FUTURE OF MINING

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29792, 7 April 1962, Page 18

FUTURE OF MINING

“Balance Must Be Struck”

Coal is New Zealand’s main mineral in a country with limited mineral resources says the April Quarterly Survey of the A.N.Z. Bank.

“A community's economic health basically depends upon its natural resources and the energy and efficiency with which they are utilised. Coal has proved itself a cheap means of providing heat and power, the majority of the industry is profitable, and with adequate research and promotion, new opportunities for expansion may become available,” it says. Current uses of coal could not be expected to require a large increase, if any, in production in the future, but though development work on New Zealand’s hydro-electric and geothermal resources was considerable, the amount spent on the development of coal was small. The survey quoted the 1960 report on State mines saying there was now no prospect of the State mines as a whole becoming an economic unit, and recommending that the accounts be prepared differently to allow a better appreciation of this fact. “The problem of the losing mines is complicated. Whereas some of their production. such as gas coal and screened coal, is required by the market, other types of coal or slack for which there is no market, are produced as associate products. “The closing of any mine presents a grave social problem and a capital loss would be incurred on the property in the towns, which in most cases would become ghost towns.

“These factors must be fully considered before a decision can be made to close a mine. Nevertheless, a oalance must be struck between the amount of production losses which accumulate each year and the once-and-for-ail cost of closing a mine, and resettling and retaining the workers in new skills.” the bank says.