MINING MEMORANDA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume IV, Issue 221, 25 April 1872, Page 8

MINING MEMORANDA.

I'AMBAROORA COLDFIEUDS

We take the following respecting the above from a Melbourne paper :—: — " The ancient fame of this district appears to have been permanently revived; and it is said that in November last when the members of a special com- i mission from Sydney visited it to inquire into its requirements, what with , gold in quartz, gold in slate, gold' crystallised in tubes, and gold banging in strings, one of them confessed that he was quite weary of looking at such riches. Tarabaroora is a postal mining township in the electoral and police district of Wellington, New South Wales. At a distance of about ten miles to tbe westward runs the Macquarie River, taking a course from S.E. to N.W. The mining towns of Hargraves and Sofala are distant from Tambaroora eighteen and twenty miles respectively, the roads being most abominably rough. The geological formation is granite and quartz-bearing slate. The district is entirely :i mining one, both alluvial aud quactz mining having been carried on for many years, but the former has gradually given way to the latter. The line of reef now occupied extends four miles north of Hill End, and ten miles south of Chamber's Creek, or a distance of fourteen miles. In this long line there is but little spare ground, and throughout goldeu stones may be found in greater or less quantity cropping out on the surface. Old workings mark the course of the reefs, but the appearanceof these poor attempts show bow little was known by the workers of modern mining. As soon as a difficulty in the shape of a hardish bar of rock was met with, or a fault, the place was abandoned for a .surface patch at hand. But a better guide than compass on old workings exists, a distinct bar of rock marking the western limit of the reefs, and extending from the north end of Hawkin's Plill to the granite bluff at Chamber's Creek. This bar divides the reefs and country, having a westerly underlay ; it is a strange natural feature of the place. The eastern underlay is the favourite, and deservedly so, not more than one or two samples existing where the western was any good ; but this may arise from want of knowledge of the western underlay. North of Hawkin's Hill, along the red Bed Hill to Tambaroora, the country, that is on the ! surface southward is covered with a bed of clay and slate to an average depth of 200 feet. In this slate are numerous reefs, having patches of rich stone, and on it are situated the old alluvial gullies which rendered this place famous about twenty years since. A correspondent thus writes : — The mines are improving, and the more the miners become acquainted with them the better they like them, and Hawkin's Hill bids fair to prove richer in gold than any mine in the world. I was told that £10,000 was offered, the^other day ancl refused for one-fourth share in Croman's claim — £14,000 being the price wanted for it. Tin's is valuing 120 feet of ground at «£G 1,000. To sum up, in the words of an old experienced miner, ' the country is one vast chain of gold-bearing reefs for miles, of which Hawkin's Hill will be the great centre, and eventually the Sandhurst of New South Wales.' Tnmbaroora is situated IGB miles from Sydney. Since the above was written the following item h?s been flashed through Australia by the electric wire's: — ' Reliable news from Tauabaroora states that tie vein of gold through Paxton's claim appears as' a regular pillar of gold between fche slate casing. Old miners say that nothing was ever known like it. There is scarcely a bit of quartz to be seen.' "

Mr Severn, of the Thames goldSel'J, hnH 'oit upon a new plan of squeezing Lhe mercury in amalgamating processes. Of the old and the new plans he writes as follows : — " By the coutinued process of twisting, the mercury is all squeezed through, leaving the amalgam within. This takes time, tears the leather lo pieces, and generally causes loss of mercury. v My P^-U is very simple. A cast-iron chamber, like an inverted flower-pot, and some 12 inches deep. At the lower enn is a ridge in the casting. On this is a circular piece of leather. The mercury is poured in (say half a bucketful) ; the lid is then screwed on and the tap from my water tanks, some thirteen feet high, is turned on. The force of this sends the whole of the mercury through the leather in some six seconds, and it falls into a bucket in which the machine stands'. I cannot patent it, so I intend taking my chance. I meau, lam too poor to run the risk of a patent. It answers most admirably, and will no doubt be used by every mill. The cost is only £4. " The old Alabama claim, on the SJiotover, is again' yielding returns similar to those of its early days. On Friday, the company took four ounces to the dish off the bottom of a small shaft — the wash, it is stated, being nearly five feet in thickness. The Blind-Stab Company, below t<bem, are also said to have dropped upon something "good." The river has not been so low for years, and there is little doubt, should we have a dry, winter, that a large quantity of g&ld will be obtained from it during the season. — -" Wakatip Mail." News from Cor'omandel continues of the same 'favourable' character as that' formerly received; * '