Page image
Page image

127

C—3

Hibernian Claim (Area, 20 acres; owners, Eoss and party; mine-manager, Matthew Young).—■ This claim is operated on by ground-sluicing. No work has been done on it for over a year, but a start has just been made again. There is eight miles of water-races, with a right for three heads, and 40 chains of 15 in. pipes, valued at £1,000. Six men are employed. Naseby Dredging and Hydraulic Sluicing Claim (Area, 100 acres; mine-manager, H. Bavenwood). —This claim, which is operated on by elevating, was only worked for seven months of the year through scarcity of water. There were 14,000 cubic yards of gravel treated during that period, yielding 203 oz. 3 dwt. of gold, valued at £782 4s. Three men were employed. Brown Brothers Claim (Area, 149 acres; owner, J. Brown; mine-manager, Moses Brown). — This claim, which is situated at Kyeburn, is worked by elevating and ground-sluicing. 1 acre, or 49,360 yards, of gravel were operated on during the year, which gave a yield of 308 oz. 10 dwt. of gold, valued at £1,187 14s. 6d. There are three water-races —one, of two miles, supplying three heads; one, fourteen miles, twelve heads; and three miles, four heads—the supplies from which are intermittent. There is a total length of 3,500 ft. of pipes, with all connections, two elevators, &c, valued at £1,000. The water-races are valued at £4,000. Seven men and two boys are employed. The owners say a claim of 61 acres has just been floated by them for the purpose of putting on a dredge, the name of the company being the Naumai Gold-dredging Company (Limited). Enterprise Claim (Area, 20 acres; owner, Francis F. Brown). —This claim is worked by elevating, 1 acre being operated on during the year,' from which 100 oz. of gold was obtained, valued at £385. The length of pipes is 660 ft., valued at £500. Two men were employed. Kyeburn. Reed Brothers' Claim (Area, 13 acres; owners, Eeed Brothers; mine-manager, Nicholas Eeed). —This claim is operated on by elevating, acres being worked during the year. The water-race is half a mile in extent, and pipes 180 yards, 13in.-19in., with a pressure of 100 ft. Value of plant and water-races, £300. Three men were employed. A considerable number of parties, including some Chinese, find employment throughout this district. St. Bathan's. Scandinavian Claim (Area, 47 acres; owners, Scandinavian Water-race Company; manager, Neil Nicholson). —The face of wash here is 120 ft., worked by hydraulic and elevating, the waterpressure being that due to a head of 350 ft. The water-race is twenty-five miles long, and has first rights to twenty-five Government heads from the Manuherikia Eiver, a good portion of which is sold to other claims in the locality, the balance being used by the company. The yield of gold for the last year was 520 oz. This is one of the earliest worked claims in the district, and the owners were the first to bring in a good water-supply. Several other claims owned by small parties are also worked in this locality. The outfall for the tailings is by Muddy Creek, the channel of which has become filled up with tailings. It has been with great difficulty that a sludge-channel could be kept open, and various devices were resorted to, embankments built with tailings and matagowrie bushes being chiefly used. It has now been decided by the Government to grant a subsidy for this channel, and. the use of plank fluming instead of embankments has been recommended. The United M and Jtfl Company have two claims. That adjoining Mr. Swing's Kildare Hill claim comprises an area of about 24 acres. The auriferous wash is overlain by a considerable thickness of barren ground. One nozzle and one elevator are ordinarily at work. The latter uses five heads of water, at a pressure due to a vertical height of 350 ft. The sluicing-nozzle passes four heads from a height of 180 ft. Depth of elevator, 55 ft. Four men are employed in the claim and one man on the races. Morgan and Hughe's Claim, Shepherd's Flat (Area, 8 acres). —This claim adjoins Mr. Ewing's Shepherd's Flat claim, and is worked by sluicing, four men being employed. Work is carried on for eight hours per day, and water stored in dams at night. The face is about 100 ft. deep. Stones are filled by hand into a truck and hauled up an incline by a winch driven by a Pelton wheel. Hunt's Claim. —Two men were employed sluicing, a large body of barren ground overlying the wash being first washed away. Eights are held for eight heads of water from Dunstan Creek, and the race is six miles long. Eagle's Claim. —This claim adjoins that of the United M and E Company, and has an area of 3 acres. The auriferous wash has a dip of about 75° from the horizontal, and the easily accessible portion of it has been worked. For the last two years the work has been of a non-remunerative character, a large amount of barren ground having to be sluiced off in order to expose the deeper payable wash, the thickness of which is estimated at 100 ft. measured at right angles to the inclination of the deposit. Mr. Eagle states that the gold is not concentrated in his claims as in some of the neighbouring workings, but is more generally distributed through the entire wash. Water is conveyed from Mount St. Bathan's in a race seven miles long, and is high enough to give a pressure due to a vertical height of 400 ft. The work is carried on with about half the available pressure. The claimholders have a right to four heads of water. The pipe-line commences with a diameter of 22 in. and diminishes to 7 in. Two men are employed. Gallacher and Party (Area, 3 acres). —This claim is situated between the township and the Scandinavian Claim, and has been worked for many years with a fair amount of success. Two men are employed. There is a small amount of water at a low head with which the sluicing is ordinarily done, but a two-head supply, with a pressure due to a head of 300 ft., is brought from the Scandinavian Company and used principally for breaking down the heaviest part of the ground. A, small elevator is used at this claim.

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert