A BROKEN HILL MINE. MELBOURNE, May 10.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 26

A BROKEN HILL MINE. MELBOURNE, May 10.

The half-yearly report of the Block Ten Broken Hill mine shows a net profit Oi £47,984.

THE NOKOMAI HIUKAULIC SLUICING

COMPANY.

Tha eighth annual meeting of the Nokomai Hydraulic and Sluicing Company was held in the office of the secretary (Mr Kum Poy). There were 11 shareholders present, and Mr J Blair presided.

The eighth annual report of the company, which was taken as read, is as follows: —

" Your directors have pleasure in handing you the eighth annual report and balance sheet. It will be f>een that dividends amounting to £3600, being 15 per cent., were paid last year, and that out of revenue the dam wall was raised by 10ft and is now completed, and that also out of levenue the Lion Company's racp and. assets were acquired at a cost of £650. plus expenses in connection with transferring the properly. Your directors consider the purchase was an excellent one for the company and a great bargain at tl»e coat. The Lion Company expended over £17,000 en race and pant. At a small expense the water thus acquired can be utilised to augment the supply for both elevators, and may be serviceable for working a third one should this !'e deemed desirable. The race is some a3 at cut of repair, and steps will be taken to have these repairs effected, at once if the season favours, cr as soon as possible thereafter. During the year 13390z 19dwt 15gr of gold were obtained from No. 1 elevator and from. No. 2. 13990z Idwt 18gr. total value £10.316 19s Id. This is a record, and would have availed for paying 25 per cent but for the fume expanded on dam and purcha.=e of the Lion Company as^et 1 ?. The electric lighting plant is in good order, and. as usual, the supply of mining plant is kent up to all requirements."

The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and bilance sheet, pointed out that a good deal of prospecting had been done at No 1 e'evator. this occupying neaily two -""dtlia, in proving ground lying west of "he

