KANIERI DREDGE TO CLOSE DOWN.

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27038, 13 May 1953, Page 12

KANIERI DREDGE TO CLOSE DOWN.

CLAIM NEAR HOKITIKA WORKED OUT (From Our Own Reporter) GREYMOUTH, May 12. The second last gold dredging unit in the Hokitika area, the Kanieri Dredge, will close down soon. Once more than 20 dredges operated in almost every creek in the Hokitika district. The only link left in the long association of the province’s capital town with gold-mining, particularly dredging, will be the Arahura dredge, which recently recommenced operations after having been sunk about three years ago. The Kanieri dredge, a sister ship of the Arahura, has almost worked out its claim south-east of Hokitika, and it now has a life estimated at less than three months. The dredge has been a valuable gold winner, and has more than paid its way. It will not be beached, with no further plans, like the Rimu dredge, but an immediate start will be made with its dismantling and transfer to a new claim on the Teremakau river, hi the Greenstone area. It is expected that it will be about two years before the dredge can be (rebuilt and begin operations there. The Teremakau claim was registered before World War 11, and a new unit was intended to be used in the area, one of the richest alluvial areas in the early days of Kumara’s gold rush. Only two other dredges are operating—the Grey River Dredge, at Ikamatua, and the Snowy River Dredge, at Hukawai. They, too, are ending their life. The Grey river unit is definitely without any prospect of new ground. There is one other dredge, the Ngaher? gold dredging plant, at Atarau. which has suspended operations until enough money is raised for substantia] repairs to enable it to take up a new area near Ngahere.