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QUARTZ MINING AT LITTLE BENDIGO.
Little Bendigo has undoubtedly held the pride of
place hitherto in the quartz gold returns for the Bal
larat proper division of this district, the workings of
the Temperance Company more particularly being the
means o£ bringing that portion o£ the district into
notice. Many other companies that have been formed
for working the ground in that locality, however, have
been commenced under the moat favorable auspices,
but either from lack of funds or want of confidence,
or, perhaps, want of proper management, they have
not been successful, and for a long time the field was
almost abandoned. The . want .of success was perhaps
the fact that there was an indisposition to sink to any
great depth to search for gold-bearing reefs, and the
theory arrived at by the Gold-fields Commission some
years ago had, ho doubt, something to do with deterring
mining operations being carried on with that
vigor which should have been the case. Now, how
ever,, with the example of' the Temperance. Company
before us and the success which has attended their
operations at deeper levels, this state of things is in
a fair way of being altered materially, as it has been
proved beyond question that , the Band of Hope Beef
that runs through both the Temperance and Kero
Extended claims, is well defined, paying, and perma
nent, while another reef 120 feet to the west, called
the Western Reef, having the same characteristics as
the Band of Hope, has not yet been-even tested.
Many persons will also well remember the attempts
that have been made by. several companies to work the
old Monte Christo hill with success, but each has had
to succumb, although some very rich finds have been
from time to time recorded from this portion of little
Bendigo. Still, it is not improbable that if properly
worked paying gold will yet be got there. Hitherto
operations have been principally confined to shallow
depths, the only deep shaft on the hill being that
.sunk by. the Monte Christo Company to 300 feet, but
this was never properly prospected. Several small co
operative parties are now at work, but the returns,
although not large, are said to almost pay wages. The
late crushinga have been as follow :—Bell and party,
Ifi tons, 3 oz 12 dwt; Dully and party, 18 tons, 2 oz
11 dwt; Dawson and.party, 20 tons, 4 6z 5 dwt. The
principal, success of Little Bendigo will depend in
the future, however, upon the workings of the Tem
perance, Hero Extended, New Dimock’a, and other
. established: companies, all of which, and notably the
plucky old Temperance Company, are now in a fair
way to,thoroughly open up the deep lines of reef suc
cessfully.
The United Black Hill and Little Bendigo Com
pany, j situated to the south of Little Bendigo, is
a co-operative party of twelve miners, who have been
working for four. years on the Yorkshire line of lodes
. with generally satisfactory results. Besides the share
holders, however, several wages men are employed. The
party have a very complete plant erected, consisting of
a twelve-head battery, with which they crush about
130 tons,, per \yeek. The yields hitherto have
been from 105 oz downwards, but during the last
three months the yields have not been so good. It
may be stated that 2 dwt per ton will.pay working
expenses, and this .has been about the average of late,
but the party are now in’a better, run of quartz, from
which improved results are expected. Up to last
Christmas the quartz was :got from;* tunnel in the
hill, which enabled them to work about 60 feet from
the surface, but since then a shaft 1 has been sunk 130
feet to'catch the larger body of quartz. : ■ There are
three defined reefs on this claim—two to the west of
shaft and one to the east—but the party are turning
..all thejr attention at present, to the western reef, and,
so far, the prospects aro encouraging! The reefs are
‘all well defined, with slate underlay to the east and
hanging walls.of, sandstone, both, walls being very
soft, and it is this that enables the company to make
small yields pay well, in consequence of the quantity
of quartz that .can be got out: .cheaply. It is stated
that ! dwt per tonwould pay well on this claim.
The Hero Extended Company are working on the
Band of Hope,Reef, and; have an excellent plant now
bn the claim, besides raising stone in which gold can
be seen freely; but it .is very fine. ; There is about
200 tons now at grass. ■ Theplant consists of a pump
ing .engine '’oL IS-inch,’ cylinder, which drains the
ground easily'at present, and .is equal; to a great deal
more lifting ..power,it found necessary; then there is
a winding engine of 14-iuch cylinder, , and a battery
engine of about !16-inch cylinder, all very compact-
The battery of fifteen heads, which was at one time
the property of the Britannia Company, Camgham, is

expected to be , completed in about afortnight when
crushing will be commenced with about 250 tons 6£
stone.; • The shaft is 10 feet x 3 feet in-the clear and
divided into three • compartments, the present depth
bemg ( 056 feet. The ground which this company is
jotting Wag at first known as the One and'All
Claim, and ( paid Well heSr the surface, ihecruah
irigs Averaging from 17 dwt. to ' several ounces to
the ton. The Evening Star Companv then followed
the One and All, and after working some time met
with a poor block of stone at the 400-feet level and
gave up. . The present company then took up the
skim, and as the sinking was carried on the stone got
gradually better, the first crushing giving an average
df 21* dwt td the tori, and the stone noW on the sur
face Idolis tpiitd as good ds the last raised. The feet
t¥as struck in the shaft at 258 feet, with an underlay
to the west of about 3.J feet to the fathom, and this
has been followed down about 400 feet, the lode vary
ing from 2 feet at one end to about 3 feet at the
other, with well defined walla of slate and sandstone.
