The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-03 00:00:00

POLTIMORE COPPER AND GOLD
MINING COMPANY.

GOLD DIGGING IN ENGLAND.
Nesterilay the half-yearly general meeting of this
company (postponed from the tint Wednesday its October)
took place at the office of the company, Vereon Huuse,
Pull mall.
There was a very large attendance of proprietors—Lord
Itanelagh and Capt. Moorsom being amongst them. On the
table were exhibited I specimens of the produce of the
mines, in the shape of large blocks of auriferous gamin,
mere or less rich, and several lumps of pure gold, one of
them about 4 inches over by 1 inch in thickuess, another
about 3 inches in diameter by ,1 inch is thickness, and a
&umber of smaller nuggets.
The chair was filled by CHARLES HEREAOII, Esq.
Alter the reading of the advertisement calling the meeting,
and the rescinding of a rule which permitted dividends to
be paid out of capital, the report of the committee was pre-
seated, from which we extract the following as the most
important paragraphs :
" The committee in meeting the shareholders at their
locoed general meeting, hate much pleasure in being able
to give a most satisfactory account of the position and pros-
, recta of the undertaking. The works have pruoeeded with
every practical expeditioe. The wheel is now in full work,
pumps have been sunk to 30 fathoms, and the levels within
that depth arc clear of water, and the whole gear (with the
exception of crushers and stamper,.) for working the river
efficiently is in place. The production of copper having
been the primary object of the formation of the company, it
is a source of no small gratific anon to the committee to
assert that the exploration already effected is equal to tee
most sanguine expectations. In the edit level, courses
of grey and yellow ore of a most encouraging
nature, have been met with, and them seems little reason to
doubt but that, these extraordinary works at the Poltimore
were carried ea by the antisats for Ma 'redaction of this
swat, whatever may have been their views with regard to
SUM and silver. In the 20 fathom level a considerable
tmeatity of ground has been removed at some former ft.,.
pried, bat in the end or forebreast a most valuable lode of
sapper exists of about five feet wide, thickly mixed with in
grey tad purple copper, showing indisputably that the ess sit
-
'anon of work arose, not from the absence of ore, but from hfa
some other cause on which it is impossible to form an 113
opinion. These remarks apply to the Poltimore lode, known at'
St.
by the ancients es the North lode. 6'
About 20 fathoms south, the south or Bamfylde lode so
has been cut in the lobby about three feet wide. Even in
this shallow depth there are two distinct courses of ore of 33
oae-and-e-half and two inches wide each, of so rich a chap
rater that the greater proportion may be sent to the i;
smelters without passing through the stamps. This is now *
being driven on, and in • short distance there will be • et.
back of at least 40 fathoms. A shareholder who recently 33
visited the mine made some trials personally, and he re- be.
ports that he has had the ore assayed by Messrs. Johnson It'
and Matthey, who returned 151 per cent. of copper, end 10
9 oz. 6 des. of silver to the ton of ore, which is still further gt,
evidence of the strong ground of belief that the retinae?* es,
sett is one vast field of mineral wealth.
" Coming now to the question of gold—a subject which
engrosses such geaersl attention throughout the country, ist
the committee are equally able to furnish an excellent ac-
count. Much scepticism as to the production of gold in ig
England being of commercial value naturally existed
for some time, which is not to be wondered at, considering heed
one or two known essayists have returned mere '.61
traces, but the preponderating evidence of facts to the 14
contrary, which have been arrived at by the various opera- •0
none= the Poltimore gouan, has converted the doubtful mei
into warm supporters. Messrs. Rawlins and Watson, who to
he,, paid great attention to the matter, give the average
palm, of 17 dwts. of gold per ton of ore, and which they
Now would yield • profit of 50,0001. per annum, according gs
to their process, from 100 tens of concentrated gosson per so
week, and after bearing the heavy expense, of cartage to aft
the port, and freight to St. Helens; but experiments which &-
have been made by Mr. Baden and others give reason to 0,„
believe that the ultimate average yield will be greater, 'a
while the expense of extraction would be materially re- *
diced. Mr. John Wilson, it will be remembered, in his es
report of August 16, stated that the trials at Messrs. Raw- ft.
Has and Watson's varied from oto 4 oz. of gold per ton, 6k
sad this will explain why the average yield of 120 tons was tsl
17 dwts., while that of the previous reduction was 271 dwts. et
in 20Mr tons.
" . Berdan's method has been publicly applied to the 23
Poltimore genic, and the principle proposed by Captain ee
Moorsom and Mr. Mitchel will be tested at the Britannia al
mine in a few days; the committee have suspended the 5-
completion of any contract for the erection of power and se
crushing gear until the result of the Britannia trials shall en
be known. According to the trials of Mr. Berden's plan, IS
the expense of crushing and amalgamating will be reduced
from 30e. to 10s. per too, in addition to the total saving of ie
,
land carriage and freight. The produce of the gold, the u
result of experiments only, is already 5811. 6s. Id., with an so
asset in addition of 450 tom of auriferous vegan ready to be to
sent to the emitters, which Is equivalent to a further sum of act.
1,6061„ making altogether 2,187/. Considering therefore sk
LPL
the facts already arrived at to respect to the production of
gold, and the various deposits of rich copper ore which are st
now developed, it is not sanguine to express • firm convic 10
-
ties that very beneficial results will quickly accrue to the 161
essapaay ; indeed it appears ajastifiable calculation to look ,_,
fost division of very large profits in a limited period Ite
after the machinery is at work. It has seldom been the 7;
good fortune of a committee of management to have the is
control of • mine of such great protium. The Poltimore, at,
altogether, is a mine of such magnitude, that there can be fa
SO doubt but that it will quickly take rank amoegst the to,
hest dividend-paying mines M the country. tS
"The accounts have been audited by Mr. Seed, the lie- u
esointant. The expenditure of the half-year ending to
September 30, amounted to 2,087/. 18s., inclusive of the MI
purchase of machinery, timber, property, end other things, 19
to the collective cost of 1,1671. tis. 7d., leaving a balance of lc
16,7701. 6s. ltd. to the credit of the company, exclusive
of shams, gold, and other assets as shown in the stock as
account."
From the balance sheet it appeared that the balance of St.
eesh and securities in hand was 19,7541. 17s. sd. • gold in
hand, 1611. 161.4 d. ; shares unappropriated, 8,2801. ; sun-
dries, 31.71. 6d. ; total, 28,1901. Is.
The report of the mining agent, Captain Floyd, as to the tai,
state of the works, which was generally satisfactory, was
also read. le
The CHAIRMAN moved the adoption of the report.
Lord RANRLAOH seconded the motion. et.
The report was adopted, and • vote of thanks and u
confidence wee passed in favour of the committee of ma-
nagement, which concluded the business. itt

SHARE LISTS.

WEEINESDAT EIIZNING.
The English railway market to-day was not af-
fected to the usual extent by the fluctuations of the
funds. Prices opened lower, and business being far
from active throughout the day, the closing range
still showed a trifling reduction from that of Mon-
day, the rise in Consols this afternoon appearing to
exercise little sympathetic influence. There is no
general speculative movement in this department,
the speculation for a fall seeming to be much dimi-
nished, whilst the late pressure for stock for delivery
is much relieved by the quantity borrowed to adjust
outstanding transactions. At the close business re-
mained dull, out prices may be reported steady at
the rates quoted.