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over Eiver, and on a level with the battery. It is being driven on the eastern line of reef, and will open up the country at a depth of 315 ft. below the old workings, and at the northern end of property will give a total height of unworked ground overhead of 870 ft. The new company commenced operations on the Ist January, 1898, and up to the 31st March had driven a further distance of 100 ft.,making a total of 284 ft. Besides driving, the company intend cross-cutting in order to open up the other reef formations, and thus thoroughly test the property as they proceed. So far the ground opened up has not proved payable, but, as the portions worked by the old company yielded upwards of forty-eight thousand pounds' worth of gold, the new company have every confidence that their efforts will ultimately be successful." Carrick Range. Golden Gate Claim (Area, 100 acres). —This claim is owned by the Golden Gate Quartz-mining Company, of Bannockburn. The entrance to the mine is by a low-level adit above the left-hand branch of Pipeclay Creek. >The reef consists in part of quartz highly oxidized, and also in portions of a more refractory character, the average width being about 16 in. The underlay is lin 3J. A trial crushing of some of the stone gave a yield of 12-J dwt. of gold per ton. A small battery of two stamps is driven by water-power, There is also another reef which was worked on several years ago from a tunnel some distance further up the creek, and it is intended to again open out on this reef, which is about 2 ft. 6 in. in width. Six men were employed. Young Australia Claim. —This is owned by Messrs. McGabe and Sons. The low-level tunnel has been driven 380 ft., and about 300 ft. is still to be driven to cut the reef which was worked from a higher level—9o ft. higher—about twenty years ago. A shaft had been sunk to work the reef, but had to be abandoned, on account of the water proving too much for the machinery then employed. The low tunnel will drain a considerable area of the reef, which underlies lin 3, and is sft. in width; and the owner states that former crushings gave If oz. of gold to the ton. A five-stamp mill, driven by water-power, can be used for crushing. All work has been stopped from want of funds. Lawrence's Mine, Day Dawn (Area, 8 acres; owner, James Lawrence). —This mine still continues to produce fair returns. 782 tons crushed yielded 143 oz. 1 dwt. of gold. The battery consists of four stamps. Star of the East Mine (Area, 6 acres). —This mine is owned and worked by the Lawrence Brothers. 170 tons of quartz crushed yielded 57 oz. of gold. There is a battery of ten stamps, driven by water-power. Work in this and the Day Dawn Claim is chiefly done by the owners and three wages-men. Bendigo. Cromwell Goldfields Company (Limited) was, in the early part of this year and up to the present, worked by a party of ten tributers, who are working a block of stone at the 200 ft. level in the old shaft, to which access is obtained through a level driven on the line of the reef. The principal shaft is 14 chains east of the old shaft, and has been sunk to a depth of 520 ft., and the water is raised by an 8 in. pump. There are two plungers and a draw-lift required to raise the water to the surface. The reef is about 2 ft. wide in the cross-cut driven to the southward, although in some of the portions formerly worked the stone was 10 ft. in width; but the experience is that the thickness of the quartz is variable. The reef splits between the two shafts, and it is in the north part where the present tributers are working, the yields of gold exceeding 2 oz. per ton, valued at £3 15s. per ounce. A second party of tributers will start work from the main shaft. The machinery employed is not of an up-to-date kind, and great expense is incurred in pumping and hauling, and from the contour of the country it would appear that an adit from the surface could be driven to drain the mine from the 500 ft. level of the shaft. If this work is carried out the mine could be worked at much less expense, and the appearance of the stone at the workings would warrant the adoption of this method of opening up and working this mine. The present battery consists of twenty stamps, of 7 cwt. each, and four berdans, driven by water-power. Fourteen men were employed in mine and battery. Mr. F. Evans, manager of the Achilles Mine at Skipper's Creek, gives the following account of this mine:— " This mine has been in work more or less for thirty years, the reported yield of gold being given as £500,000. The run of gold along the surface is 1,000 ft. long, going to a depth in one place of 420 ft., at which depth oxidation disappears, no gold being found below this, although the main shaft has opened the 520 ft. level, at which point the lode has been driven on 400 ft. Lode small, with rugged walls, composed of hard schist: lode matter, clay and little quartz. The lode is undermined by a slide, and until the exploration is carried below this there is not much chance of the run of gold reforming. The mine has been in the hands of a liquidator for some considerable time, but I am led to understand that a new company is in treaty to purchase, for the purpose of further developing the property. At present the mine is working on tribute with good results. The tribute received by the owners is 30 per cent, on 1 oz. per ton, and If per cent, on each pennyweight above that up to 2 oz, per ton." Old Man Range, near Bald Hill Flat. The Excelsior Mine, also known as Gray's Eeef, is situated on the slope of the Old Man Eange, about 3,000 ft. above sea-level, and has been in operation about seven seasons. The crushing season extends from the Ist September till the Ist June, the water during the remaining three months being frost-bound. This lode was discovered by two men, one of whom still holds the property. When gold was first discovered ground-sluicing was the method of working adopted, and, although the quartz is of a most friable nature, containing a quantity of free gold, still it is estimated that at least three-fifths of the gold contained in the stone was lost by sluicing the quartz down the steep faces into the creek below. After two or three seasons of this wasteful niethod of working a small battery of three 300 lb. stamps was obtained, and the claim worked