C.—2.

New Talisman Claim, Karangahake (R. Schulzki, Owner). —A good deal of work was done by way of reopening old workings below the Talisman No. 8 level, on Shephard's reef. The owner mined 10 tons of quartz from a hanging-wall section of Shephard's reef for a return of 14 oz. 17 dwt. gold, valued at £105 Bs. 5d., and 45 oz. 15 dwt. silver, valued at £4 18s. lid., while tributers mined 20 tons for 16 oz. 5 dwt. gold, valued at £81 2s. 10d., and 73 oz. silver, valued at £5 7s. lid., making the total output of the claim for the year 31 oz. 2 dwt. gold, valued at £186 lis. 3d., and 118 oz. 15 dwt. silver, valued at £10 6s. lOd. Total output since start of operations 164 oz. 11 dwt. 7 gr. bullion; value, £361 9s. Bd. Waiawa Claim, Karangahake (L. Turnbull, Owner). —Eight tons of ore from this mine was crushed at the Golden Dawn battery for a yield of 10 oz. 14 dwt. gold, valued at £63 7s. lid., and 9 oz. 10 dwt. silver, valued at 13s. 2d. The quartz treated came mainly from the Crown reef at the Monastery level. Practically no development work was done on the claim during the year, but during the period the owner erected a small treatment plant for himself at Karangahake Township, in which it is proposed to treat any further ore won from the claim. Total output since beginning of operations 74 oz. 5 dwt. 8 gr. bullion; value, £203 19s. lid. New Talisman Extended Claim, Karangahalce (C. C. O'Brien, Owner). —This claim is portion of the New Talisman, purchased from R. Schulzki. During the year the owner mined from surface portions of it 131 tons of quartz, which yielded 132 oz. 18 dwt. gold, valued at £849 4s. 6d., and 263 oz. 7 dwt. silver, valued at £28 9s. 6d., making the total output for the year 396 oz. 5 dwt. bullion, valued at £877 145., which also represents the total output since start of operations. Tawa Claim, Karangahake (O'Brien Bros., Owners). —From this claim 195 tons of quartz was mined during the year, which yielded 120 oz. gold, valued at £817 4s. 4d., and 146 oz. 19 dwt. silver, valued at £12 lis. 2d., making a total output for the year of 266 oz. 19 dwt. bullion, valued at £829 15s. 6d., which also represents the total output since start of operations. The quartz came from a surface portion of the Crown reef. The Brothers Claim, Karangahalce (O'Brien Bros., Owners). — From this claim 190 tons of ore was mined, which yielded 129 oz. 5 dwt. gold, valued at £893 14s. 6d., and 141 oz. 4 dwt. silver, valued at £12 155., making the total output for the year 270 oz. 9 dwt. bullion, valued at £906 9s. 6d., which also represents the total output since start of operations. Imperial Prospecting Syndicate, Karangahake.—The Imperial Prospecting Syndicate, which has now taken over portion of the Imperial claim from the previous owners, continued work fairly continuously through the year in the hope of locating the source of a quantity of rich "floater" found on the surface of the claim. Stackpoole's drive was extended a further distance to a total of 600 ft. from the portal, but no reef was located in it. The syndicate abandoned work there and started the driving of another shallow adit a few hundred feet farther to the north. To the end of the year this had been carried in 175 ft. Loose auriferous quartz was found practically the whole way embedded in slip material. A good deal of this was saved, but no crushing was done. Star Claim, Karangahake (H. A. Meagher, Owner). —A small crushing of 2 cwt. of quartz from this claim, treated at Golconda battery, Thames, returned 11 oz. 7 dwt. gold, valued at £34 10s. 7d., while a further 5J tons, treated at the Golden Dawn battery, yielded 4 oz. 19 dwt. gold, valued at £34 12s. Id., and 56 oz. 9 dwt. silver, valued at £6 2s. lid., making the total production for the year 72 oz. 15 dwt. bullion, valued at £75 ss. 7d., which also represents the total output since start of operations. Talisman Battery-site (R. M. Aitken, Owner). —A tribute party cleaning up around this old battery-site recovered 254 tons of quartz, which on treatment at the Golden Dawn battery yielded 125 oz. 1 dwt. gold, valued at £849 9s. 5d., and 619 oz. 5 dwt. silver, valued at £60 3s. sd. Tasman United Mines, Ltd., Maratoto.