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passed to J. Coghlan and party, who carried out some fruitless prospecting in the upper levels, and in the following year Walker and party seem to have taken it over. Another company was then formed, which replaced a winding plant on the shaft, repaired the latter to the 400 ft. level, and carried out further extensive prospecting east and west from that level. A crosscut to the east cut two reef-tracks, which were driven on for considerable distances without anything but odd boulders of quartz being met with. A crosscut was also run out for some hundreds of feet to the west without finding anything of value. This company carried on till 1913. In 1914 the Boatman’s Consolidated Company became the owners of the claim and of all the others on the field; but it did no work on the Just-in-Time, confining itself to the sinking of the Fiery Cross shaft to a depth of 1,000 ft. to test the whole area at that horizon.
During its years of production the Just-in-Time crushed, as nearly as can now be estimated, 13,537 tons of quartz for a yield of 17,173 oz. gold, valued at approximately £67,829 3s., and paid in dividends £17,166. These figures include small yields from the Walhalla and Boatman’s Creek Claims, which for a time held part of the ground.
Fiery Cross Mine.—This mine adjoined the Just-in-Time on the north, and started crushing in the same year as the latter (1873), but the stone from it was not so rich as from the other mine. Work was at first confined to the Fiery Cross shoot. A three-compartment shaft was sunk, which eventually reached a depth of 450 ft., and three levels were opened from it, at 191 ft., 300 ft., and 450 ft. respectively. From these levels much quartz was won. Below the 450 ft. level the Fiery Cross shoot was followed down by a skip-winze (inclined shaft) a further distance of about 160 ft., two levels being opened from it, one at 103 ft. below the 450 ft. level and the other at the bottom. From this latter a winze was started, but after it had been sunk only a few feet the stone cut out. All the quartz in the shoot having been stoped out, attention was directed to the southern end of the mine, where, on the 450 ft. level, the Just-in-Time eastern shoot was found. To follow this shoot down, a “monkey” shaft was started from the level at a point 200 ft. south of the main shaft. This underground shaft was subsequently sunk to a vertical depth of 360 ft., and three levels were opened from it, from which a good deal of stone was won. Just below the bottom level the stone cut out in much the same way as in the Fiery Cross shoot. These workings having exhausted all the known ore, active work ceased about 1896, and little more was done on the claim till 1914, when the Boatman’s Consolidated Mines took it over. This company reopened and enlarged the old 450 ft. shaft and sank it to a depth of 1,000 ft., where a level was opened out and a crosscut driven for 800 ft. to the eastward. To enable this work to be carried out, a Government subsidy of £10,000 was granted. It may be said that the leading technical officers of the Mines Department were averse to the granting of this assistance, as they saw no chance of the work yielding satisfactory results, nevertheless the grant was made and the whole of the money was expended. In the crosscut, three reef-tracks were intersected, and a good deal of lateral prospecting was carried out, but no reef was anywhere found. The company’s funds having all been used up, work ceased about 1921 and the company went into liquidation. Before closing down, however, a good deal of fruitless prospecting was done in several of the upper levels. From 1873 to 1895, the period of its productive life, the mine yielded 24,561 tons of quartz, from which 27,958 oz. 10 dwt. gold were recovered, valued at £110,679, and the
