C.—3

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without any indication of either of the walls, and the average assay-value of the ore is £2 10s. per ton. No. 3 winze has been sunk to a depth of 21ft. below No. 1 level on the hanging-wall portion of the lode, which has been broken out to a width of 2 ft., and the average assay-value of the ore is £2 per ton. The three winzes above mentioned are located at stated intervals apart for a length of 500 ft. along the line of the lode. The No. 2 level has been extended in a southerly direction for a distance of 320 ft. through a belt of hard calcite, which necessitated the constant use of explosives, and progress has been very slow in consequence. At present there are indications of improvement, and a few feet more driving should bring about the desired results. Above this level 60 fathoms of stoping has been accomplished, and the whole of the ore broken out therefrom has been saved for treatment. From this block of stopes 22 tons of ore has been selected and shipped for sale to the smelting-works, Dapto, New South Wales. The average assay-value of this ore was £17 16s. per ton, and the net results obtained from the sale of the whole lot was £308. In the Maratoto section of the mine two distinct blocks of ore have been opened up, and here there is a large tonnage available for stoping operations. For ore-transport purposes a surfacetramway of 12 chains in length has been constructed in order to connect with the Pay Rock section, and thence, through the medium of a pass 90 ft. in depth, with the mill tram-line. The company has also erected a new mill, which comprises one No. 2 Gates crusher, three Challenge ore-feeders, fifteen heads of stamps, two berdans, and a complete cyanide plant. The motivepower is water, with auxiliary steam supplied by a 30-horse-power portable engine when there is a deficiency in the water-supply. The ore is crushed wet in the mortar-boxes, then passed over amalgamating-plates to take out the coarse gold, and then through the automatic distributers into the vats for cyanide treatment. Twenty-three men have been employed during the year at the mine and mill. Waitekauri Extended Mine. —Operations in this mine have been vigorously proceeded with during the year, the work being chiefly confined to developing and stoping on the main reef at the low and intermediate levels. In the low level the reef has been opened up for several hundred feet north and south of the main crosscut, and has varied from 16 ft. to 30 ft. in width. In the intermediate above the low level the reef has also been opened up to a considerable extent, timbered throughout, and shoots put in ready for stoping. The intermediate is driven from a rise, which is put up to the No. 2 level a height of 280 ft. In the low level 320 ft. south of the crosscut, a large chamber has been cut out on the hanging-wall side of the reef for the purpose of erecting pumping and winding machinery, it being the company's intention to sink a shaft for the purpose of working the reef at a greater depth than can be obtained by adit-levels. There have been two winzes sunk on the reef from this level, about 300 ft. apart, to a depth of 47 ft., and the ore is improving in the winzes as far as they have been sunk. A water-race is in the course of construction, and when finished the water will be brought in and used as a motive-power to drive an aircompressor, from which air will be taken to drive pumping and winding machinery. The water will be conveyed down a pass to the low level in pipes. The effective fall will be 263 ft. As considerable alterations have been made in the crushing plant, and as there has been a scarcity of water during the summer months, only a limited amount of ore was treated during the year. 2,751 tons of quartz was treated for 2,997 oz. 13 dwt. of bullion, valued at £3,002 9s. Id. An average of forty men were employed. Prospecting operations have been carried on in the Volunteer and Retreat Claims with two to four men, the reefs being operated upon, but no returns of gold have been made. Komata. Komata Beefs. — The mining areas held by this company comprise the Komata Reefs Special Quartz Claim, 79 acres ; the Komata Consolidated Special Quartz Claim, 100 acres ; the Komata Extended Licensed Holding, 30 acres; and the Triumph Special Quartz Claim, 75 acres. These claims are adjoining each other, and a main low level is being driven for the purpose of intersecting the reefs at a depth which will give every facility for working the whole block of ground. This drive is 300 ft. below the next lowest level, where the reef has been stoped out. The tunnel is being driven with large rock-boring machines, two of which are working in the face at the same time. The size of the drive is 7 ft. 6 in. by 7 ft. 6 in, and one tram-line is laid down, but there is ample room for a double line should it be required. It has been driven a distance of 1,504 ft. during the year, and is now in a total distance of 2,404 ft. There is yet, however, 346 ft. further to drive to intersect Wilson's reef, which is the chief gold-producer. The tunnel penetrates for some considerable distance through extremely hard undecomposed andesite. The Komata Reefs Special Quartz Claim is where the chief work has been done up to the present, having produced about thirty thousand pounds' worth of gold from 9,000 tons of ore. The reefs are well defined and moderately large. The most important are— Wilson's lode, 2 ft. to 5 ft. wide, carrying a loose friable quartz containing free gold and sulphide of silver ; Lavington's lode, 5 ft. to 15 ft. wide, carrying similar quartz to Wilson's lode, but of a lower value ; Hartridge's leader, 8 in. to 18 in. wide, carrying more compact quartz of very good value; but most of the bullion so far obtained has been extracted from the quartz won from Wilson's lode and Hartridge's leader. During the year 1,940 tons have been treated for 4,409 oz. 17 dwt., valued at £6,614 15s. 6d. Karangahake. Woodstock.— This company's property is cut in halves by the Waitawheta Stream and Gorge, which traverses it in an easterly direction, and mining operations up to the end of December last were confined to that portion of the property lying to the south of the Waitawheta, which has been worked in all the six levels driven on the Maria lode, and from which 12,000 tons of ore has been broken and treated. Since then all stoping has been stopped, and development and mainten-