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ANNEXURE A.

SUMMARY OF REPORTS BY INSPECTORS OF MINES. NORTHERN INSPECTION DISTRICT (J. F. Downey, Inspector of Mines). Quartz-mining. I have to report as follows on the mining industry in the Northern Inspection District for the year ending 31st December, 193.4, , Waihi Gold-mining Co., Ltd. (J. L. Gilmour, Manager). —Tie following is a, summary of the work done, and its results —No. 15 level: No further exploration was done. The remaining ore was drawn from Cod block. No. 14 level: On the Edward lode the estimated contents of stope on Trout block was drawn off, but there was a fall from the arch, making a further supply available. On the Martha lode, Gin block, 200 ft. in length, was opened up on somewhat low-grade ore. No. 13 level: On the Martha lode a further test was made by widening east and west of Cow rise, where the lode was from 20 ft. to 30 ft. wide. The ore was low grade, but at the increased price of gold could be made to pay its way, and a stoping-block 140 ft. in length was opened. On the Empire lode, McEnteer block, 57 ft. in length, was opened up immediately west of the Deviation crosscut, but at 53 ft. up values fell away and work in the stope was stopped. Some work was done on the south section of Martha lode eastward from No. 4 shaft north crosscut, but values were found too low to pay for working. No. 12 level: On the Martha lode, stoping of Fax block was continued. On the north section Martha lode, Tanner's block, 133 ft. in length, was opened up east of junction of north and south sections, in ore of low grade. On the Empire lode stoping of Bath and Eahey blocks was continued. No. 11 level (70 ft. sub-level) : On the Edward lode some fair values were got for a length of 66 ft. in a drive from 70 ft. down Snapper winze, while on the Empire lode, Porter block, 240 ft. in length, was opened up on ore of fair value. No. 11 level (38 ft. and 78 ft. sub-levels): Work was continued on Kingsford block on the north section Empire lode, from which a good deal of ore was won, and Heath block, 177 ft. in length, was opened up from the 78ft. sub-level. No. 11 level: Paul block, 90ft. in length, was opened up from Paul rise, which was put up for 82 ft. on payable ore at a point 270 ft. east of No. 2 shaft S.E. crosscut. On the Martha lode, north section, Tanner block was opened up for a length of 130 ft. east of Kauri north crosscut. The ore was rather low grade. On the Empire lode, Centre section, breaking of ore was completed on Mitchell East block, most of the ore being good grade. On the south part of Centre section, Empire lode, lying east and west of Pistol crosscut, a small branch was tested for 269 ft. in length, of which about 60 ft. in length carried fair values. This was stoped up for 40 ft., when values fell, and work was stopped. No. 10 level (58 ft. sublevel) • Power block was opened up on the Empire lode footwall loop. The ore was of good grade, but values only lived up for 28ft. No. 10 level: Shrinkage stoping of Ulster block was continued and carried up to 62 ft. above the level. The length of stope was 255 ft., of which the eastern 55 ft. was in Grand Junction ground. On the Martha lode shrinkage stoping of Horse block was continued up till May, when it stopped 25 ft. below No. 9 level. Martha footwall gangway : A footwall trucking-road was constructed at the back of Cow block and connected to the main footwall gangway. On the Empire lode the drawing-off of ore from Furze block was continued, but as a protection to No. 4 shaft a considerable amount of ore was left in the stope No 9 level (35ft. sub-level): The work done was mainly stoping on Trout arch on square sets. Nof 9 level (intermediate level 70 ft. up) : On the Martha lode a good deal of development work was carried out, preliminary to the extraction by caving of a large block of ore under No. 8 level and over the old-time Cow , block. At 87 ft. east in the new Martha footwall gangway, pile rise was put up, and in a crosscut, at 73 ft. up this, some sulphide ore of good quality was disclosed in the hanging-wall of the Martha, and intermediate level'l4s ft. in length was opened on it. Stoping of this ore is in hand. No. 8 level (45 ft. sublevel) : A good deal of investigation was carried out on the Empire lode, westward from Worthington winze and from Worthington north crosscut, and a considerable amount of workable ore was opened up. No. 8 level (lift, sub-level): ° The breaking of ore from Roache and Cod arches was completed in June. No. 8 level (60ft! sub-level): A short block, known as Bradman block, was opened up. No. 8 level: The extraction of ore from arches under No. 7 level by caving and square sets was carried on throughout the year, and this section of the mine was the biggest feeder to the battery. Operations were carried out on three sub-levels below No. 7 level, the sections worked being Jim, Wheel and Fosterson, Wyatt, Hamilton, and Venus arches. No. 7 level (34ft. sub-level): Work was continued on the Ivy block in the western end of the arch under No' 7 level. No. 7 level: On the Empire lode, Hicks block, extending from 37 ft. E. to 50 ft. W. of Hicks rise was opened up. No. 6 level: Apart from the work on Martha north branch, there was no development work of special importance to report. No. 5 level: A considerable amount of investigation was made of the Martha lode westward from No. 2 shaft. Some, fairly strong bodies of quartz up to 30 ft. m width were intersected but were mostly low grade. A good deal of work was also done on the north branch of the Martha lode which proved to be rather small, but of rather good grade. No. 4 level: Work was mainly confined to the 'north branch of. the Martha lode and a small parallel lode having the same northerly dip. In both reefs ore of good value was located. On the parallel reef a shrinkage stope, known as Fallon block, 122 ft. in length, was opened up. No. 3 level: Shrinkage stoping of Wallace block on the Martha lode, north branch, was continued, and stoping, was also done on a footwall dropper off the north branch, which was met at 60 ft. m Wallace north crosscut. Investigation of this particular lode on the various levels, No. 2to No. 7, has served to show that it is' a footwall dropper of the Martha reef, which leaves the main lode between Nos. 2 and 3 levels. The general strike was identical with that of the Martha in this area, namely, N.E.-S.W. The lode dips flatly to the north-west down to about No. 5 level, but below that is somewhat steeper. As far as explored, the pay-shoot is strongest at No. 5 level, and is there about 400 ft. in length, with a width of about 4ft Surface workings: The drive eastward from Oates north crosscut was extended from 95ft. to 146 ft. Between 104 ft. east and 145 ft. the lode was 7 ft. in width, but of rather low value. A footwall gangway heading eastward was started at 130 ft. in this drive and driven eastward 404 ft. and connected to Bell pass. Extraction of arches under the lower western Smithy level will now be proceeded with. Some exploration was also done in the Martha footwall country. At 70 ft. east of the starting-point of the footwall gangway above mentioned a small branch reef was intersected, which was later driven on W.N.W. for 150 ft., some fair values being got in it At 107 ft. in this drive, a crosscut was put out north-west with a view to getting under the old Nut workings. This crosscut was driven 142 ft., and at 124 ft. it entered the overlying rhyolite. A deviation crosscut was then started from the 126 ft. mark and headed more directly northward, and at 93 ft. m it a formation 4 ft. in width was cut. This corresponded with a reef cut in the Nut adit levels overhead, but values were so low in it that work was not proceeded with. Where the crosscut stopped, the face was 230 ft. from the north wall of the Martha. Some ore was won from the opencut west of Merry pass on the Martha lode and bv rill stoping of Dix block. From surface drives a small tonnage of ore was won from the Emily workings on the Welcome, from the Britannia dip, and from the south branch of the Martha. Output: A total of 185,210 long tons of quartz was mined and treated, from which gold and silver to the value of £427,105 was obtained. The gold recovered amounted to 57,448 oz., valued at £393,519, and the silver to 343,012 oz., valued

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