THE TUAPEKA ANTIMONY AND COPPER MINES.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1085, 10 May 1882, Page 2

THE TUAPEKA ANTIMONY AND COPPER MINES.

. «• As antimony mining is attracting con* siderable attention, we reprint from the Otago Witness an account of a visit to the Tuapeka Antimony Mine. In this acoouotreference iamade to the Victorian jpinea, from whim ftrafcpwrt •upww&rof a million in money has been paid by way of dividends to the fortunate proprietors. There seems little doubt but that this metal can be mined for in this district at considerable profit, adding another industry to our community. We have only space for a portion of the article to-day, bnt the remaining portion will appear in our next issue. It proceeds — And here it may be well to mention some of the usob to which the metal antimony is put. Of late years there has been an increasing demand for the metal, which, as an alloy, is used in type metal, Britannia metal, pewter, and German silver. It has for some time been used in large quantities in the patent white metal now coming so extensively into use for the bearings of machinery. It is also used in medicine and the art of dyeing. For many years the English supplies came from Borneo, where the mines, which have been worked for generations, are now nearly exhausted, so that now England is to a great extent dependent on the Colonies for her supplies. Antimony being very heavy (4121ba to the cubic foot), a very thin seam pays to work. Some of the lodes in Victoria are in no place more than eight inches thick, and in many places not more than two inches, and for hundreds of feet in some of the levels there is no ore at all. An average of four inches, under favourable circumstances, is a good payable lode, and allowing the ore to be only 3001bs per cubic foot, a lode of four inches will yield over one and a-half ton to the fathom. As a metal, antimony is generally worth £60 per ton. In connection with the mine in question, many interesting particulars will be found in Mr W. R. Buchan's pamphlet, "The Minerals of Otago." One of the Government geologists who inspected the ground in 1880 reported thus :— " The lode crops out in Stony Creek (celebrated for its gold-producir.g qualities), and strikes 70° east, underlying north 20 ° west, 2ft. in a fathom, structure massive, -formation regular. Minerologically the lode ia composed of fibrous and compact sibinite, the former being almost pure. An adit level driven east on the course of the lode by the original discoverer shows a very promising lode. In another place a shallow shaft is sunk on the lode. At this place the lode is from 4ft. to sft. thick. A very large ai'ea of moss, which makes excelient peat, exists close to the mine, which will be quite sufficient to bring this easily worked ore into a concentrated state of rough metal. In conclusion, I consider the working of this mine a most legitimate undertaking, and one likely to be beneficial alike to shareholders and the Colony." It was first discovered about 15 years ago by a party of miners, who were prospecting in the vicinity. A quantity of the ore was sent Home, but as the party who made the shipment knew nothing about it, and did not clean it, the return only showed 47 per cent of metal. Now a much richer ore has been discovered, and Mr Glass, the present manager of the mine, (who was a few months ago brought over from Victoria, where he was manager of the celebrated M'Tvor mine, that has paid upj wards of a million pounds in dividends.) is of opinion that the percentage of this ore will with very little cleaning be increased to 70. As already mentioned, the first shipment of ore proved a failure, and nothing more was heard of it till January, 1880, when our enterprising townsmen, Messrs George Watson and W. R. Buchan, in conjunction with several others, secured a lease of some 80 acres of

land around the lode, and decided to commence operations. A road had to be made to the railway station, the necessary cuttings for which were done by the County Council ; and by July the first shipment of 111 bags of ore was despatched to Melbourne. In a few months the lode had been found cropping out at various places for a distance of quite half a mile, the ore I occurring in large bunches and pockets. Several tunnels haviug been commenced on the line of lode, on what is known as the west or upper end of the lease, it was decided to pup a shaft down near the outcrop of a large body of ore near the east end, where the ground would not permit of tunnelling to advantage, being the fiat. As our time was limited, and as we could only stay a short time at each point of interest, Mr Buclian stated at the beginning and briefly explained the manner in which the lode had been traced for a half mile, and how it had been worked from the commencement. Our attention was first called to the original shaft, where after a depth of 70 feet had been attained the water came in so freely that work had to be abandoned. A pump was procured but it proved too small ; and the manager knowing very little about lode-mining, disagreements arose among the shareholders, the ultimate result being that one party bought the other out, so that now Messrs Watson and Buchan are the principal shareholders. Shortly after the disagreement the new manager arrived, and advised the erection of a water-wheel and a more powerful pump, and winding gear. This was done, and the water being overcome, work was resumed in the west drive, from which in a few months 1500 bags of ore were taken out and disposed of to a Melbourne smelter, who gave £10 10s per ton for it. It was thought that this price was not a satisfactory one, and a trial shipment of a few tons was sent Home to London, where it sold for £18 per ton. (To be Continued.)