GOLD PRODUCTION ON WEST COAST

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24736, 29 November 1945, Page 4

GOLD PRODUCTION ON WEST COAST

ARAHURA DREDGE PASSEgf 100,000OZ MARKI^U From Our Own Reporter GREYMOUTH, Novemberlsl|i Arahura gold dredge, the mbstitililjp ful unit operated by Gold 3firai# (N.Z.), Ltd., on the West Coast>re2?*P this month passed the in gold production, a particularlyvfltigp achievement for little more vthanifiv^ 5 years' operation. The most payablelrafcthe three former units of the the Arahura dredge is probably "otf£<Sf| the richest dredges to be the; province, since .the revivalSilp dredging about 15 or 16 years?; agMfc though there were one or two ,uirits $%: the "mosquito fleet" operatingiafltMff: turn of the century which 'hettedp richer returns, but nothing same .quantity in an even rireatei|f.# period of years. . ;-^>&*?^it Kanieri, .mother unit operated'J'bylA: Gold Mines (N.Z.), Ltd., last six and a half years, has vwohiif * total.of 88,7060z of gold to date;?whi»|ifjet another unit, Bariytown,-n'owijp£ : operative, won a total of 53,265oz^§sp:| The tbtal amount of gold company up to the end orOctolMr-;byjfc the three uhits was nearly a quarter* of a million valued at approximately" £2,418,870,?1 ; on which one eighth of a mmibh V pounds alone has gone to the State'ins' payment of export gold tax of f : an ounce. ■ :':ft^Sh,"

Both Arahufa and Kanieri stillhaye;'-:. a life of some years' production ahead,; ■-); and should continue .to prove valuable:;-; acquisitions to , the, company.^Thev.? company had pre-war of£" floating yet another important project??.; on the Teremakaii river flat but and equipment were the building of the structure had tobej; shelved because of the war. - Whetty; this material becomes available company will make an start in the construction 'of a ; units. which will be on a slightly scale than Kanieri and Arahiorar design of the dredge has been;cbm*>f> pleted, and there are early •hopes-olfji its erection. It will be a .ship of tons, equipped with I6ft buckets; andf; will dig up to depths of 70ft beloSp water level. This ' will be-the dredge constructed for some js«fe; though there are also prospects; ol \MB another company erecting a dredgefl&&the Mikohinui river flat, near soon as equipment becomes available?., and is released. "This unit is'sdie??duled as one. of the largest, yet .to. %k erected in New Zealand. The steely,. was formerly on the site, but wai> utilised some time ago by the Govern^:. ment for an essential war-time-■pro*? duction plant. t' 5 -^'." The Kanieri and Arahura eachcostfc £IBO,OOO to construct, but costs haveif. risen considerably, and the two pfoMi F&sed new units will be greatly in atr|cess of those figures, and. in the ca'%:; of Mikohinui, it will probably ben^*' : ' £250,000. ~ ■:?* MV dredging units on itW-fl West Coast have become stable, ; '#i those remaining—about a maintaining production and are Pjjfe^:; ing their wav in snito nf Ti«iniT cosfeS?"':'