the
Monte Christo mine, 1,000 feet north from the Metropolitan shaft, works
have not been taken lower than 180 feet; and at the Norman, which is
situated about 1,000 feet still further north, there is a splendid
shaft, measuring 11 feet by 4 feet, sunk also to a depth of 320 feet.
The
Lothair Company did not raise much quartz, although it sunk a good
shaft to a depth of 200 feet. A private party, known as " Lowe's,"
which worked three wings of quartz in the Lothair Company's area, is
said to have obtained about 500 ozs. of gold from about 1,300 tons of
quartz. Apart from the yields obtained by the companies named, and by
Lowe's party, various parties have from time to time taken out
crushings of quartz from the shallow formations of the system. Two
thousand ounces of gold were, it is said, thus obtained from about
4,500 tons, an average close on 9 dwts. fo the ton.
Thus,: the yields from the Monte Christo system of lodes totals 14,000
ozs. of gold from 4.7,000 tons of quartz, or, in other words, the
average per ton is a little below 6 dwts. There is a
first-class opportunity here for a company with a big modern mill, and
a good winding and pumping plant. There are several small parties at
work in the shallow formations of the line. Their works extend to the
water level, which is here about 150 feet from the surface, and
generally so on the higher parts of Little Bendigo. The facilities
offered on the field for ore treatment, are not in accordance with the
requirements of low-grade ore, and thus the efforts of these parties do
not always result in payable returns being obtained. Now and then they
find a patch yielding a few tons, worth, perhaps, 1 oz. to the ton, and
on such occasions a mild revival in local mining takes place. The same
can be said of the Dimock's line of lodes; but, as with the Monte
Christo, bulk handling and treatment is the essential for continuous
success. There are great quantities of low-grade ore above and below
water level in this field, which, if handled in bulk, would keep
hundreds of miners employed, even if its valu2 per ton averaged less
than 2 dwts.
During
my rambles through the gold-fields of our State, I have met with many
situations, on each of which heavy mills of 100 heads will yet be
taking ore from hundreds of well-paid miners. One hundred heavy heads
of stampers going continually on ores such as at Little Bendigo, means
the crushing of 500 tons per 24 hours. With a record which shows an
average of 6| dwts. per ton from about 260,000 tons of quartz, the
Little Bendigo field ought to be a centre of mining.
The
mining efforts of the past in Little Bendigo, though with one or two
exceptions not successful, have pointed the way to development, and of
late years the intelligently applied but inadequate efforts of such
prospectors as the Dav Brothers, Lugg and Sons, Nash and Son, the
Devesons, the Honorable Vale and Sons, and Mr. Holden, M.L.A., of
Wallace, have added evidences in favour of comprehensive mining effort.
A big mill, in a central position with tram lines radiating from it,
would hasten its development. Mr. Day has a 5-head mill at work near
the centre of the field. The mild revival now being experienced along
the Dimock's and the Monte Christo lines is due to its presence.
All
that has been said about the lodes of Little Bendigo may be said
conÂcerning the lode systems to be seen in outcrops for miles to the
south and north of the area described, and concerning also the
formations of the numerous sysÂtems of lodes, parallel to those of
Little Bendigo, to be seen in. outcrops in the mile or so of silurian
rock between Little Bendigo and the basalt-covered granite to the
eastward.
I
have to tender my thanks to Mr. B. Day, and to his brother, who own the
little mill on the field, to Messrs. Lugg, Deveson, Nash, Millet,
Powell, Hocking, Nankervis, Casselly, Knipe, Mulligan, and Lowe, all
miners, old and young, who have spent most of their lives on the field,
for help given in getting the matter for this report. I have also to
thank Mr. Christy, the Mining Registrar of Ballarat, for assistance
rendered in allowing free access to the records in his books 5 and
last, but not least, to the manager of the Ballarat branch of the
National Bank of Australasia, for placing the records of his purchased
gold at my service.
