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DREDGING.

For the information of our readers we have culled from the "Mines Record" some very interesting details oE the dredges now working, showing the yields, cost of working, and dividend's paid. The quantity of material that can be raised and dealt with is very large. It is governed by the size of the dredge buckets, and the depth from which the wash dirt has to be lifted. For these reasons the quantity raised varies from 30 to 100 cubic yards per hour, and the cost varies from _d to ljd per cubic yard. A fair sized dredge will lift from 350,----000 to 400,000 cubic yards per annum, or from 7 to 9 acres. The average cost of working is about £32 weekly, and rarely exceeds £40. The average number of men employed is 7. Leaving out Hartley and Riley's dredge, which i. admittedly earning the most, and taking 8 dredges, which have worked an average, of 10 months, we find they produced gold to the value of £24,961. Seventeen other dredging companies whose capital actually paid in cash amounts to £59,381 have produced gold to the value of £263,167, and have paid dividends amounting to £65,218 since registration. This is also exclusive of Hartley and Rilej^'s dredge, which from April 1899 to September 1899 has paid dividends of £3 11/ per £1 share. Their return for September 1899, 5 weeks, was 2210 ounces of a value of £8840. Eight dredges near Alexandra (Otago) won for week ending September 16, 1899, 600oz 15dwt 12gr, valued at £2316, an average of £210 per dredge per week, and after allowing £50 for each dredge's weekly working expenses (a very full allowance) they show a profit of £ 1766 for the week's work, equal to £160 per week per dredge. This equals a profit of 2} per cent, per

wfeek or 130 per cent, per annum. This is also exclusive of Hartley and Riley's return, which for that week was 786A ounces, and these are shown to give our readers some idea of the profits of other dredges. The Golden Treasure dredge has paid 34 dividends of from 1/ to 2/6 each, the Enterprise Dredge 35 dividends of from 1/ to 5/ each; the Clyde, Otago, and Golden Gate have paid respectively 18, 26 and 18 dividends of from 1/ to 2/ each. These figures serve to show that there is a great future before this industr3', as the whole of the West Coast, from Nelson to Hokitika, with its immense extent of alluvial flats, is as.yet practically untouched by dredges, and with very rare exception nearly every river and creek contains gold in more or less payable quantities. It is a fact worthy of notice that from the ' alluvial flats of the West Coast from Nelson to Hokitika over £17,000,000 (17 million pounds) worth of gold has j been obtained, and the trouble has always been that until the advent of dredges the best gold, i.e., the heaviest, j that went below water level could never be obtained. The figures given J above show the enormous possibilities

of the dredging industry, as it has now been proved that dredges can be worked pay ably upon the flats as well as in the rivers. One of the most striking features about it is the facility of working, and the quickness of returns, and the number of dividends paid. As a comparison take our best quartz mine, the Waihi, and take one of the secondary dredges, and compare the dividends of each upon the £V share, and the result will astonish the most thoughtless and convince the most sceptical that as au investment dredging will compare more than favourably with any other industry. Our facts and figures are taken from the Government Mines Record and other Government reports on mining, and as such are beyond question.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18991213.2.11.4

Bibliographic details

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 295, 13 December 1899, Page 2

Word Count
641

DREDGING. Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 295, 13 December 1899, Page 2

DREDGING. Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 295, 13 December 1899, Page 2