MINING NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 143, 20 June 1927, Page 4

MINING NEWS.

WAIHI GOLDMINING CO.

DIRECTORS' ANNUAL REPORT.

DIVIDENDS NEARLY £50,000.

At the annual meeting of shareholders in the Waihi Goldmining Company, held in London, the chairman, Mr. A. M. Mitchison, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, aaid the to items mainly responsible for the increase in expenditure were mining charges and mis-i eellaneous expenses in New Zealand. The' former was heavier because a large amount 1 of development work had been done, and ' there had been heavier dues to pay for I insurance under the Workers' Compensation Act. '

With a total expenditure of £312,278 and a crushing of 211,530 tons, the company had a total charge of about £1 9/6 per ton, which compared with about £1 7/10 last year, the rise being due to thei mining charges and insurance. The final result of the -working for the year wae: that, excluding depreciation on plant and machineiy, the net receipts had been sufficient to pay all outgoings and to leave a balance of £52,638 out of which! shareholders had received tax free dividends amounting to £40,590. The reserves of the company, in cash and its equivalents, had not been in any way trenched upon, although there was a decrease of 52,782 tons in the ore reserves.

Mr. Jlitchison said the most unfavourable feature was the want of success in exploratory work, which made the hope of finding new payable blocks become less. Referring to the agreement with the Grand Junction Company, the chairman said: "I have always felt that if by any possibility our exploration opened up a good vein running to Junction property it, would be unfair that we should not have: a share in it. Of course, this possibility may never eventuate, but still it exists, and the £4 ore discovered in the North- 1 Eastern section on the 15th level proves, that if it proves nothing else. Altogether there can be no doubt that the arrange-] ment made was beneficial to both companies, and therefore a good bargain. ■ Regarded as a mining proposition, the area* of the two companies form really one mine and they ought to be treated as one, and that is what we are now doing." In connection with outside ventures, the chairman said they had subscribed for £5000 £1 shares in the Anglo-Canadian Expiorere, Ltd. The report and balance sheet were then adopted.

KAWARAU

The gauge at Cromwell ebowed that 24 hours after the gates of the Kawarau dam were closed the river had fallen two feet eight inches. Four men employed for the >.atural Bridge Syndicate, working on a shelf of rock, obtained 3oz 13tedwt of gold in five hours. This was, of course, meraly preliminary work pending the further fall of the river. The Consolidated Kawarau Company is not expected to start work for some days yetf The various owners of dredging claims below the gorge, will, it is expected, combine to place an up-to-date dredge on the river to operate on the 22 holdings. ' Since the former boom in dredging there has been a great improvement in that type of gold saver. The modern dredge is fitted with close coupled high capacity buckets, and electrically equipped where power is available. Such dredges have capacity to wt.rk to a greater depth. The cost is, howevei, an important item. For instance the prospectus of the Hartley and Riley Consolidated Company estimates the outside cost of a modern dredge erected on the ground at £50,000.