TAILINGS FROM THE BLUE SPUR.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 130, 4 August 1870, Page 5

TAILINGS FROM THE BLUE SPUR.

(communicated.)

From time to time the tailings discharged from the claims on the Blue Spur have proved a source of annoyanco to the claimholders themselves, and also a cause of much litigation between the holders of claims, and the owners of property, whose interests were injuriously affected by the raising of the beds of the gullies. Many holders of claims in the gullies have been bought out, and holders of residence areas have been compensated for damage done to their dwellings and gardens by the overflow of tailings and water, until at length there is less difficulty with the tailings than there was four or five years ago. Long tail-races have been built from the claims on the top of the tailings down and across the gullies in various directions, and as the outflow of tailings fills up the low ground, the races are extended onwards. It is the occupation of the main bodies of tailings in Gabriels and' Munros gullies with tail-races that renders any extensive washing of tailings out of the question for a long time to come. The water from the different tail-races is also discharged at so many widely different points as to be unserviceable for the purpose, and the tailings are two poor to pay for washing with water and labour paid for at present prices. A much larger quantity of gold was lost in the tailings four or five years ago than now, as inefficient appliances were then used, and the miners had less practical experience than they now have. Long well paved races now extend from the claims down the gullies, and boxes with Venetian ripple bottoms and perforated iron plate bottoms are placed to save the fine gold which runs over the paving. It is quite impossible, even with the very best appliances hitherto discovered to save the whole of the gold contained in the cement ; but the quantity now lost is comparatively small, and probably does not exceed five or six per cent. A portion of the gold lost is disseminated in minute quantities throughout the mundic or iron pyrites, and could not be profitably extracted by any known process. A large proportion of the gold lost is discharged from the races either adhering to or encased in unbroken cement, and in most cases the cement is not sufficiently rich to pay for being; broken smaller by manual labour, and suitable machinery has not yet been invented or tried. The cement, when exposed for a long time to atmospheric changes, becomes s.oft and friable, and crumbles to such an extent that if rewashed much of the gold lost might be saved. Many parties have washed the tailings for a time, but all attempts have failed to secure payable returns except two. The two parties who were well repaid for their labour were Messrs. Syrett&Co., who washed out the head of Morrison's Gully on the Gabriels side, and Messrs. Elliot and Christie, who had a successful washing in Holy Joe's Gully, on the Munros side. There can be no reasonable doubt but that the whole of the tailings in Gabriels and Munros gullies adjacent to the Blue Spur will bo re-washed at some future time, either by a combination of the hill companies who may wish to work their claims at a lower level, or by the water companies when water is no longer in demand on the Spur for want of fall.