c.—s

6

After being idle for some time operations have been recommenced at the Tararu Mine, Tararu Creek. These have so far taken the form of development-work, for the purpose of winning more ore and gaining increased facilities for handling the same. 1 It is to be hoped that mining in this part of the field will be again vigorously and profitably carried the Eclipse Mine the low-level tunnel has been extended during the year, with the object of below workings from a higher level. Some good stone has been cut, a crushing at the year resulting in a return showing an average value of £6 10s. 5 - 4 d. per ton. In my last report, the Monowai Mine at Waiomo was statedjato have been closed down. During the year it was taken over by a local syndicate, and on the occasion of my official visit to the district in October last I found that operations had been resumed, the low-level tunnel being cleaned up and put into good working-order. I understand that a contract has since been let for driving on the reef. The ores here are of a refractory character, and require special treatment, as compared with the general character of the quartz in the Thames portion of the goldfield. It is to be regretted that the results of operations at the Mahara Eoyal Mine, Tapu, have not been nearly so successful as they appeared to promise some two years ago. The stone has been found to be patchy, the shoots very variable in width, and—judging from the battery returns —decidedly poor in quality, the average value of stone crushed during the year being only 19s. Ofd. per ton, compared with £1 14s. 2d. as that of the previous year. Gold-saving has been by amalgamation, and, although concentrates are separated from the sands, no information as to their value is given. The Sheridan Mine (in the same locality) was worked by a company for a short time. Eesults not proving satisfactory, the property was disposed of to a small private party. Sixteen tons of quartz was crushed during the year, giving a bullion value of £115 12s. lid., equal to an average of £7 4s. 6'6d. per ton. Coming to the Coromandel portion of the Northern Goldfields, very little of a really encouraging character can be said as regards the operations carried on and the amount of precious metals produced during the past year. Mining in the locality has hitherto been, and still is, practically confined to small lodes, many of which have been found to carry very rich gold in places; small lots of " specimen " stone, rather than the general average tonnage of quartz produced, yielding the best payable returns. The late Mr. Francis Hodge, M.E., has, on more than one occasion, expressed to me his opinion that the large body of quartz which is to be seen outcropping along the road-side going up Tokatea Hill from Coromandel is the " mother-reef " of the locality, and that the various lodes and leaders upon which mining has so far been carried out are simply branches and sub-branches of this large reef. His views as to the desirability of proving the stone at depth formed the subject of a letter to me a few months previous to his death. This, together with a copy of a plan and section showing his proposals for proving the continuation of this large body of ore —which he calls " the Tokatea Big R ee f " —and its supposed position in relation to the several claims in the neighbourhood of the Upper Township, will be found in my report of last year. I may remark that in the letter referred to the late Mr. Hodge stated that " it is a well-known fact that this Big Tokatea reef is not payable down to the datum-line of sea-level. In width it varies from 20 ft. to 60 ft. It is assumed by many that this Big Eeef would, in depth, be proved to contain highly payable gold-ore, and the most economical method of testing the accuracy or otherwise of this theory would be by diamond bores." In view of the known extent of this large body of stone from surface exposures, it would, in my opinion, be a desirable course of action to have its continuity and value determined to a considerable depth below sea-level. Should it be found to five down, to maintain a good size, and carry even very moderate values, the working of this big reef and the treatment of the ore would do for Coromandel primarily, and the colony generally, a vast amount of good. The matter is not one for a small party : it would have to be taken up on comprehensive and thoroughly modern lines even as regards preliminary prospecting, and the question of the interests of existing claimholders as to this large reef — which they do not work in any case —through whose areas the reef may be found to run, settled in the first instance. As this would be an entirely new thing, and existing holders of claims have done nothing practically to prove this reef at depth, the withdrawal of their rights in respect to it would be quite equitable. Early in the present year a proposal was made to the Department for prospecting this reef at the joint expense of the local public and the Government. After inquiry, it was decided to subsidise the work at the rate of £1 for £1 up to £300 through the Coromandel County Council. Actual operations during the year have been conducted on the Hauraki Block below the township at the Old Hauraki, Bunker's Hill, Hauraki Freeholds, Golden Pah, and Success Mines. At the firstmentioned mine a pumping-plant is installed, and during the year the mine was unwatered from the 220 ft. level down to the bottom, or 410 ft., level. At this lowest level very little work has hitherto been done, and it was considered that the development of the mine at this depth might prove satisfactory. The work of repairing the shaft below the 220 ft. level and the installation of a new plunger at the bottom was both arduous and costly. Pumping from this low level was alleged to be of material benefit to the adjoining mines, the owners of which failed to satisfactorily recognise the position, and declined to contribute to the cost of drainage by the pumping operations at the Old Hauraki Mine. In consequence of this, the proprietors of the Old Hauraki Mine suspended the work of pumping, the result being that after a few days the workings of the Bunker's Hill Mine were flooded, and work there had to stop so far as operations from the shaft were concerned. Although the Hauraki Freeholds Mine was not nearly so much affected as was the Bunker's Hill Mine, the property is to some extent suffering in consequence of the water trouble. A mutual agreement as to the proportionate charges to each mine for pumping would get over the difficulty, but, failing an amicable understanding being arrived at, the only way appears to lie in the formation of a Drainage Board, or, as an alternative (and, considered from a working standpoint, the more practical method), a consolidation of interests.