decreased, the fall in recoverable value, however, has been fully offset by lower working costs or nearly so. Notwithstanding this, there are croakers still to be found predicting that the bottom of the gold industry is in sight. One has only to draw attention to the first-rate deep level developments at Kalgoorlie and elsewhere to silence these pessimists. The deepest mine in the State is still the Gt. Boulder, which has proved high grade ore to 2,600 ft.; the Ivanhoe't main lode is giving splendid assay values at abous 2,000 ft. from the surface; no less than six payable ore bodies, one of which averages 22 dwt. over a width of 18 ft., are on view at approximately the same depth in the Golden Horseshoe; while just a hundred or two feet nearer the surface the Associated, the Gt. Boulder Perseverance and the Kalgurli are getting first-rate stone. In the face of these facts it is only reasonable to assume that Kalgoorlie mining will continue profitable as long as it is possible for the hand of man to follow and extract the ore in depth.

An outstanding feature of current operations on this field is the effort which is being made to obtain a geological survey of the principal known ore deposits. The official maps as supplied by the Geological Survey of W.Ą. for the Kalgoorlie field are not only obsolete but for practical uses are valueless. For years the leading mining men in the district were vocal about the necessity for more detailed geological information in regard to the lode formations of the field, but it was not until three of the leading companies cooperated that anything was done in the matter. Now two or three geologists-the chief of which is Dr. M'Laren, a recognised authority on ore depositsare at work and the result of their labors will, it is expected, tend to diminish the element of chance in prospecting and working the various ore bodies peculiar to the "Golden Mile" and the country fringing it.

Another interesting feature of present day Kalgoorlie mining is the amalgamations schemes that are being engineered. At the south end the Gt. Boulder Main Reef has decided to throw in its lot with its nextdoor neighbor, the Chaffers Company; the Hannan's Star and Boulder Deep Levels, which only a few months ago decided to become merged into the Hannan's Star Consolidated, are making preparations to combine with the Lake View Consols. At the north or other end of the belt the fusion of the OroyaBrownhill, the Golden Links and the Kalgoorlie Amalgamated was completed at the end of 1909. some quarters strenuous opposition was shown to these amalgamations. In the case of the Hannan's Star so strong bave the rights of the local shareholders been proclaimed that litigation has been started. All three. amalgamations are, however, practically assured and it is only a matter of terms for division of the assets that bars quick agreement. It is to be hoped for the sake of shareholders that the schemes put forward by the directors will eventuate and give dividends as well as work for the men and the staff.

Of the mining centres outside Kalgoorlie the flourishing Gwalia district at Leonora is the most solid. The Sons of Gwalia G.M. Co., Ltd., the leases of which are situated in this locality, is developing wonderfully well, while the adjoining mine known as the Gwalia South, a locally registered company, is steadily improving, and in a couple of years has paid £20,000 in dividends on ordinary shares. The returns. from the parent company's mine have gradually moved up during the past year, and now a profit of a little under £10,000 a month is being earned. A lot of vigorous prospecting is at present being done on the Murchison and the East Murchison fields, and both these camps include promising districts, such as Meekatharra, Wiluna, and Black Range-districts. which have recently become important centres of mining activity, and are rapidly elbowing their way to the front. Peak Hill Goldfield has been kept going,

but on a rather narrow margin of profit. It is true that the returns from the Murchison have shown a considerable falling off of late, but this diminution is due to the shortening of operations at the once famous Gt. Fingall Consolidated Co.'s mine at Day Dawn. With that exception the Murchison shows an increased output. This is recognised by the State in the way railway construction is in hand at two points.

The gold yield from the pioneer field of Yilgarn is on the increase, and as a well-known authority puts it, the oldest and principal mining centre-Southern Cross-appears to have at last convinced investors that it has latent possibilities of the character that appeal to modern mining conditions-big lodes carrying very fair and consistent values throughout. Whether the chutes last in deep ground, however, only the future can tell. As mostly everyone engaged in Western Australian gold mining knows, Southern Cross was completely eclipsed and neglected by the sensationally rich finds at Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, and beyond in the early nineties, and it seems that its importance as a gold mining field is just beginning to be realised.

The scale of operations in the Coolgai die district shows little alteration as compared with that of a year ago. A few mines which were then producing are now on the silent list, but others have stepped into the breach and a new centre, that of Chadwin (61 mile), which began with alluvial being found when the wood cutters were at work to get fuel for the Kalgoorlie mines. This camp came into being early in 1909 and is helping to swell the aggregate production. Last year's output from Coolgardie certainly showed a decrease of some few thousand ounces, as compared with 1909, but this is largely attributed to the extinction of the Westralia and East Extension, at Bonnievale, and the falling off in returns from the Burbanks Birthday Gift.

