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6

Manaia District. The Jubilee claim yielded 198oz. of gold from 25 tons of quartz, and sundry prospectings from the locality amounted to soz. 17dwt. of gold. The Premier Mine, which is situated on private property near the beach, yielded 105oz. of gold from 3 tons lOcwt. of quartz. Kapanga Mine. —This mine is owned and worked by the Kapanga Gold-mining Company (Limited) which is an English company. The workings are from a shaft (known as Larnach's shaft). The shaft has been sunk a distance of 57ft. during the year, and is now 500 ft. in depth. A level has been opened called the 500 ft. level, and 184 ft. driven to the southward and 37ft. to the northward on the Kapanga reef. A cross-cut has also been driven at this level to Scotty's reef, a distance of 110 ft. From the runs of gold above the 420 ft. on the Kapanga reef, and above the 300 ft. level on Scotty's reef, 1,734 tons of quartz have been raised, yielding 3,3340z. 17dwt. of melted gold, worth £2 18s. 4d. per ounce. The total amount of sinking and driving, &c, done during the year was 1,781 ft., viz., sinking Larnach's shaft, 57ft.; clearing and retimbering levels, 338 ft.; winze sunk, 16ft.; rises put up, 204 ft. ; cross-cut drives, 223 ft.; and driven on reefs and leaders, 943 ft. The number of trucks of mullock (exclusive of what has been packed in the ground worked) which has been raised from the shaft amounts to 15,000, each truck holding one-third of a ton. The quartz has all been crushed at the company's battery, situated adjacent to the shaft-mouth, and it is anticipated that the output for the next year-will be largely increased. The reefs at the 500 ft. level are quite as well defined, as large, and may be deemed to be as assuring for large deposits of gold as at any point in the mine. A rise is being put up on the Kapanga reef from the 500 ft. level, and when communication is effected with the 420 ft. level a thoroughfare will be established, giving access to the low-level from the surface independent of the main-shaft. ' The sinking of the shaft has been suspended for the past four months, but now that drives have been opened at the 500 ft. level, sinking operations will be resumed in the coming spring, and in the meantime the necessary pit-work will be got ready. The shaft and pumping-gear are in good order ; the mine is well ventilated, and all the drives, winzes, passes, and other workings, are well secured by timber, of which there is a large stock in readiness when required at all the different levels. A commodious changing- and dryinghouse has been erected convenient to the shaft, which will accommodate 100 men, if required. The'number of men employed has averaged seventy during the year. The winding-gear is not at present used for raising and lowering men from the shaft, good ladder-ways being provided in the shaft for a travelling-road, and no winding is allowed whilst men are ascending or descending. The future prospects of this mine are most encouraging, and an increased yield of gold may be anticipated. Very great credit is due to Mr. Francis Hodge, the manager, for the thoroughly efficient manner in which the mine has been worked and managed. Goromandel Gold Company's Mine. —This mine comprised the Anglo-New Zealand (or old Union Beach) and Telephone licensed holdings and Blagrove's freehold. The mine was drained to the 180 ft. level of the Union Beach shaft, and various works undertaken to prospect several places in the mine on that and other levels alone. The total amount of driving, sinking, &c, during the year was 1,050 ft., viz., winzes sunk, 130 ft. ; rises put up, 63ft. ; driving on reefs and branches, 60ft. ; crosscut drives, 184 ft.; and sinking in the main Palmerston shaft, 72ft. This shaft is 12ft. by 6ft. in the clear inside of the timber. The Palmerston shaft, which is situated at some distance from the Union Beach shaft, is now down 50ft. below the 180 ft. level, and is at present comparatively dry. It is intended to pump the water from this shaft up to the 180 ft. level, and from thence the water will be raised to the surface in the Union Beach shaft. Prom the Union Beach shaft flat rods at the surface will be used to work the Palmerston shaft-pump ; this connection will be ready by the time the Palmerston shaft is sunk 100 ft. below the 180 ft. level. This shaft being in the country rock, and as the reef is not expected to be cut before 100 ft. is reached, the pumps will not be required until the reef is cut. As this block of 100 ft. will be entirely virgin ground and situated under the runs of gold worked in the Black reef and Union Beach reefs, there is every prospect of a continuation of the rich runs of gold worked above being discovered. As the old pumping-engine was inadequate to drain the mine, a 40in. cylinder Cornish-beam pumping-engine, with 9ft. stoke and 12m. pumps, with all appliances, have been sent from England and are now erected ; the pumps are already in position and are worked by the old engine, and the erection of the new engine being almost completed, connection will be made with the pumps in a very short time. The old pumping-engine will be used for winding. The foundations of the pumping-engine are of a most substantial character. The whole of the buildings for the engine and boilers being reclaimed land on the foreshore, and docked with a 2ft. mason wall faced outside with clay; 960 cubic yards have been excavated for that purpose; 1,194 cubic yards have been excavated around the collar of the Palmerston shaft for fixing bobs, &c. ; and 289 yards for the same purpose around the Union Beach shaft. The works are, therefore, in a forward state, and the whole will shortly be in full working order. Fifty-five men are employed. The whole of the works are under the charge of Mr. Francis Hodge, the manager. Goromandel Mini. —This claim is on the foreshore opposite the Coromandel Gold Company's mine. Twenty tons of quartz and wash recovered below high-water mark were crushed for a yield of lloz. ldwt. of gold. MATAWAI DISTKICT. Castle Bock Mine. —This mine has been worked by the owner, Mr. Vizard, for the past ten years, and the runs of gold are evidently going downwards ; a low-level cross-cut has been driven about 350 ft. to cut the reef 85ft. below the last worked level, and as rich gold was found where an attempt was made to sink a winze, there is every probability that gold may be found when the reef is cut and driven on at the low-level. This reef is highly mineralised, and will probably require special treatment. Nine tons 15cwt. of quartz yielded 490z. 13dwt. of gold. Matawai Claim (late Vaughan's). —In this mine 50ft. have been driven on the ree _in the low-