Offices.—Friars House, New Broad Street, E.C.
This company owns three properties, as follows:—
| Acres | |
|---|---|
| (1) Juga | 1600 |
| (2) Sub-Juga | 6720 |
| (3) South Juga | 1280 |
South Juga.—Mr. C. G. Lush, in reporting on the South Juga property, said: “On the northern end there are several native workings, in which payable prospects can be got. It would be advisable to have shafts sunk right along the lead from the Juga boundary to the Bauchi road, and boring plant used if water hindered sinking to bed-rock.... Some of the tin carried into Juga must have found its way into South Juga.” Mr. L. H. L. Huddart, reporting on the property, said: “The elevation is about 3,000 feet above the sea-level, with precipitous granite hills rising at least 1,500 feet above the valley on both sides.... The tin occurs in a valley about four miles long, running north-east and south-west. Bed-rock is granite with frequent outcrops of granite and granulite, which form baths more or less at right angles to the valley. The average width is about 2,000 feet.... The ground is friable and easy to work.... A water course which rises on Juga runs right down to the valley. From December to April there is practically no running water, but from May to November the stream runs freely.... If the small tributaries are dammed, and skill is used in saving the water, there should be sufficient for all purposes for six or seven months in the year. Later on a portable pump elevating plant would have sufficient water for at least nine months. There is a considerable quantity of water held up between the granite baths, and the water-locked ground provides natural reservoirs.... A thorough system of prospecting should be inaugurated.... Pits should be put in right across the valley at 100 feet intervals, and a property plan made out showing the depth of ground valued. These will enable the mining work to be laid out in a systematic manner, and will disclose the rich leads.” Mr. Huddart has formed a favourable opinion of the property, and gives the following reasons for the estimates he has prepared: (1) Amount of work previously done by natives who never touch anything but rich wash; (2) sampling and inspection of native working and their tailings; (3) the fact that this proposition is geographically a part of Juga on which rich wash exists; (4) personal knowledge of the ground tested and discoveries on every known part of this field, and general occurrence of cassiterite on all parts of the property. Taking the property as a whole, he estimates that there are 180 acres of alluvial ground, running 4 lbs. per cubic yard, averaging two yards deep. In conclusion, Mr. Huddart says this is an attractive property.... Importance is readily attached to the fact that the property can be made an immediate producer.
Juga Property.—This property is on a plateau 3,280 feet above the sea-level, and Mr. Lush estimates that 200 acres will be highly payable. He takes the average depth of ground as 9 feet, and this extending for 200 acres equals 2,904,000 cubic yards. The area is of exceedingly high quality, and exceptionally free from impurities. In his report Mr. Lush says: “Valuing the ground at 6 lbs. per cubic yard, I am not taking into account only the high results obtained from some of the bottom wash, but am reckoning it as a whole. I do this because working results may prove that the wash does not extend over the whole 200 acres, but the gravel does, and I feel confident will average what I state.”
Sub-Juga.—This property, comprising an area of 6,720 acres, lies upon the lower plateau, or plain, immediately below Juga. The natives have done a great deal of work here, and their beds were extensively tried by Mr. Lush, who got very rich prospects when panning. Some of the dish concentrates went as high as 40 lbs. of tin oxide to the cubic yard, and in no single instance did he get less than 3 lbs. He considers that out of the 6,720 acres 400 are proved to be highly payable, but this only includes the main lead, which runs right through the property for 6¼ miles, and does not include any of the runs coming in from east and west. He takes the average depth of ground as 9 feet; this extending for 400 acres equals 5,808,000 cubic yards. Mr. Lush has recommended movable plants for these properties. Transmission of electrical power to run both the nozzle and the gravel pumps is, of course, the cheapest and best method of working, but it will be some time, probably two years, before the contemplated hydraulical scheme can be installed. Mr. Lush’s recommendations have been accepted by the board, and two plants are being constructed, and their cost when mounted and erected at the mine will not exceed £10,000. In addition to the sluice boxes at present on the property, there are now on the way a further sixty-nine sluice boxes, with all exhausters complete, and these will enable sluicing and calabashing to be carried on pending the arrival and erection of the hydraulic plant.
Mr. Hooke has been appointed manager, with Mr. Grant as his assistant. Besides sluicing, surveys have to be completed, dams constructed, prospecting done, especially by means of boring, tools being supplied for those parts where the water is too heavy for the pits to be sunk.
Mr. A. W. Hooke writes under date September 14, 1910, as follows:
“Attached hereto are my notes upon the leases of the company and the dam site. In setting forth this general report several difficulties have faced the writer—the absence of any systematic sampling record—the flooded condition of the existing holes, and the short time in which to cover the ground.
“At the same time also an effort had to be made to organise the labour and increase the output under existing circumstances. I give the following summary to show how the output has increased in the last four weeks. From August 15 to September 10 the production stands thus: