MINING NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1286, 18 June 1883, Page 2

MINING NEWS.

[From our MJp&NG Reporter.]

u j Saturday, 16.

The mining market has been very slack during the week, a fact which may in a great way be attributed to the dissapointing result of the Hopeful crushing. To whatever cause it may be assigned, there\is no doubt that the prospects of the crushing throughout were greatly exaggerated, 4ov while the public were fed with illusive hopes of a return of something between one and 1£ ounces ,, per ton, it must have been well-known by many, that the plates did not bear evidence of such a yield. However, be that as it may, the result of the crushing has shaken public confidence for the timebeing, and other stocks as well have been thrown back in consequence. Although the weather has been rather unfavourable, the work o£ the Globe Company has been pushed ahead steadily, and a very few weeks will see the aerial tramway ready to carry stone. All the other works are well advanced, and there is now no doubt that the directors will be in a position to start the crushing at the date given in my former report. It is said that the difficulty about the Comity diamond drill has been got rid of, and that the machine will therefore be removed to Boatman's at an early date. The Homeward Bound Company there have secured the first right to the use of the drill. The Golden Fleece Extended Compaq's diamond drill is now being placed in working order in the mine, and in a week or so the bore will be started to prospect the southern portion of the lease. Good results have long been predicted from the introduction of this class of machinery, and we are now on the eve of putting the matter to the test. The Golden Fleece was the first quartz venture in the fieid to provide crushing machinery, the first to introduce the rockborer, and will now be the first to demonstrate the utility of the diamond drill as a prospecting agent. The Inangahua Low Level Tunnel Company, which, for a long time past, has been in something of the position of Mahomet's coffin, has been at length " brought to earth," and there seems a prospect of something being done to give it a fresh start. At the halfyearly meeting of shareholders held during the week, it was stated that the question of Government subsidy had been satisfactorily settled, and that it

was the intention to call tenders for driving a farther section of 250 ft. The question of procuring a rock-borer so as to expedite the driving was fully discussed, but while the advisability

of hastening the progress of the tunnel I was generally admitted, it was con- ! sidered that the cost of procuring the machinery was too great to warrant the company in ordering it off-hand. The matter was consequently deferred for the present, but the directors were authorised to procure all information on the subject, together with estimates of cost, and lay the same before the next meeting of shareholders. The tunnel is now in about I,looft. and has just reached the solid formation under the cap of the hill, and the country is said to be very promising at the face, so that good results may be expected from the resumption of operations by the company. The following are the battery returns for the past week : — Keep-it-Dark. — 2060z5. of amalgam from 202 tons of stone.