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i '' MINING MEETING. J
!IBA7EIAVO0n SILVER-LEAD MINING CO.
An ordinary general meeting of shareholders
in this company was held in the
Town Hall, Burnie, on Monday, the 6th Inst. ;
Mr. J. W. Norton Smith chairman. There
were 13,36 shares represented by the shareholders
present and proxies. The
Chairman read the directors' and
mining manager's reports; 'also the cash
statement and balance-sheet for the half-year
ending June 30, 1888. is '
Directors' report.-Astatemontof receipts
and disbursements from the commencement
of the company's operations to June 30 is
Bubmitted'horewith for your approval. The
first mining manager (Mr. W. R. Bell)
shortly resigned his position, and Mr. G.
Bottriell was appointed in his stead ; the
directors regretted losing the services of the
former gentleman, but the company is to be
congratulated on securing the services of so
able a gentleman as Mr. Bottriell. Under'
the directorship of these two managers, good
progress has been made in developing the
mine. The first work undertaken was necessarily
that of providing shelter for those
employed, but steps were taken simultaneously
to explore the lode. The raining
mana¿era"roport, which is submitted there-
with, gives particulars of the Work second
plished and the result Half a ton of ore
was packed] to Waratah and forwarded to
Melbourne Exhibition. A larger" quantity
would have been sent had it been possible to
get it conveyed to Waratah's anything like
a reasonable rate. ! The greatest difficulty in
opening, theme is the expense of getting
rations and stores, to it, while it is at present
impossible to get the ore which is raised, to
market. " The opening of a practicable road
between Waratah and Heazlewood , is of
vital importance to this and other mining I
companies Carrying on operations at the
Heazlewood, and in order to get immediate
improvements made a deputation
elected at public meetings, and of which
three of this company's directors were members,
waited upon the Minister of Lands, to
urge, upon him the necessity of improving
the means of communication not only with
the Heazlewood, but also with the West,
Coast generally. The Minister favourably
entertained the matter laid before him, and
your directors have since been informed that
this track is receiving attention from the
department.", J '' ' ! ^
Mining' manager's report:-The following
work has been done at your mine ;-" A
shaft large' enough to be carried down to
any reasonable depth, has been sunk and
timbered a depth of 14ft., but owing to the
very wet weather it was making meats
quantity of water that I thought it advisable
to su»pen,d(«iukiog. for.atíme,,«« during the
summer months it can be sunk: for one-half
what it costs posy. The water which is
only surface drainage ' through IW lode),
though so troublesome nowwilfbe effectually
drained by a drive "that is being driven to
out the lode.'-The'véln'of ore which the
shaft is following down at fully 8in.' in
thickness at) bottom when sinking 'was
stopped, showing a gradual improvement in
size as depth i is reached. In speaking of
this vein of ore, it must not be understood
that it is the whole width of the lode, as
(the lode itself runs from 3ft. to about t}ft In
width. It consists mostly of a 'gossan,',
but where not affected by decomposition ;
there is a good show of galena vlslbV dress
initiated through it There is also other or
branch veins of galenarunnlngthroughthelode
in the surface topee and splicing into the main
years, so that we may sinking alongside ore
that we do not see, but of course will be got
when we start to stope away from the shaft.
A tunnel is also being driven on a course to
cut the lode which I was in hopes of doing
before, this; meeting, but owing to getting
into hard and bad shooting ground, and the
very slight underlay, of the lode, we have
some little distance to drive yet. This
tunnel when driven to the shaft will have a
height of books to stope away as soon'
as the shaft and tunnel are connected. 'Ae
sooner the todeisicutin,«he-drive, there is
llttlejdoubt.We shall have better working
g>ouu4,,and, th»,inen(employed underlying
will be breaking ore. as they go on Distance
noVtóvenTn&fTr'Abo«{S6Mt7 weather
the shaft. have commenced stoping out ore,
Starting on a level by the time the lode is
worked out to the shaft, it will be a depth of
36ft perpendicular. This I thought a more
economical way of working out the surface
ore, than by starting stopes from the shaft,
and will also drain the lode of surface water
south of the shaft, I should estimate that I
have stacked on the surface about 80 tons of first
grade ore, beside a large quantity of
poorer ore, which I am now stacking separately,
and as the stripping, timber, etc., is
now all cleared off the surface up to the
shaft, I shall be able to break more ore in
proportion than I have been doing There
is further a large quantity of first grade ore
in eight In addition to the work done for
the development of the mine there has been
a large amount of other necessary work done,
viz , one hut built, 15ft, x 12ft., for office,
storeroom and manager's residence, one
double hut, 24ft. x 12ft., one hut, 15ft. x
12ft,, another of the same size in course of
erection, shed over shaft, blacksmith's and
carpenters' about, 15ft. x 12ft., shed to
accommodate four horses, powder magazine,
wheelbarrow, two trucks, and other small
items, all of which are necessary, and take
time in the first starting of a mine. I would
add that everything as far has been done
under the greatest difficulty, owing to
so much bad weather, and the want
of proper road communication, which
is one of the greatest drawbacks to
the companies here in regard, to getting
materials, rations, etc., to the mines. I
have also a good quantity of mining timber,
both split and sawn, on hand at the mine
ready for use as we require it. In conclusion,
I would say that the prospects of
the mine Improve as it is developed, and the
shareholders may be congratulated on having
a valuable property." The
Chairman addressed the meeting,
commenting favourably on the mining
manager's report, and moved the adoption
of the reports, which was seconded by Mr.
W. Jones.
In answer to an inquiry by a shareholder,
if the cash was a fixed deposit, the Chairman
replied that £1,500 at six months, £1,000 at
nine months, and £3,000 at 12 months are a
fixed deposit.
The Chairman put his motion to the
meeting, and it was carried unanimously.
Rev. W. H. Bowe inquired how the ore
at the mine would be dealt with, whether
it would be secured at the mine or otherwise
t
Mr. James Smith replied that it was impossible
at present to say possitively how
the ore would be treated. At present. It was
almost impossible to do anything with it for
want of a road from Waratah.
A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated
the proceedings.
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