In the Mt. Morgans and Laverton districts, the chief centres of the Mt. Margaret field, the few mines which make returns to the Chamber of Mines are holding their own, and it would appear safe to forecast that an era of considerable revival and renewed prosperity will set in there before long. The Westialia Mt. Morgans kept in full work in 1909, and the shareholders have found more money to sink further for another run of lenses of pay rock. Mr. A. E. Morgans went to London to get this capital.

Turning to the Norseman district, the scale of operations may be said to be steadily expanding and a good deal of Australian subscribed capital has lately been found for the working of undeveloped. mines on this field. Of course, the linking of Norseman with the Eastern Goldfields railway system has cheapened mining costs and consequently given the breaking of new ground an impetus. The Mararoa mine just now is the leading producer and is on the dividend list. Other shows, such as the North Star, are being energetically developed, and a mill started. in February of this year on the North Star, which is owned by the Westralia Waihi who have abandoned operations at Davyhurst.

At Menzies, Kookynie and other centres, within the borders of the North Coolgardie field, the few established mines and a host of small shows which contribute to the monthly returns, are nearly all turning out as much gold as formerly, and one of the most encouraging features about the mining operations in this part of the eastern gold producing territory is that there are at present more stamps in commission than ever. The early resumption of company operations at the old Cosmopolitan Proprietary at Kookynie in addition to tributing would mean a further increase still.

Of the other mining fields, Kanowna, Yalgoo, Malcolm, Broad Arrow, Pilbarra, Ashburton, Gascoyne

and Kimberley, the first four named are about holding their own, and in the case of the others either dull times are being experienced or mining and prospecting is more or less moribund.

A feature of the mining operations of the State which is entitled to a place in this review is the development which has ensued at Phillips River principally for copper-through the enterprise of the Phillips River G. and C. Co., Ltd., who have embarked about £300,000 in the opening up of three mines and the erection of the most modern type of copper smelting plants in Australia. Initial difficulties which are inseparable from the beginning of industrial propositions, appear to have been overcome and according to the statement of the chairman of the company at the recent meeting in London there is a large profit in sight in the mines. For gold Kundip, which is located about midway between Hopetoun (the port) and Ravensthorpe, the leading mine is the Flag, owned by a local company, and there are also several promising prospecting shows at work;

In regard to new fields, it must be said that the

Government is doing its best to encourage prospecting by assisting parties with the loan of camels and equipment and grants under the Mining Development Act, and although no new Kalgoorlies have so far been discovered there are great possibilities for systematic prospecting work on the countless ore deposits which exist in the State's known auriferous belts. As for treatment methods the efficiency and low costs shown in the handling of residues by the vacuum filter plants is enabling the mineowners to turn to considerable profitable account immense heaps of old tailings which would not pay to touch by means of the old system of filter pressing. The advent of the producer gas engine for power purposes is also proving a boon in the shape of lower costs to the smaller mineowner, particularly in places where good water and fuel is scarce. On the whole those connceted with gold mining in Western Australia look on the future with confidence and with the firm conviction that with fair encouragement in the work of development a period of prosperity brighter than the industry has yet experienced will be recorded.

The metallurgical practice on the Kalgoorlie Field though only extending over a period of sixteen years, has made such strides that it is now keenly watched and in many instances followed by mining engineers and metallurgists throughout the gold mining centres of the world.

In 1893, the only means of obtaining gold from the surface alluvial and quartz veins near Hannan's was by the aid of the shaker and dolly pot. Early in 1894 the Brothers MacClay erected a unit mill on the Kalgurli mine, the tailing from which ore is said to have assayed £40 per ton. Then the five head of stamps were erected on the Croesus mine, [A photograph of which appeared some time ago in the W.A. MINING JOURNAL.-Ed.] the remains of which may be seen at the present day. In 1895 the lode formaions in which the prospectors had found "mustard gold” on the Lake View Consols mine had become of sufficient value to warrant the erection of a plant. An Austral Otis ball mill was put up, but, not proving a success, was replaced by 10 stamps, which were erected in the gully between the Lake View Consols and the Gt. Boulder Proprietary Co.'s mines. Although not actually the first mill on the field, it may be considered the starting point of the metallurgical practice at Kalgoorlie. The ore was hand fed, amalgamated in the boxes and copper plates, passed over blanket tables into pits, the slime overflowing and running into dams, while the sand in the pits was dug out and wheeled away for future treatment. During this time good values had been found on a number of the other mines, and several three and five stamp batteries were erected, but with the same primitive arrangements.

