THE WAIHI TAILINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 55, 5 March 1909, Page 6

THE WAIHI TAILINGS.

» PROPOSED DUMPING ON THE PLAINS "IMPOSSIBLE AND UNNECESSARY." (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent > WAIHI. Thursday. Relative to the Minister of Mines' proposition lo dispose of battery tailings by dumping them on the Waihi plains, Mr. Barry, superintendent of the Waihi Company, interviewed to-day on the subject, spoke as foilows: "The whole scheme, as proposed by the Minister, is an absolute impossibility, and is quite as unnecessary as it is impossible. The removal of slimes by any other means than are now in use would be a commercial impossibility." All the sand vats were built on the lowest possible point of the ground, he continued, and the only means of emptying them was by sluicing them into the river. It was impossible to empty them by any other means, so that the present plant would be useless. The actual cost; of handling and trucking, with the ex- : penses of railways, locomotives, and rolling stock, would add such an immense cost to treatment as to prohibit the mining of large quantities of low grade ore ! which they now did as long as it left them a small profit. To cease mining these large blocks of low grade ore would < considerably reduce the number of men employed. A further objection to stacking the tailings was that they would blow back into the town. The Company have endeavoured to stack tailings at the Union Mill, but thousands of tons have blown back into the river, notwithstanding the erection of a ti-tree fence. In addition to Mr. Barry's objections it is also urged here that the silting up of the river dates back from the early history of the goldfields. The present outflow of slimes from the Waiii Company's reduction plants does not, it is asserted, affect the position at all. All the tailings that are passed into the river are so finely reduced under the present up-to-date process that they necessarily find their way down stream, however limited the volume of water may be, into the open sea. The whole trouble that the Paeroa settlers are complaining about is above the junction of the Waihi river. No damage can ever be done below the junction, as there is ample water to cany everything away. This simply means that slimes now flowing into tho river are not accentuating the grievance at all. The position is considered serious for the mining industry, which is undoubtedly the principal one in the province. Mr. Barry's objection is considered a fatal one, and at any rate, it would be impossible to dump tailings from Karangabake or Waikino mills on the Waihi plains.