—This company now holds the Maratoto Consolidated and Mount Cecil claims (the latter formerly known as Walker's Maratoto), and during the year reopened a considerable portion of the old workings, which were subsequently sampled on behalf of Mining Finance, Ltd., of Auckland. Towards the end of the year this company started diamond-drilling operations on the Mount Cecil claim, and by the end of the year the first hole had been drilled to about 300 ft. to cut the Payrock reef below the Payrock low level. The drill is expected to reach the reef at about 800 ft. Golden Crown Gold-mining Co. (N.L.). —This company, which now holds the Te Ao Marama and Komata reefs claims, cleaned out the old low level of the mine and retimbered and laid the rails in it for the main ore pass, a distance of about 4,000 ft. Some work was done in the Golden Crown level, which is 20 ft. above the old Hopper level, driving on what is known as the hanging-wall leader of No. 2 reef. After driving 66 ft. the leader was cut off by a fault, but on driving through the fault it was picked up again and driven on a further 37 ft. The ore broken has been stacked for treatment. The erection of a battery was also started, and by the end of the year the plant had been got into position. Waiwai Claim, Waitekauri (J. A. Keoghan, Owner). —Operations at this claim, formerly the old Alpha, at Waitekauri, were confined to breaking out on a small reef left in the old Alpha Nos. 2 and 3 adits, and 39 tons of the material was put through the owner's own treatment plant for a yield of 77 oz. 15 dwt. gold, valued at £283 10s. Bd., which represents the total output since start of operations. St. Hippo Claim, Waitekauri (W. J. Gibbs, Owner). —Operations here were confined to reopening the old St. Hippo low level, with a view to sampling a reef on which approximately 1,000 ft. of driving had been done some years ago. To the end of the year the main crosscut had been reopened for 740 ft. The same owner also had done some work on the Southern Cross claim, adjacent to the Mount Cecil claim. On this, 214 ft. of driving was done, as well as a good deal of surface prospecting. Scotia Claim, Waitekauri (H. L. Morgan, Owner). —A low level 37 ft. below previous workings was driven for a distance of 320 ft. One reef was met with, but gave disappointing results. A rise was then put up from the drive to connect with the upper level, and from it 23 tons of quartz was mined which yielded 8 oz. 2 dwt. gold, valued at £54 13s. 2d., and 8 oz. 1 dwt. silver, value 1.35. 9d., making the total output from commencement of operations 110 oz. 14 dwt. bullion; value, £259 4s. Bd. Remuera, Golden Belt, and Champion Claims, Neavesville (M. Grace, Owner). —Gigantic Mines N.L., .which had been testing these claims under option, ceased operations about April, and no work of any importance was done on the claims during the rest of the year. The result of the sampling done was not satisfactory. Some fair values were got in pockets or pipes, but on the whole the samples showed only low values. Cleaning up about old plants and doing some surface sluicing, several parties of tributers won 10 oz. gold, valued at £40. Monowai Gold, Copper, and Lead Mines, Ltd., Thames. —Work on the claims held by this company was restricted to the Monowai section, where a new level, No. 5, was started about 220 ft. vertically below No. 4 and carried in a distance of 104 ft. It is expected a total of 600 ft. will require to be driven to meet the main objective, the Monowai reef. New Waiotahi Claim, Thames (Preece and party, Owners). —A shaft was sunk for 48 ft. just south of Waiotahi Creek and close to the Waiotahi-Cambria reef, in which the party struck some fair quartz, four loads taken out yielding IJ oz. to the load. Heavy water made it impossible, however, for work to be carried on at this point, and the party then drove an adit from near the old Golden Crown shaft, in which they located a flat-lying reef in the footwall country of the Caledonian reef, which carried fair values. From various places 95 tons of quartz was mined, which yielded 67 oz. 5 dwt. gold, valued at £324 6s. Id., representing the total output since commencement of operations. Anniversary Claim, Thames (Phillips and McLean, Owners). —These owners opened an old drive in what was formerly the old Unicorn claim, and continued it, with the result that a small rich leader was intersected, as well as two larger reefs carrying more or less gold. From the small leader referred to 35 tons of quartz was mined, which yielded 73 oz. 17 dwt. gold, valued at £392 19s. 10d., while a party of tributers, working

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