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seemed to improve in depth, its average thickness being about 4ft. The whole of the stone is stoped out above the 420 ft. level. The prospects of this company look very promising at the present time. The company are having the quartz taken out by contract for 11s. 10d. per ton, the contractors finding all material. During the year ending the 31st of March last the battery returns show that 2,625 tons of stone has been crushed, which yielded 1,2280z. retorted gold, representing a value of £4,831 18s. 6d., out of which £1,200 has been paid in dividends. Grlobe. —The returns from this mine have not been so good as in former years; still, the mine at the present may be classed as a likely gold-producer in the future. The shaft is sunk to a depth of 850 ft., and a cross-cut is put in from the shaft at a depth of 825 ft. This crosscuius 400 ft. in length to where it cuts the lode. There are three blocks of stone at the lower level. The western lode is about 180 ft. in length, having an average width of about 15ft. It runs generally in an easterly and westerly direction, having an underlie of about 45° to south. At the eastern end of this block there is a break, and mullock comes in, but in close proximity to the end of this block of stone another lode commences. This lode has been worked on the No. 5 level, which is 200 ft. above No. 6or the lowest level. The length of the block on this lode at No. sis 170 ft., but in going down narrows in considerably in its length. An intermediate level has been constructed between No. 5 and No. 6, and this lode has been almost stoped out from the intermediate level. On the lower or No. 6 level it has been taken out for six stopes high and for about 80ft. in length; but on this level the stone is very poor, and the lode broken up considerably. Further to the eastward there is another distinct lode, running about north-east and south-west, having an underlie of about 45° to the south-east. This lode has been driven on for about 40ft., and no sign of the north-eastern end has yet been got, its average width being about 12ft. On the No. 5 level a completely new block of stone has been discovered. At the end of the main level, about 150 ft. to the east of the cross-cut, this block measures, in the face of the level, fully 6ft. wide, and shows tolerably coarse specks of gold in some of the stone. This block has only recently been discovered, and it is not yet known what extent the block is. The underlie of all the blocks are something similar, about an inclination of 1 in 1. The company are only commencing to stope out the western block from No. 6 level, and, from what the manager informed me, the stone is of very low grade; but, with the appliances the company have for treating the ore, very low-grade quartz should be made to give remunerative returns. The water-wheel, which was formerly used for winding, has been abandoned for some time, and the winding is done by one of Hornsby and Sons' undertype horizontal high-pressure engines, having two cylinders llin. in diameter. There are two winding-drums, so connected with the engine that one of them can be worked independent of the other. The whole of the work in connection with this mine is done in a substantial manner. The underground roads are kept in capital repair, and the timbering and everything is connection with the workings reflects credit on the manager. The crushing-battery, consisting of twenty heads of stamps and two berdans, is situate on the side of the Inangahua Biver, about one mile and a quarter from the mine, with which it is connected by an aerial tramway, the first ever erected in the Eeefton district. The battery is driven by a turbine water-wheel of the Whitlaw type, under a head of 40ft. Alongside the crushing-battery is a building in which six Triumph concentrators are placed ; but the working of these concentrators has been discontinued long ago. The battery-superintendent informed me that there is only 1 per cent. of pyrites in the ore, and that it cost £10 a week to work these concentrators, which manipulated about 180 tons of tailings per week—that is, they concentrated the whole of the tailings from the crushing-battery, and the concentrates gave, on assay, 4oz. of gold per ton. When these concentrators were first used—the way in which they were erected on my visit to this company's works—it was impossible for them to save pyrites. However, it is possible that the men had got into the way of working the concentrators before they stopped using them. During the year ending the 31st March last 4,445 tons of quartz have been crushed, which yielded 1,3720z. gold, representing a value of £5,556 12s. The returns were not sufficient to meet the expenditure for the year, as there was a considerable amount of dead-work done, with the result that calls were made to the extent of £900. This company has a large asset in the tailings stacked near the battery. Although no steps have been taken to manipulate this residue from the stamp battery, it will yet be found that there will be a considerable profit in treating the tailings, which amounts to at least 50,000 tons, since 71,808 tons of quartz has been crushed at the battery and the whole of the tailings saved. No doubt a considerable percentage of the crushed ore would go away in slimes in muddy water, since nothing has been done to save this in settling-pits, and in all probability the expense of making pits for this purpose, and cleaning them out, would not have been recouped had the quantity of gold carried away in the slimes been saved. The total quantity of gold produced from this mine since it was first opened is 34,3210z., representing a value of £136,175, out of which £40,000 has been paid in dividends. The great body of stone both in' this mine and the Progress, with the rich shoots of gold that have been found, indicates that by further prospecting, both on the upper and lower levels, other blocks of equally as good ore as that yet operated on will be found, and, even should the present lodes cut out, by sinking to lower levels entirely new lodes are likely to be met with. Progress. —-The lode on upper levels in this mine has been stoped out as far as it has been considered payable for working. An adit-level is constructed into the face of the range for 1,650 ft., and at the end. of this adit a shaft has been sunk to a depth of 450 ft., from which the whole of the workings are now carried on. Prom the bottom of this shaft a cross-cut has been constructed for 380 ft., when it cut the lode. The latter runs in an easterly and westerly direction, having an underlie to the south of about 50°. The lode occurs in blocks. The one where mining operations were being carried on at the time of my visit was about 80ft. in length, varying from 4ft. to nearly 40ft. in thickness, and payable throughout. This block was worked from the bottom or No. 5 level
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