] last two paddocks. It was doubtful whethe* there was "gold- enough in it to-pay for ■work--ing, but it was considered wise to Eettle che question at" once while the plant was in the vicinity and before making a shift further up the flat. Unfortunately the ground was pcor T . and not of sufficient richness to warrant the spending of money or time on it, and » ; shift had b?en made to where payable ground , was known lo exist. Elevating was comj menced about a mo.ith ago. and a shift of the plant of No. 2 elevator had also been made, and sluicing commenced on April 16. ; The prospects for the ensuing year were very , favourable. Referring to the Lion. Company's • property, he would like to say, for the information of shareholders, that the claim hacl . an area, of about 70 acres on the Lower j Nokomai Flat, which consisted of about 100 acres. The rirer or creek debouched from a, gorge about two miles long, and a journey to the claim ha-d best be made on horsebackAt the upper end of the gorge was the flat on. which the Nokomai Company waa carrying on. operations, and the claim also embraced about half a mile of the gorge. All the way down there were small flats, and the opinion wa3 expressed by .old hands that gold would be found in these in highly payable .quantities'. Attempts had been made to work them with.., out-of-dat* appliances, but the ' quantity of water to be contended with, added, to the. ! depth of sinking, made all such attempts* fruitless. Gold in payable quantities had also ' been found on some of the spura running in'.o the gorge. The Lion Company's elevator was only able to bottom a very small portion oE its paddb:k, abcut 105 ft deep, and from this a payable, return was .obtained. With an efficient elevating plant, and the pressure - obtainab'e when ths race was in good repair, there was good reason to expect that this part of the claim could be profitably worked. However, that was a matter for future consideration. The water acquired commanded a very wide area. The gold obtained in former days and now on this portion of the Nokomvi was not won from the flat, but from the spura running along and into it. It hod beer, estimated that it would take £1167 to repair theLion race from intake to pentstock at Lower Nokomai claim; but it was rot proposed to bring the water lower down a-t present than j the Victoria Gully, where the area held by the company was 38 acres, and which was in the neighbourhood of the upper end of the gorge, and where the late Mr Sew Hoy commenced operations, the company held some seven acres and a-half in the gorge. The coat to this point, was estimated at £752. In regard? to what it was proposed to do with the extra water acquired from the Lion race he could say, for the information of shareholders, that the rights were for 40 heads from the Lion. Creek and tributaries (the latter being estimated to give 14 Government heads), but it wa« problematical whether more than 20 or 23 heads could be made to find their way to the lower claim. A third elevator had been talked about, but only gome of the- material purchased from the Lion Company could be* used in its construction, and it was estimate*! that, allowing, for this, it would coat about £300. Consideration of this, however, must be held over until after the repairs now in progress were completed, and the quantity of water available ascertained*. Of late the weather had- been so bad that, although as many as 10 men on «n average had been at work for three weeks,, only one mile and ahalf had hoen repaired, and it might be found necessary to postpone the carrying .out of the work until the spring. As soon ir the race was repaired and the water through, i^e> question of a third elevator would be considered, as there was only about 12 months' work for No 1 elevator before it reached the bottom boundary of No. 2. Were » third: elevator procured there could not be much, objection to No. 1 working up to and over this boundary. Without a third, No. 1 would require to shift to Victoria Gully, which formed part of No. 1 claim, and it was imperative that an elevator should be procured to fulfil the conditions of lease. Referring to the price paid for the Lion Company's property, it would be interesting to recall the fact that some five y&ars ago the directors- of that company made a proposal that the Nokomai Company should buy the Lion property, the price asked being about £8000, payment to be made partly in cash and partly in paid-up shares. At a later date, some 12 months or so ago, this company was approached by a new proprietary, who proposed that this company buy and pay £3000— £1500 to be paid in prompt cash, and the balance by arrangement. A reference- to ! last year's repott would show that it was proI posed to spend £'600 in raising the dnni wal's I by 10 feet. This amount, it would be seen, | was largely exceeded, caused mainly by the* difficulty in procuring suitable stone, and the increased rate of wages which hnd to be paid. A much larger quantity of stone was used at the bye- wash than was foreseen. Now, however, the construction of the dam was finished except for a few minor details suggested by the engineer, which might be safely left over until the spring, when they would receive attention. Shareholders would be pleased to learn that the work had been inspected by the Government Inspector of Mines, and the only recommendation he made had been attended to. Their engineer had made his final inspection, and he had reported, under date April 20, that he and the company's inspector of works had " found water up to one foot of the bye-wash, the back wall completed, but - still a portion of the front wall to grout, which . will be finished next spring. The dam is fairly tight, and is a good and substantial job, and can easily be made quite tight." Concluding, the engineer said. " I consider the dam now a thoroughly ?afe work, with the exception of a little grouting on the front wall referred to." It was pleasing to be able tosay that the management at both claims was very satisfactory. Both managers were capable men, and had the interests of the company at heart, and did not spare themselves in carrying out their duties. He (the speaker) had much pleasure in moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet.

Mr Farra seconded the motion, which was carried without comment.

The retiring directors were Messrs H. Crust and J. Blair, who were re-elected.

Mr R. T. Wheeler was re-elected auditor at the usual fee.

The Chairman proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Kum Poy for the manner in which ho had carried out his duties as secretary. — In seconding the motion, Mr Crust referred to the value of Mr Kum Po/a thorough knowledge of everything concerning tlie property. He considered +he company was very fortunate in having bis services. — The motion was carried unanimously.

The advisability of changing the company's shares from £10 to £1 was then discussed, it being thought that by doing so this would be more liable to give them their true value in. the market.

Mr Brown moved — " That it be a recommendation from this meeting to the directors that they consider the advisablenecs oi altering the share's fret" £10 to £1," and al^o distributing dividends at stated period?." — Mr A. G. JTonwick seconded the motion, which! was earned.