THE DIAMOND DRILL.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 2 December 1881, Page 2

THE DIAMOND DRILL.

(From West Coast Times.) The Goidfield's Committeee in the General Assembly last session, urgently recommended the Government to purchase six diamond drill-boring machines. The Government, on receiving the report of the committee, placed a Bum of £300) on the Supplementary Estimates towards assisting local bodies and associations in purchasing drills, and we understand the Government has already agreed to »übsidize the Inangahua County • Council from this Vote to the extent of half the cost of a diamond drill not exceeding £1500, and to grant similar aid to the Taupeka Prospeoting Association. The Undersecretary of Mines has kindly forwarded to Mr R. 0. Reid a cop; of the following correspondence upon the subject working of dia* mond drills in Victoria : — New Zealand Mines Department, Wellington 6th Oct., 1881. 1 Sir,— With reference to previous correspondence upon the subject of assisted pros* pecting with diamond drill. lam directed to request tha.( you will be so good as to favour me with particulars of the diamond drills now used by the Victorian Goverment the cost, capabilities, and results, financially or otherwise. Any information which you may have of the npiojt recently constructed machines would also fee very acceptable. I understand that there is a lighter, more portable and less expensive maobines now made in America, capable of boring to a eon* siderable depth with great success, and if you have one of these in use the Government would fesl obliged for particulars oiil— l have &c, Outer Wakkpuld, Under-Secretary, Thomas Coachman, Esq., Secretary for Mines, Melbourne. Department of Mines and Water. Supply, Melbourne, 31st October, 1881. BIR. — In reply to your letter of the 6th instant, No. 997, I have much pleasure in supplying you with the following information respecting the diamond drills in the poasossion of this department : — Five drills are r.ow at work in tha colony, and qre located respectively at Gariabroolc, Kingston, Kilnunda, Maryborough and Stawell. The drill working at Stawell is an underground one*, capable of boring in a mine at any angle to a distance uf 500. feet. The remaining four ,are surface drills, and are capable of boring to a, depth of 1500 feet from the surfaceThe three surface drills now at Cari-brook, Kingston, and Kilcunda. were imported from the Pennsylvania Diamond Drill Company, Pottsville, Pa., U.S. and cost £4477 landed in Victoria, including all fittings complete exclusive of du.ty. The di ill at Maryborough was imported from Messrs Severance and Holt, of San Francisco : but it required certain alterations to fit it for tho work. The drill itself with fitti/igs and alterations cost about £1200. The uuderground drill was imported <rom the Pennsylvania Company, and cost £818 9s 2d with fittings, exclusive of duty. Five new diamond drills are now being made in the colony, as under :— Two underground diamond drills, £223 each. Each of these machines will cost an additional sum of £20 for certain approved alterations in their manufacture. Three boilers for surface drills, £306 13s 4d each ; two air compressors (R. J. Ford's) for underground drills, £507 each. The above mentioned prices do not include the cost of rods, core-barrells, bits and other fittings supplied with the imported machines. The cost per foot of boring varies according to the strata pierced. At Stawell, through bard metamorphio rock wi»h quartz veins, it averages about 12s per foot j at Kingston, through basalt and underlying drift, about 8« 6d ; and at Kilcunda, through mesozoio rock (sand-tones and shales), the cost does not exceed 7s 6d per foot. The total number of feet bored up to the 24 ultimo is over 22,0C0ft. A dri]l worked by two shifts of men (three men in a shift) has bored in basaltic country aa much as 205 ft in a week, and it frequently happens that the work done exceeds 140 ft per week. The success of the drills, has been most pronounced, and they are eagerly sought for by mining companies throughout the colony. I may mention that at the present time there are in this office over fifty unsatisfied applications for the use of the machines. The information supplied to the depart-, ment shows that bores sunk by band in the Kingston district have cost from £1 to £5 pen foot, according to depth and hardness vfrock, I am not possessed of any information respecting the new machines mentioped in your letter as now being made in America j but should I receive any particulars thereof, I shonld be happy to supply you with them.— I haye, ice. - f *"* T. COTTCHM AIT, ' Secretary for Mines and Water Supply. Oliver Wakefleld, Esq. Under-Secretar-y for Mines, Wellington, New Zealand.,