GOLD PRODUCTION IN DOMINION

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23413, 21 August 1941, Page 9

GOLD PRODUCTION IN DOMINION

■ ~J- » • .. ■ HIGHEST SINCE 1920

INCREASE DUE TO FLEET

OP DREDGES

(P.R.) WELLINGTON, August 20. Estimated gold production in New Zealand in 1940 was 185,665 ounces, valued at £1,891,447, says the' Mines Statement which has been tabled in the House of Representatives.. This figure is the highest since 1920, and is 6710 ounces , ahead of the 1939 production total.

‘‘The higher production of. gold is wholly due to ‘the increased output from dredging claims, which were responsible for 48. per cent, of the total production," says the statement. ‘ Twenty-four dredges operated during the year, 18 on the West Coast and six in Southland and Otago. Three large new dredges were launched and seven ceased operations. • On the West Coast five dredges are in various stages of construction and preparations are under way for the erection of dredges on two other tested areas. Gold production from alluvial mines (18,051oz) shows a decrease of 4610z, from dredges (88,4950z), an increase of 11.4570z, and from quartz mines (79,119 oz), a decrease of 42860z.

The quartz mines show a slight drop in production; due to the lower *tonnage of’ ore treated, average values of ore treated being approximately 10s a ton higher than in 1930. The Martha and Black Water Mines were again the outstanding and principal producers, the only new mine of any promise being the Una Hill at Thames."