41

C.—3

Kuranui Nos. 2 and 3. —These mines are held by Mr. Comer and Mr. Hansen respectively, they each have crushing-batteries, and are crushing the material as it is quarried from the hill in a face. The whole of the Kuranui Hill is composed of tufaceous sandstone, with lodes, leaders, and veins of auriferous quartz running through it, and some very rich stone was obtained from this ground in the early days of the field. During last year Mr. Comer crushed 13,091 tons of mullock as it was quarried from the hill, which yielded 753J0z. gold, being an average of ldwt. 3'6gr. of gold per ton; this Mr. Comer says pays him for working. He 4 employed sixteen men on wages in obtaining the mullock and crushing it, and ten men have been employed on tribute. The tributers obtained last year 228 tons of stone, which yielded 3190z. gold. Mr. Hansen crushed 8,862 tons of mullock, which yielded 416f0z. gold, being an average of 22'47gr. of gold per ton. He had thirteen men employed on wages, and four men as tributers. The latter got 35 tons of stone, which yielded 620z. gold. When it is taken into consideration that the gold is only worth about £2 15s. per oz., the value of the material treated would, in the case of Mr. Comer, represent 3s. 2d. per ton, and that of Mr. Hansen 2s. 7d. per ton. Both amounts seem very little in comparison with the expenses and labour in getting and crushing the mullock. It shows, however, that by careful management very low-grade material can be made to pay for working. Hazelbanh Company. —This company was formed in September, 1890, with a nominal capital of £10,500, of which, scrip to the value of £2,100 was given to the shareholders, and about £1,824 has been actually paid in calls. The mine is situate in the Kuranui block, and their workings last year were carried on No. 1 level, which is about 203 ft. below the surface, and No. 3 level, 347 ft. below the surface. There are several lodes and auriferous veins of quartz running through the ground, but none of them are of a great width. Last year they had an average of twenty-two men employed on wages, and four men as tributers. The company crushed 2,197 tons of stone, which yielded 2,0500z. gold. They also crushed 375 tons of stone for the tributers, which yielded about 1640z. of gold. Moanataiari Company. —This company was formed in November, 1888, taking over the property belonging to the old company of the same name. They have a subscribed capital of £24,955, of which scrip to the value of £2,670 has been given to the shareholders, and £9,905 has been paid up in calls, without having as yet received any return for the money invested. They have, however, a mining property that is yet likely to become a valuable one, and they have an adit-level from the sea-beach into Kuranui Hill for a distance of 3,077 ft., which will be of great service in testing the deep levels in the back country; indeed, this adit-level may be said to be the key to a large area of auriferous ground ; and it is large enough for a horse to be used for haulage, with a double line of rails for the whole of the distance. Their principal workings last year were confined to the Golden Age and Eeuben Parr Lodes. The Golden Age Lode was cut at the level of the low adit, but so far as has been tested it did not prove payable for working ; but on rising 200 ft. above this payable stone was obtained. In some places this lode is over 20ft. in width, all stoped out and sent to the battery. The Eeuben Parr Lode has been found payable to within 140 ft. of the adit-level, the shot of gold extending for 230 ft. along the lode. This lode and that of the Golden Age joins at about 108 ft. above the adit-level, where one would naturally expect to find good stone. But it is not so in this case. A good deal of the gold is obtained from small veins of quartz branching off the main lodes, and interlacing the sandstone formation. During the last year, sixty wages-men and fifty-five tributers were employed by this company, and 9,988 tons of quartz crushed on behalf of the company, which yielded 4,4930z. of gold ; and for the tributers, 1,252 tons of quartz, which yielded about 6390z. of gold. At the time of my recent visit they were keeping thirty heads of stamps going night and day. Taking the returns from this company's balance-shest for the year ending the 31st October last, there were about 9,027 loads of quartz crushed for the company, yielding 6,0990z. gold; and 1,318 loads crushed for tributers, which yielded about 1,1360z. gold. Taking the total number of loads crushed at the battery—namely, 10,345, and the wages and expenses in connection with the crushing-battery, which were £2,798 14s. 7d., it shows the actual cost of crushing as ss. 4fd. per load; but as each load averages fully 1-| tons, the cost of crushing would be about 3s. 7-J-d. per ton : the cost of mining, taking mine-wages and mine-expenses, which amounted to £10,108 6s. 3d., being the cost of getting 9,027 tons of quartz, equal to about £1 2s. 4f d. per load. Saxon Company. —This company's mine has been the largest gold-producing mine on the Thames field for the last three years, more men haveing been employed on wages during that period than in any other mine on the field. Eecently the company have abandoned the lower workings where they were getting the gold. It is said that they have gutted out the best of the lode from No. 6 level, and that they propose to work the blocks of stone in the top levels on tribute. They were working at a deeper level than any company on the field, and had to pay a heavy contribution towards drainage —£97 10s. per month. Now that they have come up to the upper levels the drainage contribution is reduced to £43 per month. The suspension of this company's mining operations at the deep levels will be felt by many business people on the Thames, as it has been the means of throwing about ninety-two wages-men out of employment. According to statistics supplied me by the manager, the results of the company's mining operations for three years and two months prior to stoppage were 30,585 loads of quartz and 3,3301b. of picked stone crushed—equal to 45,800 tons— which yielded 24,3450z. gold, representing a value of £66,346 10s., showing an average yield of lOdwt. 16gr. of gold per ton. During the above period, £2,500 was paid in calls and £12,500 in dividends. Deducting the dividends from the value of the gold produced it shows that £53,846 was the actual expenditure in connection with mining and crushing operations. This is equal to an expenditure of about £1,417 10s. per month,, which may be said to have been expended principally in the Thames Borough. The results of working the mine last year were not so encouraging as in former years, as, according to the directors' report at their 6—C. 3.