GRACE DARLING GOLD MINING COMPANY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 223, 18 September 1894, Page 2

GRACE DARLING GOLD MINING COMPANY.

An extraordinary meeting of shareholders of the Grace Darling Gold Mining Company* was held afternoon ati the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr I. Lawless (chairman of ( directors) pre■ided. The mesting was called to consider tbe Company's position, financial and otherwise, and to pass such resolution or reßOlutions as might be approved of. , Thesre was a large attendance of interested ehajre-; holders. \ , The Chairman in some opening remarks said that the Company had been pressed by Brown Bros., the contractors, and those gentlemen bad actually issued a summcißs against the Company for their claim. It bad been no fault of the directors that affairs had gone as they had done. Mr Birney: I shall propose thab the directors resign. ~.,..; Mr D.G. MacDonnell said we liabilities of the Company were £2,488 4s 4d. That included the whole liability go far as was known up to date. There was a balance due on calls of £635 Is 9d, and the total assets, including unpaid calls, amounted to £746 13s 4d. The difficultly of "the positiou was that the contractors claimed £1,540 odd. That claim was admitted, with the exception of about) £40. A summons bad been issued, bub the eolicitor for Messrs Brown had stated that Brown Bros, only wished to make tbemBelves secure. Three new directors (Meisri James Verrall, James Heron, and P. B. Smith) had been appointed thab day aba. meeting of directors, and if tbe shareholders were agreeable, these gehblemea would visit the mine and report to a future meeting. . ■~ Mr Birney again called upon the directors to resign. t - Mr MacDonnell said Mr Birney was the prospector of the mine. If anyone was to blame, it was Mr Birney himself. Mr Birney : Will you resign? The Chairman insisted upon Mr Birney sitting down, or he would have him pub out of the room. Mr Moore asked if the resulb was known ofthe stuft sent to Auckland to Jbe passed through the cyanide. Mr MacDonnell said the assayer had been working night and day, and had not been able to finish ib. > ■ . Mr Heard, the battery "manager, explained that when he wonb to take charge be had every confidence in' the mine. There had been a previous assay, which bad shown good results, and he had taken bhat for granted. He found, however, thab •ihe stuff be pub through only yielded aboub 2dwts, and he kept reducing the amount of cyanide used, with the same results, fie forwarded the results to the directors at Paeroa. The directors had gone to the mine wibh an asaayer ; they took samples, bub they could get nobhing better than he. Another assayer and himself bad taken samples of the sbuff lefb in the hopper, and they found thab, as crushed, was only worth 2dwfc. He had then been ordered by the directors to " wash ib out," as ib was nob worth treating. Ib bad been stated by Mr Morgan thab they had some stuff in the kiln which in his opinion would"prove up bo the returns, and he (the speaker) had been instructed to crush all in the kiln and treat it. He mighb state thab after starting to crush this, ore in the. kiln he had taken "samples /of ib every Half hour. The average of ,75 tons crashed in- this way was 4dwbl4grs. The highest was 6dwb I2gri Mr Heard laid on the table, a paper showing the assays he had made. There had been some talk aboub stuff being washed out of the battery, and he had furnished a report to the directors as to what had been done. He bad, been asked why he had* treated stuff which was only worth ldwb 7grs/ Had he known ib was only worth that ha would nob have treated ib. It waß, he thoughb, mo iood throwing good money after bad. The whole tank of stuff had been worth £15, and the amounbof cyanide used had been worth £S 15s, and thab did not do tbe work."'" *" 71 '"■' "' '""'"' Mr Heard's statemenb showed that from July 21 to Auguob 29 there were recovered from the mine :—Gold, 3oz ldwb 21grs, value £12 7s 6d'; silver, 24'40z, £2 0s 8d ; total bullion, 350z 16dwb 12grs, total, £14 33 2d. Cosb per ton for cyanide, lla 3d. Mr Moore said a bag of stuff had been wnt to the Crown battery, where is was treated by the cyanide process, This ahowed value £42 a ton, proving conclusively the cyanide was not ab fault. Nob only that, bub some more of the stuff sent to the Bank of New Zealand showed £800 to the ton.. ' Mr MacDonnell said, after the unfortunate circumstances in connection with the Portaea, he wenb up to see the Grace Darling. There they had wantefl him to see some of the dish prospects. He had said he did nob come to see thab while there was i battery ab work. He saw Mr Heard, and ißked him bo show his record book, and he then found there were no records. He had ihen asked to see Mr Morgan, and told that | gentleman that he (Mr Morgan) was in control, and that he had been sending "Btuff"tothemill without knowing any-1 ihing at all as to its value—a wrong proceeding altogether. He had again asked Mr Heard for an explanation, and he had replied that his appliances were not ready, and the balances were out of order. He (Mr MacDonnall) had asked if thab could nob be remedied, and Mr Heard replied thab he thoughb ib could. Mr Moore asked how long was that after the battery started crushing1. Mr MacDonnell: Some few weeks. He had heard nothing more wibh regard to any assays. There had been some very greab blundering. ' Mr Heard said they had started crushing on July 17th. He had nob been aware until he had gone to Waitekauri what crucibles there were to use. He had seen in the list Mr Lawless had supplied that' there were crucibles. He found they were old cruictbles, and he, as an assayer, would nob use them. He had immediately ordered some, bub they did not arrive until August 2nd. Then he had immediately assayed the ore. A hundred tons of •' stuff" was outside the mine. That bad been assayed by a reliable assayer who had said ib showed an average of £3 10s a ton. When he had obtained his crucibles he had made assays, and tried to use the balances ; but the room was lined with green timber, freshly out, and he could nob. Oh the Tuesday after thab he had gone to the Cassell Company's works, and forwarded his results to Mr Lawless. In reply to Mr Moore, Mr Heard added that of the 100 tons of stuff he had mentioned, 76 tons had been pub through, the rest was washed out of the battery. Before thab was bhrown out he had taken samples, and had then been told to discharge the stuff. ' A discussion ensued between Mr-Moore and the battery manager relative to a letter alleged to have been forwarded by Mr Morgan, in which it was sbated that there were some pans in which cyanide had nob been due. . ■ Mr" Morgan said he had written no such letter. • ' , ■ , The letber file was senb for and searched, no letter being found to the effect mentioned. Mr Brimblecombe : What is the total value of gold taken from the mine up to date? „ Mr Heard : £14 8s 2d. ,\ Mr Scotb, jun., said they stood in the position of the "Bports" who lost their tin. He was satisfied the ore from the mine would not pay to treat with cyanide. Mr Ifitzpatrick Baid he bad taken a shovelful of stuff recently, and ib had showed a big prospect.^ * _ j Mr Moore said bia brother, a practical

man, had gone to the mine. His brother had also gone to the creek, and from a bucketful of stuff gob a long tail of gold. ;*_ 'The, Chairman, showed a small piece, of gold aboub the Bize of a small pea, which he said had been obtained from a small quantity after ten dishes had been washed; - 1 It Was then agreed to adjourn tbe meeting until tbe directors had visited the mine ahd "reported; '~*-'..- :.:.:' 0. "P " 'o\£.