MINING MEMORANDA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 201, 7 December 1871, Page 6

MINING MEMORANDA.

The Hokitika "Leader" reports chat the lead at the Totara Lagoon, which was recently rushed, is found to extend northwards. Those who have struck the lead are . reported to be making £>\ to an ounce of gold per man per day. We barn from Brighton* (West Coast) that the southern diggings of that place, are turning out heavy parcels of gold. The yield of gold at the Thames for October amounted to 15,155 ozs. from 8080 tons of stone. Of this the Caledonian claim yielded 4740 ozs. ; the All Nations, 1105, and the Nonpariel, 850. 2000 ozs. were obtained from tailings. The City of Hobart Company, Fiugal, Tasmania, obtained 233 ounces of gold from a crushing of 137 tons of stone. More goldfields discoveries have taken place on the Island. A claim in the Charleston district has turned out £5000 worth of gold within the last two and a half y ears. A practical miner, writing to the " West Coast Times " on the beach diggings north of Charleston, remarks :—lt: — It is astonishing how people accommodate themselves to their means when the opportunity of bettering the same no longer exists. Some time ago the gentry known as " beach-combers " were considered the very Pariahs of the mining community, but now they are looked upon as the secondary pillars of the. place. They are a rising caste, engrossing the attention of speculators and drawing to themselves the notice and respect of hotelkeepers — male and female. An experienced Australian reefer now at the Innn^ahna writes to a private friend in Nelson, on the 27th ult., as follows : — " I have boen to visit our reefs at Inangahua and Murray Creek?, distant from Westport 65 miles, or thereabouts. I was very agreeably surprised indeed fco find such an extent of reefs as exist there, and are now | open d. Just fancy to yourself a mountain or leading range, running east and west, where, at an elevation of 1000 feet, there are three lines of reefs running at right angles tb?-ough the range; and, strange to tell, about 300 feet from the top, the reefs crop out on each side of the hill. I spent, three weeks examining the various claims, and I am quite sure, from what I have seen, they will pay from 2oz. to 4ob. to the ton. In fact they are proved by crushings of stone tak-tii from them. All that is wanted now is machinery to crush the stone. There is^one steam machine, now being conveyed fi-oin Westport to the reefs, and another is on its way from Melbourne." The Auckland correspondent of the "" Evening Star " writes as follows:,— " The shartTtoarket has been very dull all the month. The Caledonians were down to £70, but are now up to .£9O. A sensation was created in the market by a report that the Caledonian claim had struck a very rich reef close to the Tookey claim, and which appeared to nn into it. The Tookey shares rose from £30 fco sG49, but are now quoted at £4<o. It is reported that some speculators despatched a steamer to Melbourne with orders to agents there to buy up all the Tookey shares that could be got; It must be mentioned that the claim is principally owned by Victorian speculators. A telegram was despatched by way of Taurangato catch the Melbourne steamer ; if it has done so it is probable that the speculators here may have all their trouble for nothing, as I do not hear that anything beyond the probable or possible has been ascertained." We (G-rey " Argus ") have seen a letter from an old resident of this town «it present at Currajoug, the scene of the latest rush in New South Wales. The information he gives may be relied upon as correct He left Greymouth for Grulgong, but found the place overdone, and numbers of West Coast miners walking about doing nothing, not being able to get a show. The news arriving of fresh gold having been struck at Currajong, which, by the bye, is a very old digging*, beiug one of the first opened in New South Wales, there was a general stampede to the new rush, which is about 129 miles away from Grulgong, and situated on the banVs of the TSillibong, about four miles from Forbes. Business sites were being taken up in every direction, but as yetlittle doiug, as the miners are about the poorest that the writer ever met with, and are glad to earn a few coppers by carrying water. Provisions are cheap and abundant, while horses range from ss. and upwards. The lead that had been struck was rich, but • very narrow, and the ground was shepherded for miles on its supposed line " A nugget weighing upwards of four ounces, was brought into Blenheim (Marlborough) lately by Mr. Birsa. It was found near Bartlett's Creek, and is slightly impregnated with quartz At the Ahaura, there are rumors of a probable rush to the Moonlight district when the tine weather sets in. During last week a terrace over Stewart's G-ully was marked out for a distance, but beyond the fact that it is situated in a good locality, there is not much thought of it yet. The scene of the expected rush, is somewhere between the upper tributaries of Canoe Greek and the head of the middle or main, bran,ch of MoonUs** 1

There are whispers abroad, says the t( Southern Cross," and at the corners, and amongst the gharebrokers, of something very good indeed as likely to come out of Coromandel. Great prospects, it is said, havebeen obtained out of some of the reefs, which promise returns against which the Caledonian will not bear the slightest comparison. Allotments for commercial stands are being quietly looked up, and shares are held for higher figures. Nothing definite is stated. All at present is speculation, closely enveloped in mystery. There is seldom smoke without fire, and so it is quite possi^e something may have become known in favour of this district which has not been freely divulged.

The "Charleston Argus" says: — From the Grey up-river diggings, we learn that in the No Town* district, the new rush, or rather the extension and re-occupation of the abandoned claims at Cockney Terrace is causing a great stir. This terrace is situated on the range above Fisher and Conner's claim, at Irishtown; it was rushed some months ago, but the first rush to the locality took place about the time Paddy's Gully was in its glory. There are said to be three distinct runs of auriferous washdirt on this beach.