1 cIs-INDUS MINES.
2 Work in the mines.
3 ‘The Mayo Mine.
4 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
5 partly to increased payments for salt, 22,32,108 maunds having
6 been paid for during the year, compared with 20,33,873 maunds
7 during 1897-98 ; and partly to expenses in connection with an
8 enlargement of the Khewra Depot, the up-keep of the Mayo
9 Mine Tramway, and the construction of a house at the
10 Khewrah railway station for one of the officers posted to the
11 Khewra Depdt. ‘
12 27. The following isa description of the work done in
13 the mines of the division during the year under report :-—
14 “The Mayo Mine.—The following excavation work was
15 done :—
16 Cubic feet.
17 Forward work ,.. ae Ses ae ae 2,538,513
18 Roof work oa see eos sae oe 1,31,980
19 Floor work... tee ae wee se 9,40,597
20 Total tes 13,26,090
21 « The proportion of floor work continues to be high. Work-
22 ings are started from the highest safe level accessible and are
23 carried steadily downwards, and the seams of salt are thick
24 and rich. The exploration of the mine hill was continued ;
25 295 running feet of tunnelling were driven in salt and 371 in
26 marl, or in all 666 feet. This work included 179 feet of
27 tunnelling from the working in block No. 12, and 236 feet
28 from the working in the Pharwala seam in block No. 22.
29 The tunnel from the working in No. 12 has passed through
30 marl, gypsum, and salt mixed with marl which is not of sale-
31 able quality. In the tunnel from No. 22, the same substances
32 have been met with, buta seam of marketable salt was also
33 pierced, which, down to the close of the year, had been found
34 to extend toa distance of 83 feet on a horizontal plane. The
35 work of filling up the old and dangerous mines with waste
36 salt was steadily continued during the year, and good progress
37 was made towards rendering them permanently safe. The
38 roadways in the mine were kept in good order; and three
39 hundred rupees were expended on the fencing of dangerous
40 passages during the year. The mine tramway continued to
41 work satisfactorily and without any interruption. The line
42 was extended toa distance of 168 feet further into the hill,
43 and 20 new wagons were added to the rolling-stock. The
44 protection by drainage channels of the surface of the mine hill
45 was carefully attended to, and 1,202 running feet of drains
46 were constructed during the year. There are now 2,085
47 running feet- of drains on the surface of the hill, and it is
48 believed that practically no water percolated into the mine
49 during the year. Strong brine was tapped in the working in
50 the Bagi salt seam in block No. 20. Some water, appears to
51 have found its way into the mine hill at a remote period in
52 the past, and becoming saturated with salt, remained stored
53 in a pocket. The quantity of this brine was not large and
54 excavation in the working was not stopped by it. It has
55 collected in a deep part of the working, and will shortly be
56 pumped out in the course of the operations now in progress
57 for removing water from the mine. It has been mentioned in
58 former reports that water, the gradual accumulation of many
59 years in the past, had collected in several of the deep workings
60 of the mine, and lay in themin the form of strong saturated
61 brine. There has been no perceptible increase in the quantity
62 of this brine ; but it has been found that it is liable to percolate
63 into adjacent workings, when these reach a level below that
64 at which the brine stands. Such percolation stops excavation
65 in the workings invaded, and it was therefore considered
66 (18 3