236 
To be of any use as an ore-way the tunnel would have to be wide enough 
for a double line of rails, say, 8 feet wide, and if horse traction is to be 
employed it would have to be 7 feet high. A material consideration in such 
matters is the cost. Locally it is estimated at jQ2 per foot. The ^rst 
hundred feet, or so, might possibly be done at this price, but, taking the 
1,850 feet which would be required .to cut the nearest reef, the Antiope, I 
consider that jQ 4 per foot would be a reasonable price, and very much 
doubt if a contractor would undertake it for that sum. Rock drills would 
be required, and this means the installation of air compressing plant and 
accessories that would cost £2, 000. After the first 2,000 feet, the cost of 
driving would be greatly enhanced, and the rock would be very hard close 
to the granite contact. If continued past the United Brothers reef hard 
unaltered granite would be entered, and the work would be very costly. 
One of the principal functions of a tunnel such as is proposed is that 
it shall drain the lode or lodes i,t is driven to intersect. In the present case 
the tunnel would but partly fulfil this office, for it is fully , proved in the 
existing workings that cutting a lode does not result in draining it. Even 
the driving of levels’ along the course of the lode does not result in draining 
the lode overhead. In some cases where a winze has been sunk, and a level 
driven right underneath, the winze is not drained, although only a few feet 
intervene between the bottom of the winze and the drive. It is a feature of 
these lories that they appear to be intersected at frequent intervals with 
divisions that prevent the water from flowing freely. In shaft sinking this 
is an advantage. Another purpose that such a tunnel is supposed to serve 
is as an ore-way, by means of which the ore can be cheaply and freely 
transported from the lode to the recovery plant. In this case the ore would 
have to traverse a cross-cut of half-a-mile, and as much further as the mine 
might bo from the end of the cross-cut. It is doubtful if this could be done 
as cheaply as by hauling the ore to the surface and then running it down 
the slope by gravitation to batteries situated close to the mines. To make 
the necessary connexions from the several mines to the end of the cross-cut 
would not only involve a heavy expenditure, but also the obtaining of rights 
of way through intervening leases. 
After duly weighing any possible advantages as against the certain cost 
of this proposed tunnel, I do not see that it is likely to benefit the mining 
interest of Sunnyside in a way at all commensurate with the outlay that 
would be incurred. Although unable to advise the construction of the pro¬ 
posed tunnel, at any rate at this stage, I certainly consider this field to be 
well deserving of all the help the Department of Mines can give. As a 
gold producer it is important. The official statistics of yields from some of 
the principal mines at Sunnysid'e are: — 
Samaritan 
Quartz. 
Tons. 
755 
Gold. 
Ozs. 
I,o88 
Meerschaum 
1,306 
. • . 
5>593 
Gentle Annie 
546 
. . . 
2,761: 
Star of the West 
68 
. . . 
358 
United Brothers ... 
5,200 
• • . 
34,070 
United 
419 
. . . 
3^3 
Antiope 
3 ? 5 1 7 
. . . 
4,336 
Mt. Moran 
914 
. . • 
2,5°r 
Democrat 
... 11,441 
11,266 
24,166 
62,286 
* Incomplete returns. 
