Southern Mining.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5048, 18 March 1885, Page 3

Southern Mining.

Tbe following are the Reefton battery returns for the week ending the sth inst,: — Keep-it-Dark "Company, 2460zs of amalgam from 180 tons stone ; Inglewood Extended, 310ozi of amalgam from 151 tons, including boxes; Inkerman, 150ozs amalgam. At the monthly meeting of the Keep-it-Dark directors, a dividend of one shilling per 20,000 th share was deolared. A prospecting party is at work iv the vicinity of Woodtille, for the purpose of obtaining traces of alluvial- or quartz gold. Good quartz has been found in several places in the district, and has evidently been cftrried down from the range. There are many persons in the Wairarapa who firmly believe that gold exists right through the Tararua ranges, and their opinion is based upon the awriferous quartz that has been, picked up from time to time in different places. . The Cromwell Argus of the 3rd inst says:—Dredging, a olass of mining which has heretofore been overlooked io this district, seems now coming to the front. The company formed for' the Kawarau George have entered into » contract; for the uoDslfuctipn of fbelr dredge. Two

special claims have also been applied for on the Upper Clutlm—one at Sandy Point and the other above the Luggata punt— i for dredging. One of the parties intend , a3 scon as tho claim is granted to put on a consisting of the latest appliances costing from £15CO to £2000. It .seema extraordinary that this method of gold getting Las never been trieJ on the Upptir Clutha before. There are many pieces between Cromwell and Albertown where good gold has been traced into the river in the early days some 18 or 20 year 3 ago. No effort has been previously made, wilh tho exception of the great dam . oparalions at Quartz Beef Point, which resulted so badly by the bis flcod coming down to ob'a' i the deposits known to exist. The river offers peculiar facilities for dredging, as there are no rocky gorges. The liver running for the most part between alluvial 'erraces, there are not many large boulders or rcjks, and comparatively few tailings have been :un info it. There is no doubt that once started this will prove a most profitable investment.