51

C.—s

the washed ore to a compact mass; and some of the fine stuff is similarly treated, but with only 7 per cent. This, however, is only necessary at starting, as it is found that when the furnace has been blowing for eight or ten days the materials may be charged in powder without in any way injuring the working of the furnace. The products of the blast-furnace are crude-antimony metal, slag, and fine stuff. The first is divided into three classes, of the following composition : — No. J. No. 2. No. 3. Antimony ... ... ... 90-02 ... 73-80 ... 65-04 Iron ... ... ... 6-23 ... 16-16 ... 23-80 Sulphur ... ... ... 2-85 ... 8-42 ... 10-46 The first two qualities are sent to the refining-furnace, while No. 3 goes back to the blastfurnace. The relative proportions are—No. 1 82-5, No. 29, and No. 3 8-5 per cent, of the total output of the furnace. The slags produced in the blast-furnace vary slightly in comparison with the smelting-mixtures. Thus : — No. 1. No. 2. Silica ... ... ... ... ... ... 46-9 ... 45-9 Lime ... ... ... ... ... ... 34-6 ... 31-4 Ferrous oxide ... ... ... ... ... 15-1 ... 19-9 Antimony ... ... ... ... ... 0-5 ... 0-9 The first is produced from mixture (a), and the second from (b). There is very little flue-dust produced in the blast-furnace, the bulk of the product being derived from the preliminary operation of calcining the dressed ores. This is done in a single-bedded reverberatory furnace 26ft. 6in. long, and 6ft. 6in. wide, with five working-doors on one side. It is heated with brown coal, which is burned on a step-grate. The produce is about 24cwt. psr day. The ore, which is charged in quantities of 4cwt. at a time, clots and softens, giving off a large quantity of sulphurous acid as soon as it attains a low red heat, but subsequently becomes dry again, and when finished is in a state of powder. The average time that the ore remains in the furnace is twenty hours. The liquated residues are roasted in stalls upon a bed of old mine-timber, the heap being allowed to burn for five or six weeks. The refining of the crude blast-furnace metal is conducted in a reverberatory furnace with an iron bed, 13ft. long by sft. 7in. wide, covered with a layer of fireclay 28in. thick. Brown coal is used on an ordinary grate in the fireplace. The working-door is on one side, and the tapping at the end of the bed. The gases on their way to the chimney pass under an iron plate below the furnace, and upon which the moulds for the refined metal are placed in order to warm them. The charge consists of 9cwt. of No. 1 metal, lcwt. of No. 2 (the first being coarsely broken, while the second is in powder), to which are added 92iHb. of sulphate of soda, 111b. of charcoal-dust, and 3301b. of unroasted ore. The operation lasts ten hours, and a final slag is made by the addition of 71b. of carbonate of potash, s|-lb. of carbonate of soda, 2Jlb. of raw T, and 13Jlb. of calcined crude antimony regulus (liquated sulphide of antimony), and 26|lb. of the same slag from previous operations. Mr. Logan, managing director of the Endeavour Inlet Antimony Company, deserves great credit for the systematic manner in which the company have gone to work, and the way in which they have conducted their operations. In starting a comparatively new industry in the colony they have had a great deal to contend with, as they have had to import several workmen from England to conduct their smelting operations. Very few in the colony are aware of antimony-mining being conducted on so large a scale as this company is carrying on. They have about fifty workmen employed, and in order to get the best class of miners and smelters they have built cottages for all their workmen, and supply them with goods at Picton prices. The miners receive 9s. and the smelters 10s. per day. There has been 3,000 tons of ore taken from the mine, some of which was sent Home for treatment —some of it realizing £10 per ton —and the rest was treated at the works. The star antimony turned out from their works is equal in quality to that from the smelting- and refining-works in London. The capital of this company is £50,000, in 50,000 shares, on which 11s. 9d. a share has been paid. Some of this money went to the shareholders in the old company for their interest in the property, but lam informed that £25,000 has been spent on their mine and works. The company consist of only fifteen shareholders, ten of whom hold the most of the shares. These are all local men, which shows that they have every confidence in the undertaking; and, if the same class of ore continues to be got in large quantities, there is little doubt but that it will prove a profitable investment. When the company first started the value of antimony in the English market was £40 per ton, but the present price is only £31; still, with the present low value, they expect to make good returns. The deadwork is now almost completed, and the company will begin to get the benefit of their labour early in this year. Coppek-mining. Champion Company, Nelson. This company has been in operation for about three years, but after having contended with a series of difficulties they now find that, after spending some £34,000, they have done very little towards prospecting the mine beyond a few feet from the surface. Steps are being taken to wind up the present company, with the view of re-forming it into another company with larger capital. A stranger visiting the mine really sees very little done for the amount of money there has been expended. To trace the history of this company, they have in a certain respect followed in the footsteps of a company that was formed many years ago to work copper in the Dun Mountain, which is on the same mineral helt of country, about five miles further northwards, and which resulted in a failure. The ground was first taken up by Messrs. Irvine and Johnston, who, after merely finding a lode on the surface, would not spend any money in prospecting, but tried to form a company with a capital of £30,000 to work the mine, a certain proportion of