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it carried very good values. In common with the other two shoots referred to, the Phoenix in 1908 became the property of the local syndicate, from whom it passed first to the Wellington Mines and then to the Murray Creek Gold-mines. The latter company, when driving No. 6 level from its shaft, carried the working well out towards the lode-line in the endeavour to pick up the Phoenix shoot, but failed to find reef. A track that was supposed to represent the downward continuation of the shoot was met with and driven on for a considerable distance, but no solid stone was found along it. When No. 7 level was opened up it was extended in the most direct line towards the Victoria shoot, no attempt being made to locate either the Inglewood or Phoenix shoots by means of it. Evidently the former was looked upon as too poor to be worth the expense the deviation of the drive would entail, and the experience on No. 6 must have led the management to the conclusion that the other shoot had disappeared for good.
Inglewood Mine.—The Inglewood shoot, the most northerly on Kelly’s lode series, was, like the Victoria, discovered in 1870, and the Inglewood Gold-mining Company was formed to work it. The first stone was crushed from it in 1872. The original company drove two adits on it, which proved the shoot to be about 200 ft. in length, with an average width of from 3 ft. to 4 ft., and the available records serve to show that it mined and treated 1,005 tons of quartz for a yield of 561 oz. gold, equal to 11·15 dwt. per ton. In 1879 the company absorbed the North Star Claim, which adjoined it to the north-east, and became the Inglewood and North Star Company. This company put in a third adit, known as the No. 3 Inglewood and North Star adit, and carried on operations till 1885, during which time, with the help of the Phoenix Company, it drove No. 4 Inglewood adit. Within this period 1,591 tons of stone were crushed for a return of 821 oz. gold, an average of 10·3 dwt. per ton. In the last year mentioned another reconstruction evidently took place, and the company became known as the Inglewood Extended, which name it retained till the conclusion of its operations about 1896. In 1887–88 this company, with the help again of the Phoenix Company, drove the No. 5 (battery level) in to its shoot of stone, and in the following year absorbed the latter company. What amount of quartz the company mined during these years cannot now be definitely ascertained, but a statistical record of all quartz crushed and gold won from Reefton mines, published by the Inangahua County Council, shows that up to March, 1887, the Inglewood Extended Company crushed 4,233 tons for a yield of 2,886 oz. gold, valued at £16,058, and paid in dividends £1,500. During the years 1888–96, in which latter year the company practically ceased operations, a further 5,120 tons were crushed for a yield of 2,867 oz. gold, and, as there is no reason to believe that the Phoenix shoot was operated on during the period, this output may also be credited to the Inglewood shoot. This would mean that during the working-life of the mine 11,949 tons of quartz were crushed from this shoot for a return of 7,135 oz. gold, an average of 11·86 dwt. per ton, and dividends to the amount of £2,700 were paid.
The shoot was worked down to a total depth of about 500 ft. below the outcrop. It was picked up in No. 5 adit, where it was much the same length as in the upper levels, but evidently in this lower part of the mine the values were such as to leave but the barest margin of profit. Referring to the stoping above No. 5 adit, Warden Bird[1] mentions that the work was being done on day labour, but, owing to the expense incurred, did not pay; but when
- ↑ Mines Reps., 1889, C.–2, p. 115.
