39
On nearly all the claims, reef-outcrops varying from 3 ft. to 20 ft. or more in width were located, and from the surface stone fair prospects could be got everywhere by crushing and panning. A company with a capital of £6,000 was formed to provide the field with a battery of twenty heads of stamps, and one of the mining companies, the Enterprise, also built a battery of ten stamps.
The Enterprise company went in for a vigorous development policy. The company’s ground was situated on the western side of the Owen River, about seven miles up from its junction with the Buller River, and the reef outcrop was found about 250 ft. above the level of the former river. Where first found the reef is said to have been 30 ft. wide, but consisted of alternating bands of quartz and country rock. H. A. Gordon[1] states that he estimated the stone he saw at the surface would go from 6 dwt. to 10 dwt. gold per ton. A shallow adit was put in along the formation for 65 ft., after which a second adit was driven 54 ft. lower. In this lower adit the reef was intersected at 171 ft., and was driven on for 50 ft., when it averaged 40 in. in width. A winze was then sunk on the stone for 80 ft. from No. 2 adit, and No. 3 adit was driven at that depth to meet it. As a result of this work the company was so well satisfied with the prospects of its mine that it erected the battery previously mentioned. This plant was completed, and crushing was commenced towards the end of 1887 or early in 1888. The results of the crushing were not, however, at all satisfactory. Instead of yielding the anticipated 6 dwt. to 10 dwt. gold per ton, the clean-up from 720 tons crushed only gave 72 oz. gold, equal to about 2 dwt. per ton. The facilities for handling the quartz economically were so exceptional that it was considered a recovery of even 4 dwt. per ton would have shown a profit, but a 2 dwt. recovery was not payable; and as it was evident that, whatever the actual values in the stone might be, it was impossible to save a higher proportion than this with the treatment plant available, the company seems to have made a further effort to carry on.
In the meantime the Wakatu Company, whose claim was situated about half a mile up Bulmer Creek, and two miles farther up the Owen River than the Enterprise, was busy at proving its ground. Three lodes were found in the claim, only a few feet apart. On the surface they were similar to the reef in the Enterprise Company’s claim, carrying fair gold; but the putting-in of several adits served to show that at a comparatively shallow depth they either pinched out altogether or became very poor. The company crushed several hundred tons of stone in the battery erected by the public crushing company, but no data is available either as to the exact quantity or the yield of gold. It has been stated, however, that the return was less than 4 dwt. gold per ton.
The Zealandia Company’s workings were in a blind gully on the range northwards of the main branch of the Owen River, and about half-way between the Wakatu and Enterprise Companies’ areas. The reef was discovered outcropping in the gully, and some fair specimen stone is said to have been taken from it at surface. An adit driven at a depth of 80 ft. under the outcrop failed, however, to locate any quartz.
The Golden Crown Claim was on the opposite side of the main branch of the Owen River to the other claims mentioned. A reef was discovered outcropping on it at a high elevation, which is said to have shown promising
- ↑ Mines Reps., 1888, p. 33.
