THE GREY DISTRICT QUARTZ REEFS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 565, 9 October 1869, Page 2

THE GREY DISTRICT QUARTZ REEFS.

IMPOETANT DISCOVEEIES. (From the Argus!) An enormously rich quartz specimen was brought to town on Tuesday evening from a newly discovered reef in the Moonlight district, and its exhibition yesterday caused quite a fever of excitement. The specimen was nearly solid gold, and is the richest that has yet been brought from the Moonlight district, where valuable gold-bearing reefs have now been proved to exist in numbers. We will state the simple facts connected with this discovery as they have been related to us, leaving them in the meantime to speak for themselves, as we have no wish to get up any spurious excitement. Some three months ago, a number of gentlemen in town formed themselves into a company and obtained a lease of sixteen acres of land at the junction of the middle and left - hand branches of the Moonlight Creok, and immedi-

ately set men to work to drive a tailrace up the left-baud branch, in order to cut through any reefs which were supposed to exist there. In this work they were joined by two men paid by parties who had taken up a claim on the opposite side of the creek. During their operations they cut through several leaders, and about a fortnight ago came upon a clearly defined quartz reef, showing gold. They 'hove right through this, and found that it was four feet thick. This discovery was reported to the prospectors in town, but they gave orders for the men to continue driving to the boundary of the claim in order fully to test the value of the ground. The result was that two days ago they struck another leader, from which they broke specimens showing gold iu abundance, the richest of which was one small piece weighing 2ozs, and containing li-ozs of gold. The men immediately left oft' and came to town. They state that the casings, which are of a rnullocky slate, witli quartz intermixed, are as rich as the specimens brought down, gold being clearly visible all through. Yesterday a company was formed to work the reef, called the Band of Hope. Last night a meeting of the promoters was held, at which it was decided that not a share should be placed in the market until the discovery was thoroughly tested. In the meantime, the prospectors are to work for two months sinking a shaft from the bank right on to the reef, then drive along the line of reef to test its size and value, and then to send a ton of stone down to be crushed. The result will be anxiously looked for. Out of the number of companies which have lately taken up mining leases in the Moonlight District only three others in addition to the Band of Hope—uamely, the Moonlight, Mawhera, and Sunrise—are at work. A large number of men are employed in the works on these claims, and rich reefs have been found in each, from which quantities of specimens have been sent to town. The overseer of the Sunrise Company reports having found three new reefs in his ground. The upper reef in the Moonlight claim has been driven right through, and is found to be six feet of solid quartz, withgolddistributedallthrough it. The crushing machinery is being rapidly erected, and is expected to be in full work in a few weeks. The last recorded sale of a share in this company was for £9G.