The company have an area of sixty acres, including
the West Temperance claim, and besides the Band of
liopo Reef, another feet dbollt 120 feet to the west
lias been opened, but not yet tested. The Evening Star
broke into this reef, but as the water was too strong
for that party operations were suspended from fear' of
being swamped out.. To show that this company is
almost sure of being successful, it may he stated that
the Temperance Company have driven up to the Hero
Extended Company at the 550-feet level, and squared
up their drives, and the same at the 650-feet level
Where the reef was 3, feet Wide. The stone is some
thing similar td the Cluhes atone, but without so
iniiCh pyritous mineral, arid carrying tefy fine gold all
through. MrP. M'Clintockia the mining manager,
and is at present engaged in - cutting down the shaft,
ilhd doing preparatory work to opening out, which
when completed, will give facilities for raising from
ISO to 200 tons per week.
The New Dimock's Company is situated to the north
east of the Hero Extended Company, on Dimock’s
lieef, arid Is falsing stone from the 200-feet level, 103
feet east of the shaft; This reef cannot bo said to be
solid, as it consists of a series of breaks, and blows
«»eli to tlio eastern Walls, : Derivever, the- stone now
being raised looks well, and there is.any amount of it
to be got out. The average crushing for the last
quarter was 5 dwt 22 gr, but the last yield was the
beat, the cleaning-up" giving "52' : oz' from 240 tons.
This, of course, pays well, as there is very little trou
ble iu breaking out the stone. The quartz is similar
to the Hero in appearance, but the gold is.ooarser in
the large body of stone, and is found in the casings
while in the smaller end' of the lode fine gold is seen
through .the stone, and very little rough. The gold
bearing quartz, as in .the two first-mentioned claims,
widens out as it goes down: The claim is at present
being worked by IS tributors, who have- this week
entered into a fresh arrangement with the company
to take another, tribute for 120 feet deeper for an
extended period of seven years, and this ought to
show the confidence these miners have in gold being
found at lower depths than at present; There is also
a vast body of quartz to the west of the shaft. Another
lode has been out at 47 feet east of the present work
ings, in which gold has been seen, and the manager,
Mr J, R. Shaw, from a trial dish, got no less than 18
gold-bearing specimens. This the manager believes
to be the best lode. The plant, however, is not a
very complete one, and wants additions in the shape
of a Chilian mill and furnaces for the treatment of
pyrites, of which there is a great quantity in the
clone. Prom 6lb of pyrites tried, some time ago no
less than 7 dwt of gold was obtained, and it is in
tended to send in a sample to the School of Mines
this week for the purpose of having a thorough test.
The company intend to make an addition -to the bat
tery at once, which, when completed, will consist of
20 heads. The company also intend to sink a perma
nent shaft at some future day.. .
The Temperance Company have their shaft down
750 feet and are working the Band of Hope Reef,
The average yield for last quarter was 10 dwt 10 gr
per ton, but lately the ground has not been so good,
though the lode varies somewhat, being better in
come places than at others. There is plenty of stone
to keep the battery going. They are now working at
three levels, 550, 650, and 750 feet, the lode at the
550-feet level being about two feet thick, and at the
750-feet level, three feet. The lode - has already been
proved for 1500 feet, the crushing average being some
times 15 dwt to the ton, hut very seldom under 8
dwt, and it has been proved beyond doubt that the
best atone has been got at the greater depths. The
best gold, however, has been got from the smaller
part of the lode than where it widened to three feet.
The south end of the reef has not been so rich
as at the north of the shaft, but a drive now
going south along the course of the lode about 300
feet from the shaft looks very encouraging. Tho
Western Reef also runs through this company’s area,
but has not yet been tested, the company being fully
engaged in operating on the Band of Hope line of
reef.
The Rod, White, and Blue Company are principally
crushing on hire, their claim being let in small tri
butes, working at shallow depths, the result of late
crushings being as follows: —Day and party, 15 tons,
2 oz 19 dwt; Eldridge and Cos., 29 tons, 11 oz 17 dwt;
Palamountain and Cos., 36 tons, 4oz 13 dwt; Semmena
and Cos., 28 tons, 3 oz 9 dwt; do, 28 tons, 3 oz 9
dwt; Quick and Cos., 38 tons, 15 oz 4 dwt; do, 38
tons, 15 oz 4 dwt; Wimble and Cos., 19 tons, 8 oz 3
dwt; do, 14 tons, 4oz 12 dwt. There are, however,
five other tributes, which have riot yet crushed. Seve
ral other parcels have been also crushed for small co
operative parties in the Monte Christo ground and
elsewhere, with various results.

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