MINERAL LEASES.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 29 June 1881, Page 2

MINERAL LEASES.

•» (TO THE BDtTOB 18-AIT&AfItTA TIMES.] Sib,— At the last sitting of the Warden's Cooft in Kevfton, Mr Bayfeild applied for a gold mining lease of sixteen and a»balf acres of land situated near Lanky's Gully, a short distance above Crnsbington. There was a strong op* position to its being granted, by some who were acquainted with the nature of the ground, and also by some who were not. The Warden, therefore declined to recommend the application, the evidence going to show the grounJ probably con«. tamed alluvial gold, which could be worked by small parties of miners. The ground in question is high up on a spnr of tho range— Lanky's Gully intersecting the spur on one side, and Stoney Creek sweeping in under its high perpendicular cliff* on the other. The pronnd lies above any that alluvial gold (supposing that in a free state) has been found in, and is covered with patches of hard cement conglomerate, yielding gold in paying quantities, if machinery were employed to crush it. Years ago, before any quartz crushing machines were re' quired on the Inangabua, Messrs Adam Smith, Watson, and Gulline, erected a small battery of three or four wooden stamps, driven by a water wheel to crush this cement, they having a lease of part of the ground now applied for. The yield was payable, being from 7 to 25 dwts to the ton j but owing to the small quantities they were able to put through, and tbe difficulty of obtaining a permanent supply of water to drive a larger wheel, the affair was unprofitable* Soon after, Adam Smith discovered tho line of reef now bearfng his name, and the parts ners transferred their attention to tbe famous Wealth of Nations mine, of which they became shareholders, and the cement lease and all its belongings was allowed to lapse. For years it remained unworked, an occasional fossicker or explorer breaking off pieces of cement, but feeling convinced it were useless to commence work without facilities for crushing. After a time, Mr Alexander "Ross prospecting the steep little creeks that deßcend the flanks of the spur, found in a narrow and coDfined rnn fine gold in paying quantities. This he traced op to a small plateau or basin at tbe bead of those creeks, and immediately below the existing layers of cement, The gold that be and others obtained is of the same quality as the cement gold. The wash in which it was obtained consisted of decomposed cement, and occasionally blocks hard and untritorated would be found amongst it, No alluvial has been found above this. On the ledges of tbe spur, and in the creeks below patches have been and are still working, but

nbove it are high smds'one bluffo cov^r* ing layers of ceraen^. this is Ihn grounl applied for. It does not include an y ground held under miner's rights, cvi the granting of it would not interfere with existing arrangements. Between these bluffs and the alluvial patches, ara small layers of cement, denuded by time, and the elements of their rocky cover-* ings. Some of this is being worked br hand, the process being in this rainner : The cemented qiirtz gravel is from 3 to 5 feet thick, there is gold tlmugh tho whole, bat it is bnst on the bottom or where it rests on the rock. All oor. r tho upper part is thrown away, and a few inches in depth of ibe lowest is sated, broken up, and then roughly pounded in a morlar. The tailings from this process, when assayed, yield a larger percentage of gold than the workers obtain by their primitive method of working. As I have shown, it is no new find, and to imke it profitable it must bo worked on a system. That necessarily includes a large outlay for machinery, tramways, drives, &3., for which as a first necessity a secure tenuro and large area would be required. In Otago large areas of cement are worked, and are held under 10-acre leases, a procedure that might well be adopted in this case. Those checks to the outlay of capital do not advance the district. The next thing we shall bear of will be John Chinamin claiming bis share of ti»r> - cement, gnd-iftitn J<?hn Rgtn to lliuruughl y understand there are pickings to belnf out of it, -^However BmaM, r his white*.brother will then scarcely think he Ins reserved it for a good purpose,— l am, sir, &c, A Miner. Black's Point, June 2 Uh. 1881.