Vaughan Springs - Fryerstown - Tubal Cain Mine

 The Royal Arthur Gold Mine. 

The Fryerstown neighbourhood is perhaps one of the most tantalising areas in the whole Castlemaine mining district, and Glenluce, where the Royal Arthur mine is situated, has made and lost many fortunes. The reefs are so often rich when small, and worthless when large, besides getting lost in country disturbances, that there is no knowing what the worth of a mine is. The Royal Arthur is being floated to acquire the 42-acre leaseholds of Messrs. Miller Brothers at Glenluce. Mr. R. L. Nankivell, mining surveyor, Maldon, reports that three distinct lodes pass through the ground, known as the Tubal Cain, Cox's and the Liverpool reefs. About a year ago Messrs. Miller sunk a shaft 18ft. deep on the underlay of a surface reef. At 4 feet down the quartz stringers formed into a solid reef 4ft. wide, between well-defined walls, but it narrowed rapidly to two feet. The first crushing from the shaft of 7 tons yielded 30oz. gold, and the second of 6 tons returned 33oz. gold. A tunnel was put in at the foot of the hill, which is about 70ft. long, and a lode was struck 50ft. in. The lode, about 8ft. wide, was a mixture of quartz veins and mullock, about 3 ft. assaying from 2 to 5oz. of gold per ton, and the rest about 4dwt.  

A drive put in south was payable for about 15 ft. of the 30 ft. driven. A drive north broke into the old workings on the Tubal Cain reef at 25 ft., the reef showing strong in the face. 10 £ tons of stone from the tunnel yielded 27oz. 18dwt. of gold, and 5 tons from Cox's reef yielded 51oz. of gold. There is a good stack of crushing stuff at grass which is estimated to be worth 10dwt. to 16dwt. per ton. The ground is easy to drive in, being white clayey sandstone. The Miller Brothers stopped work owing to having to cart the stone 16 miles to a battery, carting alone costing 30s per ton. There, are two dams on the property, and a race from the Coliban river passes near it. The proposal is to erect a 10-head battery at once, and proceed with the opening up of the mine, Cox's Reef and the Liverpool, on the west boundary being yet unprospected. The capital is £12,500 in 50,000shares of 5s. each. The vendors take 10,000 paid-up shares and £3000 cash. 40,000 shares are offered to the public at 1s. on application and 1s 6d. on allotment, so if they are all taken up there will be £2000 to pay for the battery and flotation expenses. It may be sufficient, but the margin for contingencies is very small. If the mine is worth the money to be given to the vendors it is worth a larger working capital. If that cannot be obtained, it is hardly fair to contributing shareholders for the vendors to take so much cash before it is earned. 

VICTORIAN PLACES

VAUGHAN

FRYERSTOWN