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period it crushed 380 tons of quartz, for an even smaller average return than the Phoenix Syndicate had secured, the yield only being 241 oz. 2 dwt. gold, valued at £883 13s. 1d.
In 1919 the property was taken over by the Ready Bullion Mining Company, Ltd., which put in the third adit 250 ft. below No. 2. This adit was carried in for 600 ft., and at its end a crosscut was put out east for 200 ft. in which reef-tracks, containing only fragments of valueless quartz, were intersected at 100 ft., 143 ft., and 175 ft. respectively from the drive. It is doubtful, even had any shoots of stone lived down to this depth, if the adit was carried in far enough to meet it; but it is unlikely that further driving would have brought any better result, and, indeed, bearing in mind the extremely unsatisfactory character of the development in No. 2 adit, it is difficult to find justification for the carrying-out of such work as was done in it. Mining of this kind can scarcely be considered as other than of the “wild-cat” order, and it is to be regretted that well-intentioned supporters of mining effort should be induced to spend their money on it.
The Ready Bullion Mining Company was dissolved in 1926, but no work had been done on the property for several years prior to that date.
CAPLESTON GROUP.—TOPFER’S LODE-SERIES.
The lode-series so named occurs in the Boatman’s locality, about four miles and a half north-easterly from Reefton. It was originally prospected by Alexander Topfer in 1872, the first discovery having been made on what was afterwards the Just-in-Time Claim. In common with the other formations of the district, the lode consisted of blocks or lenses of quartz separated one from another by stretches of barren country. A number of claims were pegged out along the line very shortly after the first find, some of which were among the most successful to be opened in the Inangahua County.
Just-in-Time Mine.—This mine, which was towards the southern end of the lode-series, was one of the first to be developed systematically. In 1873 the company owning it joined with the Fiery Cross Company in erecting a fifteen-stamp battery, in which a parcel from the Just-in-Time, of 308 tons of quartz, was the first to be crushed. The yield from this crushing was 1,631 oz. gold, equal to a little over 5¼ oz. per ton. Thereafter for a considerable number of years the mine continued to be a regular producer. Portions of two lenses were found to occur in it, the first to be worked being what was known as the western block. The eastern block, otherwise known as the Walhalla was near the boundary of the Fiery Cross Claim, and pitching into it. This block was not found till 1874, when no time was lost in developing it, and most of the best stone taken from the mine was won from it. When it passed into the Fiery Cross ground at the 200 ft. level of the Just-in-Time, the latter company collapsed, and for some years its claims lay idle. The western shoot, which was on the boundary between the Just-in-Time and Reform Claims, only lived down a short distance. About 1896 the areas held previously by the company passed into the hands of the Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand, which company sank the Just-in-Time shaft, otherwise known as the Imperial-Reform shaft, a further 200 ft., making a total depth of 400 ft. from the collar, and did a lot of prospecting from a level opened out at that depth without finding anything of value. About the end of 1900 the mine was taken over by a party of tributers, who repaired the old 200 ft. (Reform) level, and did much prospecting from it, also without satisfactory result. In 1907 the property
