MINING MEMORANDA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 211, 15 February 1872, Page 6

MINING MEMORANDA.

The Orkney Reef at Thompson's Creek, says tbe " Cromwell Argus," (about nine miles from Bondigo, on the Manuherikia slope of the Dunstan range) is being worked with every prospect of success. Two men have been engaged for eleven weeks driving a tunnel to cut the reef, and up till Saturday last 122 feet had been completed. Tho rock becomes more mullocky as the tunnel progresses, and it is expected that the reef will be struck after driving six or eight I'eet further. Between 80 and 100 tons of stone were raised from the shaft some time ago, and a test crushing of four tons yielded 1 oz. 11 dwts. 12 grs. per ton. The gold was the best ever obtained from any reef in the province up to that date.

Wo see by the' Auckland papers that matters are now so contrived that the miners working in the Caledonian Claim can only have access to one room at the head of the shaft. There they have to strip and pass naked before a detective into another, where they dress before leaving for meals or sleep. What a pity some contrivance could not be made to keep equally clear tho consciences of directors, who, according to Auckland reports, abstract, in one way and the other, from the pockets of confiding scrip buyers tho value ot' many tons of specimens. Until some such invention is perfected, and in daily use, it cannot be surprising that the men employed in the mine should have struck, and declared that they would not submit to systematic degradation. A telegram from the manager to the directors, announcing the strike, winds up, ' I will be firm " ; but later on we observe concessions have been made, and work resumed.

The " Californian Chronicle " rcporfs : — DevelopmfMita have recently been made at the Gwin mine in Lower Rich Gulch, unparalleled in the history of quartz operations in this State. A stratum of rock has been discovered in the main shaft, at tbe depth of 4<oo fvet, that for richness eclipses anyihin£ of which we ever heard or read. The strangest feature in the development is, however, that the rock recently discovered so closely resembles the slate of which the walls of the lead are composed, thntithas heretofore been taken out and thrown away with the other debris from tbe mine. Tho stratum mentioned lies next to the foot wall, and is about a foot in width and thickness. In colour and formation it so nearly resembles slate that it requires a close examination to distinguish the two from each other. It was discovered that this singular deposit, instead of being slate, was a mass of sulphurets, carrying freehold in abundance. A portion of the rock was brought to town and critically assayed by Dr. James Hepburn. Two and ahalf ounces yielded 166 grs. of gold ; or, in other words, at the rate of 53,1-10 dols. per ton. Should thia stratum prove to bo one of the permanent component parts of the lead, there is no calculating the amount of gold that will be taken from it. If ore of equal richness has ever before been found there is no record of it.

The "CoromandeL Mail" thus speaketh : — " Wynyarton road metal has received its first test at the battery of the Nil Desperandum Gold Mining Company, and the quality is proved to be very satisfactory. Indeed, so much so, that did the township but possess inhabitants, the bonus obtainable for permission to construct a main sewer would yield a pretty dividend to tbe citizens. O, happy township ! — a revenue instead of a rate — a heritor's income instead of a house tax.

Mr. Bust and party, says the "Southern Cross," (Auckland), have been engaged prospecting for some time on the quartz ridges at the back of the township of Wangarei. Our correspondent says : — ■ Mundiq has

been found, and there js a'deterrmu.ation oil the part of the leading merr ,~ chants to have the quarts-hills '^ thoroughly prospected, and the quartztested at the Thames. It was re: ported on Saturday that the Maorif have found gold-bearing quartz at Maun^ak.iramea, and that some specimens were sent to Auckland by Captain Anderson, of the Clyde, last trip. A3 the workmen wer~e"~eHga~geis metalling the road from Mr. Johnston-*?-to Meldrum's Hill, they cut through a; ■ bed of chalk ani clay, some of whjcfci has been tried, and it forms an excel? lent substitute for whiting. Qu§ peculiarity about it is that, when a lump is dropped iuto water, it caused a slight effervescence.' This rMy explain, or heln to explain, the cause of.the famous Whangarei "Soda Springs'* that are in the immediate vicinity,- . though at a much lower level. Great excitement prevails^ at Win» - nepeg, North America, in consequence of a reported discovery of gold near; Lake Shebandowan. -A great number, " of people are proceeding thither.

The dividends from various claims ia ■ the Sandhurst district paid to one gentleman alone, amounted last year to -the sum of £40,000, and had one been just inside instead of outside, of the old year his income, from'£htssource alone, would have averaged £1000 per week. In regard to the question of tliQ t deepest mine in the colony, ' the " Balarat Star " states :— " In " the mining statistics last issued, the Albion shaft, Steiglitz, is given as the - deepest, but the New North Clunes now exceeds the Albion in deptb. The New North Clunes pump shaft is now 910 ft deep, and is, no doubt, the deepest in the colony. It is still being suuk, the plan of the directors being to reach a depth of i2QQft. or thereabout,"

A gold prospecting expedition, under the leadership of Mr. Barryj well known in connection with the earlier history of the Thames goldfield, has started from Auckland to the Tairua district, in which favorable indications are said to have been lately discovered.