Public Company To Mine Copper

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31061, 17 May 1966, Page 1

Public Company To Mine Copper

A public company will be formed to work a copper ore deposit at Moke Creek, 20 miles from Queenstown, and it is expected that Mines Department and Stock Exchange approval will be received in time for the company to go to issue in the first week in June.

Four tons of the ore, analysed by the Electrolytic Refining and Smelting Company of Australia, Ltd., showed a 12.2 per cent copper content, and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research estimates that the lode contains the equivalent of 51,000 tons of ore, or 6000 tons of copper, worth £3.5m on today’s market.

A spokesman for the company said in Christchurch yesterday that the public company would be formed under the name of New Zealand Mineral Developments, Ltd. It was the company’s intention to develop and exploit the copper ore and to further investigate the extent of the total lode at Moke creek, and the surrounding areas.

He said the directors of the company would be Mr J. W. Rowe, director of the Economic Research Institute, Wellington, and former director of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association; Mr B. P. Hocking, an Australian solicitor, whose firm has investments in New Zealand: Mr G. P. Walker, a Christchurch public accountant; and Mr R. R. Johnston, a Wellington business consultant.

The spokesman said that the company’s policy was to make sure that New Zealanders had first preference to all shares. The issue, would be made up of 200,000 ordinary shares of 5s each. Mr W. I. Anderson, a

member of the Moke Creek syndicate, applied for a mineral (including copper) prospecting warrant to the Cromwell Warden's Court last week. The application, which covered 1600 acres, with the Moke Creek lode as its centre, was approved by Mr J. D. Murray, J.P., and sent to the Mines Department for its consent.

The syndicate has spent £13,600 on research and investigation over the last year and the company proposes to use the consultant services of a Wellington firm. Advice given by the Mines Department will also help the company.

All money invested with the company will be eligible for a taxation deduction of one-third, this being given in recognition of the development work to be undertaken. This concession will not apply to purchases of fully or partly-paid shares made from a company shareholder. Offers to buy the copper have already been received. The directors are confident that the lode can be worked profitably, even if present world prices for copper fall considerably.