Takaka Asbestos Mine Forced To Close Down

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30401, 28 March 1964, Page 3

Takaka Asbestos Mine Forced To Close Down

(New Zealand Press Association)

NELSON, March 27. New Zealand’s only asbestos mine, situated in the Cobb Valley, Takaka, has ceased production. All the stock and equipment has been sold. The manager of the Hume Asbestos Mine (Mr A. D. Sincock) estimated that it would require about £200,000 to put it on a competitive footing with overseas companies. The mine, in mountainous country, has operated since 1939, with only one break of two or three years during the war. Its average production has been about 45 tons a month.

Mr Sincock, the manager for 15 years, said that many factors involving big expenditure had forced the mine to close. Costly repairs, replacements and alterations were required, huge areas of overburden had to be removed to get at remaining deposits, overseas prices had dropped by £7 a ton, labour was expensive because of the remoteness of the area, and shipping and transport costs were high. Shipping Costs

"Asbestos is being shipped in from South Africa at £4 10s a ton cheaper than we can get it to Tauranga where it is used to make switchboards, and so on,” he said. “Because of a change in the method of assessing the quantity being carried, shipping costs had doubled, he said.

“To put the mine on to a competitive footing, that is, to go ipto it in a big way with modern plant, could cost about £200,000,” Mr Sincock said.

There was still plenty of asbestos left for a new venture, but it needed big capital and Government assistance. “If the Government was prepared to help more in mineral production it would save this country a lot in overseas funds, I am sure of that,” he said.