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Puru Consolidated. —During the early part of the year work was carried on in this mine on behalf of the company, but as the returns obtained were not sufficient to meet the expenses, the company stopped all work on their own account and let the mine and battery on tribute to P. Mahar and party, who have since worked with a fair amount of success. The operations are chiefly confined to stoping out a block of ground over the back of No. 2 level, where the reef varies from 16 in. to 3 ft. in width. 415 tons of quartz and 100 lb. of picked stone was broken out and treated for 171 oz. 6 dwt. of gold, value £461 14s. 6d. Four men are employed. Monowai Mine. —Operations in this mine were steadily carried on up till the month of September, but the ore got gradually of less value and not payable. Owing to the refractory nature of the ore, a feature which necessitated the shipment of the concentrates to New South Wales for treatment— thereby increasing the cost of recovery —and to the fact that a cheaper method has not been found, the directors became unwilling to proceed further, and sent instructions to stop all work, pending the sale of the property or other arrangements being made. 1,387 tons of ore was treated for £1,584. Thirtyfive men were employed. Sheridan Mine. —This property has only recently been taken over by a company, and work commenced on the 23rd November, 1903. The work in progress is the sinking of a winze from No. 2 level on a leader about 2 in. in width on the hanging-wall of the Sheridan reef. The winze has been sunk to a depth of 50 ft., and the lead has carried a little gold down for the whole of the distance. It is intended to sink the winze another 10 ft., where it will be driven on at what is termed the 70 ft. level. The pass is to be repaired for the purpose of getting the quartz down to the low level, where it will be conveyed to the company's mill without much handling. Should gold in payable quantities continue down to the low level, the work of opening up this section of the mine would be undertaken at once, as from this level to the top of the winze there is 190 ft. of backs. The prospects are certainly most encouraging for the new company. 5 tons of ore were treated for 10 oz. 17 dwt., value £33 Is. 10d. Four men are employed. , . Mahara Royal Mine.— This company directed attention to opening up the mine by means of driving a low level which is connected by a short ground tramway with the battery. After driving this low level 520 ft., the lode was intersected, and was found to be from 4 ft. to 7 ft. in width, but the quartz was low-grade at this point. After driving on it for something like 120 ft., a patch of very rich ore was met with, which proved to be a chute of gold-bearing quartz that was worked on the upper levels. A small block was then stoped out up to the level above, and a winze was sunk on it a few feet, but meeting with more water than could be dealt with by hand-labour, this was stopped, and the company purchased the Golden Hill pumping and winding plant, which is to be erected on the surface over the winze to pump the water out. The management will thus be enabled to prove the lode below the level. Another chute of what is considered payable ore was discovered in extending the level, and stoping operations are now proceeding on this over the back of the level, pending the erection of the machinery. Crushing : 1,012 tons of ore was broken out and treated for 570 oz. of gold, value, £1,729. An average of twenty men have been employed. COROMANDEL DISTRICT. Old Hawaii (late Hauraki) Mine.— This property, which was formerly worked and owned by an English company, and from which splendid returns were obtained for some years, was, during the early part of the year, disposed of to a local syndicate, who have since transferred it to a company. Pumping and winding machinery have been erected at the shaft which the previous company had dismantled. As it was considered by them that the runs of gold below the surface levels were worked out, operations were stopped on behalf of the English company, and tributes let to seven parties of miners in various portions of the ground down as low as the 100 ft. level. In most cases, the men were successful in obtaining payable returns. All these tributes were let to expire on a uniform date, after which the mine was taken over by the present company in the month of April. Since that time operations have been steadily carried on in the mine in prospecting and developing the various reefs and leaders from the 100 ft. level upwards. The 12 in. Cornish pump which was put in the shaft has been employed in unwatering the workings and draining the same down to the 220 ft. level, where prospecting-works have been recently started, it being decided not to unwater the shaft any deeper for the present. During the period in which operations have been carried on by the new company, 345 tons of quartz and 673 lb. of picked stone was obtained and treated for a return of 1,436 oz. 5 dwt. of gold, value, £4,387 Is., and for the previous company, 253 tons 17 cwt., and 131 lb. of picked stone, for a return of 709 oz. of gold, value, £2,169 Is. Bd., making a total output from the mine for the year of 808 tons 17 cwt., and 804 lb. of picked stone, for 2,145 oz. 5 dwt. of gold, value, £6,556 2s. Bd. An average of twenty men were employed. Bunker's Hill Mine.— During the past year operations in this mine have been confined to opening up and stoping on the lode known as the Tributers' (or lona reef). In the early part of the year progress was retarded by the inability of the company to cope with the water with their machinery, and owing in a great measure to the Hauraki Company's pumping plant having been sold and removed. However, the company purchased the Blagrove's pumping plant and had it removed and erected at the Hauraki shaft, this course having been agreed to by the syndicate then in possession of the Hauraki Mine on certain conditions, which were successfully carried out, and work was again resumed at No. 1 level of the Hauraki with very good results. The following include some of the details of the work carried out: 325 ft. of driving on the lode, 100 ft. of sinking on it to connect the levels, and 1,500 ft. of stoping done. The quantity of general ore treated was 464 tons, and 1,541 lb. of picked stone, for a return of 2,589 oz. 6 dwt. of gold, value, £7,556 18s. 3d., and the amount paid in dividends was £1,333 6s. Bd., also' the total dividends paid since commencing work was £1,333 6s. Bd. Twenty-four men were employed. Hauraki Freeholds Mine.—The company's work was chiefly directed to operating on the lode that had been successfully worked by the Bunker's Hill Company up to the Hauraki Freeholds boundary,