The Huntingdon mill was introduced about this time, the Associated Gold Mines, Ltd., being te first with three mills; then the Hannan's Oroya and Hannan's Proprietary also with a similar number each. Over 100 tons daily was crushed by each plant of three mills. The sand and slime was stacked or run into dams, and the Oroya dump at the time of writing is being treated by the vacuum plant, while the treatment of the latter is under consideration. A point worthy of note in the Huntingdon milling is the low percentage of gold in the slime, as compared with the sand. The high value of the tailing from the different mills was by this time worrying not only those who had plants. at work, but also those who contemplated erecting them. The original dry crushing plant was erected. on the Brown Hill, and an electro-amalgamation process, called the Haycraft, was put up near the Hannan's Lake; but neither of these was a success.

The Gt. Boulder Proprietary G.M., Ltd., erected 30 light slow-running stamps, the tailings after passing over copper plates being treated in grinding pans, which increased the extraction, but still left considerable value in the sand and slime. These were stacked and subsequently treated. The Ivanhoe increased its battery to 60 head of 950 lb. stamps, gear driven cam shafts with clutch arrangement.

One of the directors of the Lake View Consols visited Broken Hill about this time, and saw the thorough system of chemical work being carried out at the Broken Hill Proprietary mine, principally by graduates of the Ballarat School of Mines, and, recognising the advantage of a trained metallurgical chemist and assayer to experiment on the high value tailings of the Lake View mine, persuaded the chief assayer of the Proprietary Co. to come to Kalgoorlie. Experiments on the tailing treatment by cyanide were

* Metallurgist Associated Northern Blocks Mine, Kalgoorlie.

made, and by the end of 1896 the accumulated dumps on the Lake View mine were being treated. The slime difficulty was next encountered. The gold in this product was found to dissolve in the cyanide when agitated, but the trouble was to get the gold solution out of the slime. After numerous experiments, the adapted sugar press was found to be the best filtering medium.

Early in 1897 the satisfactory working of the filter-press made a great advance in the treatment of Kalgoorlie ore. The method of treating the slime by cyanide in the press was found to be too slow, and agitation and subsequent filter-pressing was adopted. The Brown Hill Co., Ltd., erected its second dry crushing plant for the treatment of its oxidized ore. This consisted of a rock breaker, two revolving dryers, several No. 5 Krupp ball mills, the crushed ore being separated into fine and coarse products by an air current, the sand being elevated to steel vats for percolation treatment by cyanide; and the slime being mixed with solution, agitated in small vats in sievesone slightly below the other-and finally treated in filter-presses. This process was not the success that was anticipated, and the residue has since been retreated. The oxidized ores in the mines cut out at a comparatively shallow depth, and the sulphides made their appearance at this point, so there was more trouble ahead for the millmen of the field, as the simple treatment for the former would not do for the latter. Great differences of opinion existed as to the proper line of treatment for a high extraction, some considering that the ore would not concentrate properly with the dense salt water found in the mines, and others thought that roasting was necessary. At all events, there were advocates for both wet and dry crushing, so each side put its own ideas into practice. IDENTIFICATION OF TELLuride.

Soon after the sulphides were met with, telluride of gold was identified on Block 45 Lease. It was also found in all of the other mines, and bonanzas of exceedingly rich ore were struck. This ore could not be treated on the field at that time, so it was shipped to the smelters at Dapto, Wallaroo and Fremantle, by the Lake View Consols, Associated, Golden Horseshoe, Kalgurli, Perseverance, and Associated Northern mines. The freight and smelting charges were very high, fully five times the present cost of mining and treating a ton of ore. The Golden Horseshoe Estates, Ltd., erected a small blast furnace on the mine, and the smelting of rich ore was continued for some time. As above mentioned, there were dry and wet crushing advocates among the metallurgists, and we may as well analyse each side separately.

WET v. DRY CRUSHING.

Some time during 1897, a seven hearth roasting furnace was erected on the Gt. Boulder Main Reef, this furnace being similar to those used at the Mt. Morgan mine, in Queensland. It was rabbled by hand, but costs were high and the roasting poor. It may be mentioned here that the ores of most of the mines are practically dry, and suitable for dry crushing. The ore at the Main Reef was crushed by a Gates breaker followed by Krupp No. 5 mills, and then to the furnace. Later on, the Lake View Consols and South Kalgurli erected" Brown straight line "furnaces, followed by the Kalgurli and Associated with the Ropp type. At these mills the partially roasted orefor these furnaces did very poor work-was cooled in various ways, and then damped down with strong cyanide solution. This stuff was then elevated to