47

C—s

COPPER-MINING. During last year a discovery was made of a lode containing copper-ore in the Woodville District, at Maharahara. This lode is situate on the eastern slopes of the Euahine Eange abo'it thirteen miles from Woodville, and near the head of the western branch of the Manga-atu Creek, about 2,200 ft. above sea-level. The lode or block of ore that crops out on the surface consist chiefly of red-chert rock and haematite, intersected here and there with a little green carbonate of copper or malachite, chrysocolla, and chalcopyrite or copper-pyrites. The lode, where it crops out on the surface, is about 12ft. in thickness; but, as there had been scarcely any work done on it at the time of my visit in November last, it. is difficult to state definitely what the real thickness of the lode is, or whether it is only a slip from the main range. On examining the lode along its course it seems greatly broken up, and in the bed of the creek a large quantity of this lode-material is found, showing that a slip has taken place at some time and covered the side of the range with isolated blocks of lode-stuff in this manner. Before anything can be known definitely whether the outcrop on the surface is portion of a slip or not, an adit will have to be constructed some distance below the outcrop, and the lode, if it then continue to go down, will thus be cut through and determined. The presence of copper in this lode of ironstone is a good indication that a fair percentage of copper-ore will be found at a good depth. In Cornwall the whole of the copper-lodes contain a very large proportion of gossan on the outcrop ; and after going down 200 ft. and 300 ft. the gossan is replaced by copper-ores. Indeed, it is seldom that a payable copper-lode in Cornwall is found within 150 ft. of the surface. The great indication there being gossan on the outcrop. The side of the range where the out-crop of this lode occurs is very steep, and the apparent dip or inclination of the lode is in the same direction as the inclination of the surface, so that an aditlevel could be constructed at a very small outlay to test this lode at a depth of, say, 200 ft. below the outcrop. Unless a rich lode of copper-ore were found in this locality, it would not pay for working at the present low value of copper. There is, however, richer ore to be found in isolated blocks in the western branch of the Manga-atu Creek than what I could find in the lode, or even would expect to find near the surface. Where those blocks came from had not been discovered at the time of my visit to the district. MINING COMPANIES. The following is a list of the companies who published a statement of affairs in compliance with " The Mining Companies Act, 1886 " :—