30/t. from the boundary, where . there is 20ft. of backs yet. The ree looks well and shows gold freely in both ' A third one was commenced at the break, | and at the first breaking, the lode, which yields, quite 3ft. wide of crushing dirt, carried the precious metal freely, but 1 owing to the ventilation being bad the manager has removed the men to No. 4 level, and started them to sink, so as to hole through. About 10ft of ground remains to be taken out here. The stopes on No. 1 reef at this ievel have not been looking quite so well lately, but the reel is improving again in a stope just commenced from the winze. At No. 3 level the eastern drive on. the same reef is in ■ t progress, and a little gold is seen in the quartz. A retorting of the amalgam on hand will take place on Monday. DEEP LEVEL CROSS. The contractors' winze from No. 5 level is now about 125 feet in depth, and as the rise from the 640 feet level is up over 40 feet, a little more than 40 feet should break through. Neither winze nor rise is on quartz. The stopes on the footwall branch of the cross reef are being continued as usual, and stopinghas also been commenced on the hangingwall branch abovo an intermediate level opened out from the winze. The reef here is large, but has shown no gold. The foot and hangingwall branches of No. 2 reef are now included in one stope, and there are 15 feet of backs to No. 4 level above the highest point worked. The footwall branch looks weli, yielding a few pounds of picked stone or specimens occasionally, and the dirt from the other workings is shaping payably. Ten head of stamps are now employed. After the holidays the manager will commeqee driving south on the footwall branch of the cross-reef at No. 5 level, to open up a new block, and an intermediate level will also be entered from the winze below No. 5 as soon as communication is effected with the 640-feet level. DAEWHST. The western drive on the reef is now in 36ft. from the c' amber. A few feet back from the face the country on the hangingwall was disturbed by several small clay heads, but the footwall of the reef was not affected. Since then the reef has greatly changed .ie—appearance; it has opened out, beftjff abaat 4ft. wide in the face, is lying in a better class of sandstone, and the minerals are altogether different tothosefoundin the stone where the shaft passed through it. Antimony, copper, silvery and dark mundic, and what is known as "stratamata/'arosiny substance, are freely distributed through the stone. All these minerals are good signs for gold, a color or two of which was seen for the first time for several feet this morning. The junction of the footwall leader has not been met with yet, but the manager expects it to come to hand very shortly. A, start was made to-day to clear a space for the erection of hoppers, and when these are finished a rise will be put up 15 feet seaward of the chamber, a drive advanced behind the shaft, and stoping commenced. CAMBRTA. ' Three shifts of one man in each arc at at. present employed stripping the Darwin reef eastward. The dig was in to the boundary to-day, and the reef will be taken'down towards the end of the week. Three shifts of two men in each will shortly be put on in this drive, so as to advance it as quickly as possible. BRIGHT SMILE. Mr Senior has been formally appointed te the management of this mine, vice the late Mr J. Garvey. Ten head of stamps are. engaged crushing at the Queen of Beauty mill, and it is probable that the quartz will be through in. time to clean up before' Christmas,